Development of Multi-Legged Robot Platform and Its Application to Make Evolution of Intelligent Machine Research

本研究项目的目的是开发一种多腿机器人平台，该平台能够通用地用于智能机器人的各种研究。我们特别关注1995-1997年间在资助研究项目“智能机器人”上开发的机器人平台，我们已经发展了协作工作，以将该平台转变为实现我们目标的高级版本。(1)多腿机器人平台Jrob-2的开发：我们集成并标准化了Jrob-1的所有组件(包括视觉系统、电路板、计算机和软件，这些都是在资助研究项目上开发的)，并将它们组装成先进的多腿机器人平台Jrob-2。视觉系统有两个摄像头，它的摇摄、倾斜和拥堵是可控的。它能够实时主动处理三维图像。陀螺仪和其他传感器被配备来代替机器人。作为操作系统，我们安装了实时Linux操作系统，机器人的所有基本行为都用C语言编写。(2)JROB-2在日本机械工程学会年会上的教程：JROB-2的开发团队于1999年举办了一次关于JROB-2的硬件/软件和基本行为库的教程，目的是使机器人得到广泛的应用。(3)对于基于该平台的智能机器的进化，合作研究人员采取自己的方法处理了广泛的研究课题。具体地说，他们研究了机器人在运动中的姿势与其移动性之间的定量关系，通过叠加反应行为、运动规划、协作运输以及视觉和行为的整合来产生运动。这些研究成果发表在一份超过300页的报告中。

The objective of this research project is to develop a multi-legged robot platform that is capable of being commonly utilized on performing various researches of intelligent robots. We have especially focused on the robot platform that has been developed from 1995-1997 on the research project grant-in-aid referred to as "intelligent robot," and we have evolved collaborative work to transform the platform into its advanced version for achieving our aim.(1) Development of a multi-legged robot platform, Jrob-2 : We have integrated and standardized all the components of Jrob-1 (which are a vision system, circuit boards, computer, and software and which have been developed on the research project grant-in-aid), and we have assembled them into an advanced multi-legged robot platform, Jrob-2. The vision system has two cameras and its pan, tilt, and congestion are controllable. It is capable of actively processing 3-dimensional images in real time. Gyroscopes and other sensors are equipped to take the valance of the robot. As the operating system, we have installed Real-Time Linux and all the fundamental behaviors of the robot are coded in C language.(2) Tutorial of Jrob-2 in the Annual Conference of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering : The team for developing Jrob-2 held a tutorial of its hard/soft ware and its fundamental behavior library in 1999 for the purpose of making the robot widely utilized by robotics researchers.(3) As for making evolutions of intelligent machine based on the platform, collaborative researchers have dealt with widely ranged research topics by taking their own approaches. Specifically, they have studied the quantitative relationship between the robot posture in locomotion and its mobility, generating locomotion by superimposing reactive behaviors, motion planning, cooperative transportation, and integration of vision and behavior. These research results are published in an over 300 pages report.