|
In this article:
- What is a humanoid
- Uses of humanoids
- Sensors used in humanoids
What is a Humanoid?
A humanoid or a humanoid robot is a special type of robot whose appearance and physical behavior (eg., movement) is based on the human body. Thus, a humanoid would typically have a torso, a head and also arms and legs. However, some other humanoids may concentrate on emulating a certain body part alone. Humanoids may look like a male human (called Androids) or a female human (called Gynoids).
What makes a humanoid robot unique among the variety of robots available all over the world is its ability to adapt to new and changing or dynamic environment. In addition to this, humanoids can perform their own maintenance, can learn new things and develop their skills, avoid things that may harm it and so also stop itself from harming others.
Humanoids are typically complicated and this has a direct impact on their mechanical and spatial aspects. Given the current set of technologies, humanoids are not able to perform activities that humans find very simple (such as jumping). It is for this reason that humanoids are made to concentrate on a particular aspect of human behavior rather than putting all the features together in a single humanoid which would make it overly complex. Humanoids are also capable performing certain mental tasks which are usually done by a human and involve logical deductions and solutions to problems.
Uses of Humanoids
Humanoid robots find a variety of uses, most of which pertain to the field of scientific research. Some uses are as follows:
- Humanoids are a good means to understand the structure of the human body and its behavior under various situations. The information so collected may then be used to make better humanoids.
- Studies have been conducted to understand how humans learn through observation and perception of what they see, hear or feel which affects their behavior in future. Humanoids are then made on the basis of these findings making them efficient in various types of human-like behavior.
- A very basic use of humanoids is as a personal assistant, especially to those people who cannot do their work themselves such as old people or the physically impaired. So also, humanoids maybe used to perform regular tasks like that of a receptionist or help desk personnel. Though all this is fairly complicated, there exists some systems and software that have helped achieve certain success in this regard.
Sensors used in Humanoids
A sensor is a device that is capable of measuring a certain dynamic attribute in the real world. These are an important part of any humanoid as they cannot function at all without them.
The two types of sensors that are used in humanoids are as follows:
- Proprioceptive Sensors
These sensors are used to detect the position and speed of the humanoid in whole and so also its parts or joints. These sensors are comprised of accelerometers that measure acceleration, tilt sensors that measure inclination of the body and position and speed sensors.
- Exteroceptive Sensors
These sensors help the humanoid to collect information or data that describes the environment it is in. This information then acts as a base for the humanoid to interact with the environment. There are various types of exteroceptive sensors. Proximity sensors are those that are used to determine the distance of the humanoid from a particular object or objects present in the environment. Thus, they perform a function quite similar to those of the human eye. These may be sonars (which use sound to detect objects) or infrared sensors. Tactile sensors are used to provide a sense of touch or feeling to a humanoid. For providing vision or eyesight to a humanoid robot, CCD cameras are placed on a robot (usually in the head) as vision sensors. Finally, microphones act as sound sensors and help emulate the behavior of human ear (except that they don’t help in balancing the robot while the human ear helps balance a human body).
|
