WALK-MAN, humanoid robot, FP7 European Project

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Contributors:

Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy

Research Center “E.Piaggio”, Pisa, Italy

centropiaggio.unipi.it/projects/walk-man-whole-body-adaptive-locomotion-and-manipulation.html

The WALK-MAN project aims to develop a humanoid robot that can operate in buildings that were damaged following natural and man-made disasters. The robot will demonstrate new skills:

dextrous, powerful manipulation skills - e.g. turning a heavy valve of lifting collapsed masonry,
robust balanced locomotion - walking, crawling over a debris pile, and
physical sturdiness - e.g. operating conventional hand tools such as pneumatic drills or cutters.

In addition, the robot will have the sufficient cognitive ability to allow it to operate autonomously or under tele-operation in case of severe communication limitations for remote control due to limited channel bandwidth and/or reliability).

The robot will show human levels of locomotion, balance and manipulation and operate outside the laboratory environment. Disaster sites may include buildings such as factories, offices, houses.

This project will significantly advance the current walking and locomotion capabilities of humanoid systems so that the robots will be able to walk in and through cluttered spaces (walking in a crowded environment) and maintain their balance against external disturbances, such as contact and impacts with objects or people. The robot will achieve this by exploiting all its limbs (hands, arms, legs, feet and trunk) to demonstrate whole-body motion dynamics and making use of surrounding workspace constraints (handrails, walls, furniture etc). In parallel, we plan to advance the manipulation capabilities of existing humanoids by developing new hand designs that combine robustness and adaptability. This will take advantage of recent developments in mechanical design and materials that allow the creation of less fragile and delicate end-effectors that are capable of grasping/manipulating traditional handtools.
 

IIT ROBOT WALK-MAN AT THE DARPA CHALLENGE 2015

Published on Jun 12, 2015

The Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia team - led by Nikos Tsagarakis and consists of 24 robotic researchers, average age 31, who are responsible for the mechanical, the software and the electronics of the robot humanoid Walk-man, has competed in the DARPA ROBOTICS CHALLENGE scheduled on 5 and 6 June at the Fairplex in Pomona, Los Angeles. The IIT team faced the best teams from the USA, Japan, South Korea, Germany. The tests took place in a setting inspired by the nuclear accident in Fukushima.
 

Walk-Man Humanoid Robot: Field Experiments in a Post-earthquake Scenario (Amatrice) - IIT

Published on Jun 13, 2017

F. Negrello1, A. Settimi2, D. Caporale2 G. Lentini2, M.Poggiani2, D. Kanoulas1, L. Muratore1,4, E. Luberto2, G. Santaera2,
L. Ciarleglio3, L. Pallottino2, D. Caldwell1, N.G. Tsagarakis1, A. Bicchi1 2, M. Garabini2, M.G. Catalano1 1Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) 2Centro Piaggio, Universita di Pisa 3Protezione Civile Citta Metropolitana Firenze 4School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

Thanks to all people which
contribuited to the project

Researchers:
F. Negrello, A. Settimi, D. Caporale,
G. Lentini, D. Kanoulas, L. Muratore,
M.G. Catalano, M. Garabini

Technicians:
M.Poggiani, E. Luberto,
G. Santaera, M. Migliorini, A. di Basco

Protezione Civile
Città Metropolitana di Firenze:
L.Ciarleglio, L. Ermini

Comune di Amatrice
G. Biancofiore, S. Piscia

Croce Rossa Italiana Firenze

Servizio protezione civile
del Comune di Firenze

Coordinators:
A.Bicchi, D.Caldwell,
L. Pallottino and N.G. Tsagarakis

Video editing: D.Farina
 

WALK-MAN operating in a damaged building

Published on Feb 22, 2018

The WALK-MAN robot was designed and implemented by IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia within the project WALK-MAN funded by the European Commission. During its final validation phase, the robot dealt with a scenario representing an industrial plant damaged by an earthquake and where gas leaks and fire are present, thus a dangerous situation for humans. The scenario was recreated in IIT laboratories, where the robot was able to navigate through a damaged room and perform four specific tasks: opening and traversing the door to enter the zone; locating the valve which control the gas leakage and close it; removing debris on its path; and finally identifying the fire and activating a fire extinguisher.

"New WALK-MAN Robot Is Slimmer, Quicker, Better at Quenching Your Flames"
A lighter and more efficient redesign of IIT's disaster robot can fight industrial fires

by Evan Ackerman and Erico Guizzo
February 22, 2018
 

The WALK-MAN project

Published on Feb 28, 2018

The WALK-MAN robot was designed and implemented by IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia within the project WALK-MAN funded by the European Commission. The project started in 2013 and also involved the University of Pisa in Italy, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Belgium.
 
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