Manipulation technology makes home-helper robot possible
New locomotion and manipulation technology from Ding Zhao’s lab will enable four-legged robots to lend a hand in the not-so-distant future.
Parents spend roughly 300 hours each year cleaning up after their kids. That’s nearly two weeks that could be otherwise spent doing, well, anything else. Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with Google DeepMind and the University of Washington, are hopeful that parents will regain tidying time and then some with LocoMan, a four-legged version of the Jetsons’ beloved maid “Rosey the Robot,” that could lend a hand in the not-so-distant future.
Quadrupedal robots, designed to move on four legs much like a dog, are already found leading search and rescue missions, surveying construction sites, and moving parts around factories. Their ability to navigate complex environments with a low center of gravity and light weight make quadrupedal robots a top contender for household use, too. Until now, the missing piece was the dexterity and versatility skills necessary for them to be efficient in daily life.
By installing two custom-designed, lightweight manipulators (think robot arms) onto the front legs of a quadrupedal robot, Ding Zhao has created a robot versatile enough to open doors, pour drinks, plug a phone in to charge, and—perhaps best of all—clean up after your on-the-go toddlers.
While many researchers work on humanoid robots that look like humans, with potential to directly learn from humans or even replace humans in some tasks, we focus on robots that are complementary to humans to team up with them.
Ding Zhao, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
“While many researcher work on humanoid robots that look like humans, with potential to directly learn from humans or even replace humans in some tasks, we focus on robots that are complementary to humans to team up with them,” said Zhao, associate professor of mechanical engineering.
Unlike humanoid robots that come at a high cost and hefty weight, Zhao’s manipulators can be added to existing lower-cost quadrupedal robots and are compact, lightweight, and easy to fabricate, making them an accessible technology.
The core idea is to leverage the leg as an integral component of the “robotic arm” for executing 6D pose manipulation.
“We used four commercially available servos and 3D printed a few other parts to bring them to life,” Changyi Lin, a Ph.D. candidate in the CMU Safe AI Lab and the first author of the paper explained.
Zhao’s team introduced the robot to a class of five preschool students at The Cyert Center for Early Education. After explaining to children how robots work and what we use them for, the children had the opportunity to interact with Zhao’s robot. The students were impressed with the robot’s capabilities and didn’t want it to leave their classroom.
Ding Zhao (center), with children from the Cyert Center, interacting with the home-helper robot.
The group continues to develop LocoMan to perform tasks autonomously by integrating advanced perception and intelligence planning capabilities into its existing whole-body controller.
“We anticipate that robots like LocoMan will be ready to help out at home, or in daycares, within the next three years,” said Zhao. “It is a pleasant job just to imagine that I may no longer need to handle my kids’ messy fun.”
This work will be presented at the loco-manipulation workshop and the manipulation skills workshop of the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.