Summary of the project

This project aims to develop a humanoid body design with wheeled feet that can move stably across different speed ranges and use cases, from pedestrian areas such as sidewalks to roadside and delivery environments. In addition to energy-efficient wheeled locomotion, the robot will use the degrees of freedom of its upper body and legs for posture stabilization, establishing a technological foundation for safe and smooth mobility in public spaces shared with people. We will also evaluate the robot's behavior when passing or accompanying people and feed the results into design, control, and ELSI, with the aim of establishing a new locomotion principle that spans the "last mile" to the "last step."

Milestone by year 2028

By 2028, we will demonstrate stable, energy-efficient locomotion using wheeled feet on a physical robot in an indoor environment. We will also use VR to identify mobility conditions under which people are less likely to feel afraid or obstructed. Furthermore, we will incorporate legal frameworks, ethics, and social norms into the design and establish a foundation for designing mobile bodies that can coexist with people in public spaces.

R&D Items

• [1] Energy-Efficient Mobility & Posture Stabilization
• [2] Human-Robot Mixed-Mobility Evaluation Platform
• [3] Mobility Design with ELSI as Design Inputs

Performers

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