the Robot Cub project Giulio Sandini 1 2

the Robot. Cub project Giulio Sandini (1, 2) , Giorgio Metta , David Vernon University of Genoa Italian Institute of Technology (1) (2) (1, 2) (1)

Main Figures • Robot. Cub is a 5 years project funded by the European Commission in the field of “cognitive systems” (cordis. europa. eu/cognition) • Presently the consortium is composed of 16 Partners, 11 from Europe, 3 from Japan and 2 from the USA. • The consortium is coordinated by University of Genoa • Total Funding is 8. 5 M€ and total effort is 1, 651 person-months (138 person-years) The project started in September 2004

Robot. Cub Robot-Cub scientific goal is to study the development of cognitive manipulation skills (manipulation, imitation, gesture communication) Robot-Cub engineering goal is to build a humanoid platform to be used by the scientific community as a common platform the i. Cub

Research Strategy Global scientific community is best served by creating an open platform and exploiting synergies An Open System!! Robot-Cub engineering goal is to build a humanoid platform whose design is open to the scientific community and can be duplicated and improved by the community of its users.

The i. Cub is the humanoid baby-robot being designed within the Robot. Cub project – The i. Cub will be a full humanoid robot sized as a two and half year-old child. – The total height is estimated to be around 94 cm. – It will have 53 degrees of freedom, including articulated hands to be used for manipulation and gesturing. – The robot will be able to crawl and sit and autonomously transition from crawling to sitting and vice-versa. – The robot is GPL/FDL: software, hardware, drawings, documentation, etc.

Size, shape, dof’s 243 mm 369 mm From human data 439 mm Approx 934 mm From our experience with other platforms Avg. 14 kg - 30. 8 lb Not quite! 23 kg

i. Cub CAD

Hand finger Angle sensors Tension sensor Tactile Internal wires

Sensors… • Cameras • Skin/tactile • Gyros/inertial • Microphones 640 x 480 color Remote head Very small but otherwise standard Small (0. 67 mm) Designing force/torque sensor Fingertip 3 -axis sensor Joint torque measurement Conductive paint… QTC: rubber-like material Tension sensors? Organic FETs? Standard, condenser electret

More sensors… • Tension Sensors • Fingertips

Being assembled… Foot (note the size) Upper torso + head + shoulder & elbow Hips Force/torque sensor Control cards Head

Latest Pictures

Level 2 APIs: Prospective Action Behaviors Coordinated operation: Ontogenic Development Based on phylogenic configuration Level 1 APIs: perception/action behaviors Cognitive Architecture own learning model Innate perception/action primitives loose federation of behaviors Level 0 APIs: data acquisition & motor control Multiple YARP processes Running on multiple processors Software Architecture Gbit Ethernet HUB DSP pc 104 DSP Sensors & Actuators DSP i. Cub Embedded Systems

Timeframe • Sept 2007: – First Prototype completed, tested and debugged • Sept 2007: – Launch of Competitive Calls • March 2008: – 8 more platforms built for the scientific community – Additional projects start

Seeking International Collaboration 1. Joining effort with on-going project (and contribute to new proposals) 2. Directly support projects on “Cognition” based on i. Cub platform