The hardware design of the robots usually reflects its purpose. For example, leg for walking, arm for reaching, hand for grasping, etc. The function of mechanical systems is explicitly defined by designers and the simple shape consisting of straight lines or circular arcs is reasonable for its clarified function.
On the other hand, our real environment is full of diverse shapes. The complex shape has been formed by various factors, biological growth, aging, weathering and so on. Utilizing diverse objects to create robots, we might be able to see behaviors and motions we’ve never seen. We aim to find unpredictable motions we could not discover with simple shapes.
In this work, as a primitive function of the robot, we focus on stand-up behavior. For the materials that bricolage the robot, we select tree branches as objects with diverse shapes. The robots' poses are generated aiming to maximize the height of the bodies. Robots with diverse body shapes change their pose by repeating trial and error in real time. Through the process of learning, this work portrays new functions and meanings given to commonplace objects.
size: 3×3×1.5 m
year: 2019
contents: robots, control unit, sensing camera
Awards
2019/11/08(金) Updated
robot explores "standing pose"
robot move to optimize its motor's angle
robots have various shaped body