 | |
| Manufacturer | Italian Institute of Technology |
|---|---|
| Country | Italy |
| Year of creation | 2009–present |
| Type | Humanoid robot |
| Purpose | research, recreational |
| Website | www |
| iCub software | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Italian Institute of Technology |
| Initial release | 2009; 17 years ago (2009) |
| Stable release | |
| Written in | C++[1] |
| Operating system | Free/Libre operating systems:Linux,FreeBSD,NetBSD,OpenBSD; Non-free operating systems:OS X,Windows |
| Type | Artificial Intelligence,Robotics |
| License | GNU GPL/GNU LGPL[2] (Free software) |
| Website | github |
iCub is a one meter tallopen source roboticshumanoid robottestbed for research into human cognition and artificial intelligence.
It was designed by theRobotCub Consortium of several European universities, built byItalian Institute of Technology, and is now supported by other projects such asITALK.[3] The robot isopen-source, with the hardware design, software and documentation all released under theGPL license. The name is a partial acronym,cub standing for Cognitive Universal Body. Initial funding for the project was€8.5 million fromUnit E5 – Cognitive Systems and Robotics – of theEuropean Commission'sSeventh Framework Programme, and this ran for 65 months from 1 September 2004 until 31 January 2010.
The motivation behind the strongly humanoid design is theembodied cognition hypothesis, that human-like manipulation plays a vital role in the development of human cognition. A baby learns many cognitive skills by interacting with its environment and other humans using its limbs and senses, and consequently its internal model of the world is largely determined by the form of the human body. The robot was designed to test this hypothesis by allowing cognitive learning scenarios to be acted out by an accurate reproduction of the perceptual system, and an articulation of a small child so that it could interact with the world in the same way that such a child does.[4]
The dimensions of the iCub are similar to that of a 3.5-year-old child. The robot is controlled by an on-boardPC104 controller which communicates with actuators and sensors usingCANBus.
It utilises tendon driven joints for the hand and shoulder, with the fingers flexed byteflon-coated cable tendons running inside teflon-coated tubes, and pulling against spring returns. Joint angles are measured using custom-designedHall-effect sensors and the robot can be equipped with torque sensors. The finger tips can be equipped with tactile touch sensors, and a distributed capacitive sensor skin is being developed.
The software library is largely written in C++ and uses YARP for external communication via Gigabit Ethernet with off-board software implementing higher level functionality, the development of which has been taken over by the RobotCub Consortium.[4] The robot was not designed for autonomous operation, and is consequently not equipped with onboard batteries or processors required for this —instead an umbilical cable provides power and a network connection.[4]
In its final version, the robot has 53 actuateddegrees of freedom organized as follows:
The head hasstereo cameras in a swivel mounting where eyes would be located on a human and microphones on the side. It also has lines of red LEDs representing mouth and eyebrows mounted behind the face panel for making facial expressions.
Since the first robots were constructed the design has undergone several revisions and improvements, for example smaller and more dexterous hands,[5] and lighter, more robust legs with greater joint angles and which permit walking rather than just crawling.[6]
The iCub has been demonstrated with capabilities to successfully perform the following tasks, among others:
These robots were built byIstituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) inGenoa and are used by a small but lively community of scientists that use the iCub to study embodied cognition in artificial systems. There are about thirty iCubs in various laboratories mainly in theEuropean Union but also one in the United States.[18] The first researcher in North America to be granted an iCub wasStephen E. Levinson, for studies of computational models of the brain and mind and language acquisition.[19]
The robots are constructed by IIT and cost about €250,000[20] each depending upon the version.[21]Most of the financial support comes from the European Commission's Unit E5 or the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) via the recently created iCub Facility department.[18]The development and construction of iCub at IIT is part of an independent documentary film calledPlug & Pray which was released in 2010.[22]
The iCub is distributed as Open Source following the GPL/LGPL licenses and can now count on a worldwide community of enthusiastic developers.
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| Preceded by RobotCub | Humanoid robots | Succeeded by - |