IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2011 - 112

TURNING POINT

*

Humanoid Robots
By Peter I. Corke

I

n this issue, Peter I. Corke (PIC)
interviews Hirochika Inoue (HI),
professor emeritus, the University of
Tokyo, about humanoid robots.

PIC:

Can you remember the exact
time you decided that robotics was
for you?
HI: After I graduated in mechanical
engineering, I entered the graduate
school at the University of Tokyo in
1965. My thesis adviser was Prof.
Sumiji Fujii in mechanical engineering. He said to me that there were two
topics: mechanical vibration and automatic control. At
* first, I thought
nonlinear vibration
Using strain gauge
would be interfeedback, the hand
esting, but when
I found out the
was able to insert a
proposed topic
peg into a hole.
was vibration of
* trains I didn't like
that. One week
later, he asked "Inoue, would you
build a mechanical hand to turn a
crank?" It sounded very attractive to
me, and I decided at that moment that
this was the topic for me. That was the
exact start of my lifelong robotics
research and development.
I asked him what shall we do, and
he suggested that I "try anything" as
nobody had done this yet. So I worked
on this for five years: two years for my
master's degree and three years for
my doctorate degree. For the master's
study, we had no computer so the system was built using electronic circuits:

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2011.943247
Date of publication: 8 December 2011

112

*

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

*

analog amplifiers, strain gauges, and a
sequence controller. My master's
thesis was a mechanically hand controlled by a logic circuit. Using strain
gauge feedback, the hand was able to
insert a peg into a hole.
Then I wanted to do my doctoral
thesis, but I thought it would be hard
to extend this work to the doctorate
level. So I spent a year looking at adaptive control, the adaptive control of
aeroplanes, which was a very hot topic
at that time. However, for the theoretic
control, it is necessary to have a dynamic
model of the aeroplane, and this is dominated by the wing design. At that time,
the wing designs were all standardized
by NACA, so I thought I would not be
free from these standards, that I could
not design a different wing profile, so I
decided to go back to the mechanical
hand that turned a crank.
I studied a bit and I found a
company in Japan that developed
master/slave manipulators for radioactive isotope handling. I went to my
professor and said I wanted to use this
mechanical manipulator. He knew the
developer of this arm, and it was one of
his students. The prototype master/slave
manipulator was finished, but it was not
being used, so the company donated it
to my laboratory. I cut it in half and just
used the slave manipulator.
The next problem was to get a
computer in my laboratory in 1968.
At that time, the University of Tokyo
had only two or three computers, and
they were very big (in size). I tried
to borrow one, but for many reasons,
that was not possible. A little time later
my professor said we had the budget
to buy a small computer, one of the
first Japanese-built minicomputers.

DECEMBER 2011

However, the computer would only be
delivered in one year's time! That was
too late to me, but fortunately, the
company kindly lent another computer for six months from April to
September 1969. I had to make the
interface and the program and do the
experiments within just six months.
The computer was small and slow. Its
memory, magnetic core memory, includes only 4,096 words, and one word
was 18 b. Its computing speed was also
slow, for instance, 6 ls for fixed-point
addition, 42 ls for fixed-point multiplication, and so on. The program had
to be coded in assembly language. I did
everything in this simple, slow, small
computer, to realize touch sensing, force
sensing, center-grasp motion, pin-intohole motion, and turning a crank.
Everything was successfully done
within 4,000 words.

PIC:

Was this the first forcecontrolled robot?
HI: I think so, yes. That was my first
success. My adviser knew the key idea
of my thesis, but I didn't while I was
building it. To make dexterous manipulation using a computer, force sensing
is the key, compliance, and so on, for
grasping an object. It is necessary to
adjust the applied force for delicate
touching and dexterous manipulation
like assembly.

PIC: After you completed your
doctorate, what did you do next?
HI: After I finished my doctorate
degree, I had to work, to search for a
job. I didn't want to do teaching in the
university as it was desolated after
(continued on page 105)



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2011

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