Want a robot to cook your dinner, do your homework, clean your house, or get your groceries? Robots already do a lot of the jobs that we humans don’t want to do, can’t do, or simply can’t do as well as our robotic counterparts. In factories around the world, disembodied robot arms assemble cars, delicately place candies into their boxes, and do all sorts of tedious jobs. There are even a handful of robots on the market whose sole job is to vacuum the floor.
ASIMO, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, was developed by the Honda Motor Company and is the most advanced humanoid robot in the world. According to the ASIMO Web site, ASIMO is the only humanoid robot in the world that can walk independently and climb stairs. While there are several other humanoid robots that can walk, none have the smooth, realistic gait that ASIMO has.
In addition to ASIMO’s ability to walk like we do, it can also understand some spoken commands (currently only in Japanese) and recognize faces. ASIMO has arms and hands so it can do things like turn on light switches, open doors, carry objects, and push carts
Like most other technologies in the robotics field, ASIMO is powered by servo motors. These are small but powerful motors with a rotating shaft that moves limbs or surfaces to a specific angle as directed by a controller. Once the motor has turned to the appropriate angle, it shuts off until it is instructed to turn again. For example, a servo may control the angle of a robot’s arm joint, keeping it at the right angle until it needs to move, and then controlling that move. Servos use a position-sensing device (also called a digital decoder) to ensure that the shaft of the motor is in the right position. They usually use power proportional to the mechanical load they are carrying. A lightly loaded servo, for example, doesn’t use much energy.
ASIMO has 26 servo motors in its body that move its arms, hands, legs, feet, ankles, and other moving parts. ASIMO manages a series of servo motors to control each kind of movement.
