HUBO refers to the humanoid robots and the related technology demonstrators developed at the HUBO Lab at KAIST. As with other humanoid projects, the main focus of HUBO's development has been on bipedal locomotion, such as walking, running, and traversing the stairs. HUBO was officially unveiled to the public on January 6, 2005, after four years of research with three earlier prototypes.
Development history
The first HUBO (KHR-3) was developed by mechanical engineering professor Oh Junho and his Ph.D. student teams over the course of about 20 years. During much of this time, the technologies relevant to HUBO were acquired at a steady pace with contributions from within KAIST. While the KHR-3 HUBO was certainly not the most sophisticated robot of its time, it was noted as the first full-scale humanoid robot to be developed with less than $1,000,000 in comparison Honda is believed to have spent $300,000,000 on ASIMO.
Prototypes
To read more about prototypes click here
DRC-HUBO
In tandem with Rainbow Co. Professor Oh and his research team recently developed DRC-HUBO, which will compete as Team DRC-HUBO led by Drexel University at the DRC trials held in December 2013.
DRC-HUBO is designed to perform difficult but essential activities required when responding to disaster scenes. The robot will have to fulfill eight tasks assigned by the DRC at the upcoming event such as driving a utility vehicle, walking across rough terrain, climbing a ladder, and using hand tools.
Unlike the previous models of HUBO, DRC-HUBO boasts several distinctive, enhanced features, like interaction with the external environment. Without complex sensors installed throughout the body, DRC-HUBO can control each joint of the arms and legs in compliance with the dynamics dictated by the external environment. For example, when DRC-HUBO is faced with a rock falling from above while climbing up a ladder, the robot's arms and legs naturally give in to the force of external changes. Read more at the source...
DRC-HUBO is designed to perform difficult but essential activities required when responding to disaster scenes. The robot will have to fulfill eight tasks assigned by the DRC at the upcoming event such as driving a utility vehicle, walking across rough terrain, climbing a ladder, and using hand tools.
Unlike the previous models of HUBO, DRC-HUBO boasts several distinctive, enhanced features, like interaction with the external environment. Without complex sensors installed throughout the body, DRC-HUBO can control each joint of the arms and legs in compliance with the dynamics dictated by the external environment. For example, when DRC-HUBO is faced with a rock falling from above while climbing up a ladder, the robot's arms and legs naturally give in to the force of external changes. Read more at the source...