Speaker:Yoshihiro Kuroki,  Advanced Technology Engineering Dept. Partner Robot Div. (Tokyo) TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
Venue:NUS Faculty of Engineering, Blk EA, Level 2, EA-02-11
Date/Time: 18/12/14, Thursday, 2.00pm

I have launched a development project for a small biped entertainment robot named SDR (Sony Dream Robot) in 1997. In the shortest development period, in November 2000, we proposed the first prototype SDR-3X featuring dynamic and attractive motion performances such as Parapara dances and multi-unit formation dances. QRIO (SDR-4X II) is the latest and the most advanced model and has important capabilities such as a safe design and functions for safe physical interaction with human. But QRIO project has been terminated in 2006.

I started to develop the essential technologies for human support robots in 2009. Human support robots living together with human and providing livelihood support to human should have capabilities to make physical interaction with human, objects and environment. To achieve these capabilities in physical interaction tasks with safe operations, we propose a new torque sensing method and cooperative force adaptive control by joint torque detection based distributed torque servo control systems. I will also provide a brief introduction on the joint torque control based bilateral master slave system exploring future applications.

Yoshihiro Kuroki received  his B. S. and M. S. degrees  in mechanical engineering  from Waseda University,  Japan, in 1975 and 1977,  respectively. He joined Sony  Corporation from 1977 and  worked in development on  the high-speed assembly  robot and intelligent robot  systems. From 1997, he  worked in research and  development focusing on a  small biped entertainment  robot QRIO. He moved to  Toyota Motor Corporation  in 2008. He is a member of  Society of Biomechanisms  Japan and Robotics Society  of Japan. Fellow of Robotics  Society of Japan.