WENDY

DESCRIPTION

WENDY (Waseda ENgineering Designed sYmbiont) is a human-symbiotic robot from the Intelligent Machine Laboratory of Prof. Shigeki Sugano at Waseda University, developed to perform cooperative tasks alongside people safely in shared working spaces such as households, medical settings and welfare facilities. It stands 150 cm tall and weighs 170 kg, coordinating a 52-degree-of-freedom mechanism with CCD-camera environment recognition to carry out both physical and emotional interaction with a human partner. Its arms are built around the MIA (Mechanical Impedance Adjuster) joint - a leaf spring providing compliance and an electro-magnetic brake acting as a pseudo damper - giving the 7-DOF arm a mechanical compliance that absorbs and follows external force, including force applied by a person. Whole-surface covers on the manipulators detect tactile and force information, so when WENDY collides with someone its control system can plan an appropriate response: it will follow the person's movement to avoid harming them while still trying not to spill a glass of water it is holding. Its 13-DOF hands carry six-axis force sensors at the finger bases, stiff human-mimetic nails and compliant fingertips, and have been demonstrated breaking eggs and cutting cucumbers.

FEATURES