This book is for researchers, engineers, and students who are willing to understand how humanoid robots move and be controlled. The book starts with an overview of the humanoid robotics research history and state of the art. Then it explains the required mathematics and physics such as kinematics of multi-body system, Zero-Moment Point (ZMP) and its relationship with body motion. Biped walking control is discussed in depth, since it is one of the main interests of humanoid robotics. Various topics of the whole body motion generation are also discussed. Finally multi-body dynamics is presented to simulate the complete dynamic behavior of a humanoid robot. Throughout the book, Matlab codes are shown to test the algorithms and to help the reader ́s understanding.

Humanoid robots can help us learn. They can go places humans can't, such as deep underwater, sending back information we never knew before. Humanoid robots can also aid in search and rescue—they are able to easily cross rough landscapes and carry heavy supplies. Discover how this cutting-edge technology was first created, and explore what kind of functions humanoid robots will perform in the future.

In this book the variety of humanoid robotic research can be obtained. This book is divided in four parts: Hardware Development: Components and Systems, Biped Motion: Walking, Running and Self-orientation, Sensing the Environment: Acquisition, Data Processing and Control and Mind Organisation: Learning and Interaction. The first part of the book deals with remarkable hardware developments, whereby complete humanoid robotic systems are as well described as partial solutions. In the second part diverse results around the biped motion of humanoid robots are presented. The autonomous, efficient and adaptive two-legged walking is one of the main challenge in humanoid robotics. The two-legged walking will enable humanoid robots to enter our environment without rearrangement. Developments in the field of visual sensors, data acquisition, processing and control are to be observed in third part of the book. In the fourth part some "mind building" and communication technologies are presented.

For many years, the human being has been trying, in all ways, to recreate the complex mechanisms that form the human body. Such task is extremely complicated and the results are not totally satisfactory. However, with increasing technological advances based on theoretical and experimental researches, man gets, in a way, to copy or to imitate some systems of the human body. These researches not only intended to create humanoid robots, great part of them constituting autonomous systems, but also, in some way, to offer a higher knowledge of the systems that form the human body, objectifying possible applications in the technology of rehabilitation of human beings, gathering in a whole studies related not only to Robotics, but also to Biomechanics, Biomimmetics, Cybernetics, among other areas. This book presents a series of researches inspired by this ideal, carried through by various researchers worldwide, looking for to analyze and to discuss diverse subjects related to humanoid robots. The presented contributions explore aspects about robotic hands, learning, language, vision and locomotion.

Humanoid Robots: Modeling and Control provides systematic presentation of the models used in the analysis, design and control of humanoid robots. The book starts with a historical overview of the field, a summary of the current state of the art achievements and an outline of the related fields of research. It moves on to explain the theoretical foundations in terms of kinematic, kineto-static and dynamic relations. Further on, a detailed overview of biped balance control approaches is presented. Models and control algorithms for cooperative object manipulation with a multi-finger hand, a dual-arm and a multi-robot system are also discussed. One of the chapters is devoted to selected topics from the area of motion generation and control and their applications. The final chapter focuses on simulation environments, specifically on the step-by-step design of a simulator using the Matlab® environment and tools. This book will benefit readers with an advanced level of understanding of robotics, mechanics and control such as graduate students, academic and industrial researchers and professional engineers. Researchers in the related fields of multi-legged robots, biomechanics, physical therapy and physics-based computer animation of articulated figures can also benefit from the models and computational algorithms presented in the book. Provides a firm theoretical basis for modelling and control algorithm design Gives a systematic presentation of models and control algorithms Contains numerous implementation examples demonstrated with 43 video clips

This is the first and only book of portraits of android and humanoid robots. The robots in these photographs by Max Aguilera-Hellweg, a photojournalist for 40 years whose work has appeared in Life, NYT Magazine, Rolling Stone, Discover, Scientific American, Time, and National Geographic, are some of the most well known in the world of humanoid robotics. The photographs explore the many ways scientists and engineers are creating robots with human attributes, qualities, and abilities, and the means by which the robots engage us in what is known as human-robot interaction. The relationship of humans to robots can be as subtle as nonverbal communication; as intuitive as whether you should pass someone on the left or pass on the right to avoid sidewalk salsa; as intimate as developing an affectionate personal relationship with a machine, or as never before conceived of, but now as important as life and death--autonomous robots programmed for ethical decision making in the battlefield. Author and photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg has embarked on a journey through Japan and the United States to explore the turning point in the evolution of robot science, where robots are becoming more like humans, crossing the great divide between data processing and sentience. Humanoid's breathtaking photographs present android robots designed to look and act like a human, beyond the imaginary Data from the TV series Star Trek, Pris, the replicant (played by Daryl Hannah) in the movie Blade Runner, or the "synths" of the hit TV series Humans. Some of the humanoid robots portrayed in this profound book, such as Bina48, Joey Chaos, and Geminoid-F have humanlike skin, hair, hands, even fingernails--they have been created to resemble with extreme accuracy an actual human being. Other humanoids are devoid of such external attributes but replicate the anatomy of a human--arms, legs, torso, a head and eyes--like, for example, the Terminator, not as Arnold Schwarzenegger but when he is all machine. Some of Aguilera-Hellweg's photographs reveal the different ways robot scientists approach the same engineering and design problem. BioBiped1, for instance, a humanoid based on biomimetics, comprised of a torso and pair of legs, has joints and moving parts modeled on human biology and systems, harnessing what nature has solved. Another such humanoid, aptly named Vocal Robot, consists of a pair of artificial lungs and a vocal chord from which it speaks. During the creation of many of these photos, an hour-long documentary, Au Couer des Robots (In the Heart of Robots), was shot. The English-language version is in postproduction and will soon seek distribution here and internationally. Max Aguilera-Hellweg's astonishing, gorgeous photography open our eyes to this brave new world in which humanoid robots--exciting, thrilling, frightening to some, strange to others, controversial, lifesaving--will change our lives in countless ways.

Sleek androids have spread slowly through the galaxy, threatening human dominance, until a small band of rebels rise up against the humanoid tide.