Professor Builds Robot with Synthetic Human Bones and Muscles
0 
While an existing robot with human-like features may seem a little scary, University of Sussex Professor Owen Holland and his team are confident that their creation will further the knowledge of true artificial intelligence.
Design Taxi reported that “ECCEROBOT,” as Holland and his team call their anthropomimetic robot creation, has synthetic human bones, tendons and muscles that imitate both the look and technicalities of the human body.
According to the video, “FET11 – ECCE Human Robot presented by Hugo Gravato Marques,” Marques said the synthetic parts set the humanoid robot apart from other robots that are constructed using “standard engineering techniques” and allow for the humanoid robot to operate properly and effectively interact with human beings.
“What we think is that these robots have a really good potential to interact with the human environment and structured environment than typical robots do,” Marques said. “If you have a robot like this, you can outsource the computation for the mechanics of the human body. You can use, for example, the passive compliance to make it absorb the energy in the right way, to allow for safe interactions and to basically store energy in the muscles, which can then be released to produce fast movements.”
ECCEROBOT has elastic muscles and tendons, forearm rotators and shoulder blades that work together to create what Marques calls “meaningful movements.”
Design Taxi reported that the anthropomimetic robot has been featured in a special on BBC, “Horizon: The Hunt for A1.” Check out the preview clip below.
