Assitive Robot Adapts to People, New Places
From: MIT News - 04/09/2007
By: Anne Trafton

MIT researchers have developed Domo, a robot that can both interact with
humans and pickup unknown objects and place them on a shelf. Domo represents
the kind of technology that could one day assist the elderly or work in
fields such as agriculture or space travel. "The real potential of robots in
the future is going to be realized when they can do many types of manual
tasks," says Domo contributor Aaron Edsinger. Unlike assembly machine robots,
intelligent robots would not have to be placed in a controlled environment.
"We want the robot to adapt to the world, not the world to adapt to the
robot," Edsinger says. Domo's cameras relay information to 12 computers that
analyze what is seen and choose what to focus on, such as unexpected
movements or a human face. If the robot is told to place an object on a
shelf, it uses one hand to feel for the shelf and the other to reach for the
object. Once Domo has a hold of the object, it finds the tip of the object
and wiggles it a bit in order to understand the size of the object and the
best way to transfer it to the other hand or to place it on the shelf. To
make it safe for human interaction, Edsinger's team put springs in Domo's
arms, hands, and neck that let it feel pressure when a person touches it. The
researchers believe that robots and humans working together could do things
that neither could do separately. "If you can offload some parts of the
process and let the robot handle the manual skills, that is a nice
synergistic relationship," he says. "The key is that it has to be more useful
or valuable than the effort put into it." Rather than having a single robot
housekeeper, the home of the future is expected to have many specialized
robots. 

Read the entire article at:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/domo.html

Links:
Domo
http://people.csail.mit.edu/edsinger/domo.htm

Aaron Edsinger
http://people.csail.mit.edu/edsinger/

Living on Earth: The Future of Robotics
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=07-P13-00002&segmentID=8

Boston's Talent Pool
http://www.wbur.org/special/bostonatc/part3.asp