Illustrating man-machine motion analogy in robotics - The handwriting problem

• Published in: IEEE robotics & automation magazine 2003-03, Vol.10 (1), p.35-46
• Main Authors: Potkonjak, V., Tzafestas, S., Kostic, D., Djordjevic, G., Rasic, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1070-9932
• DOI: 10.1109/MRA.2003.1191709

This article deals with the problem of how to control a robot to make it move like a human in order to use the advantages of such behavior. By solving this problem, robot specialists may find a way to improve robot control, while biomechanics specialists can find mathematical models to simulate systems of their field. For simulation testing, a writing task is selected that represents a typical "human" motion. A new and growing robot application is service robotics. Within this class, home robots or personal robots, possessing human-like characteristics (regarding motion, communication, and intelligence) in their behavior, are perhaps the most promising robots. Besides service robotics, there may be other situations that require the intelligence and anthropomorphic structure of the robot(s), e.g., industrial applications (Tzafestas, 1991 and 1992). This article investigates the problem of human-like behavior in the sense of motion.