crescere DIGITALIANIInternet, il cambiamento continua

Giorgio MettaVice direttore dell'Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia di Genova

Robotics@iitiCub and friends

Our mission

Genova Central Research Lab32.000 sqm, fully equipped, one of the largest single-site labs in

Europe

Istituto Italiano di

Tecnologia

is Foundation that promotes

excellence in fundamental

and applied research,

develops higher education in

the area of science and

technology and fosters the

evolution of industry towards

the forefront areas of

technological innovation

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The research agenda

Aimed at maximizing cross fertilization between disciplines, the scientific plan addresses some of the main trends

that will impact the planet in the next decades, namely demographic shift, quality of life, and resource scarcity. To do

so, scientific activity revolves around Robotics & Mechatronics, Neuroscience and Smart/Green Materials

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People

Headcount = 1364

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014*

Staff

PhD-Fellows

Degree distribution

BIOLOGY11%

BIOTECH5%

CHEMISTRY12%

ENGINEERING30%

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN0.2%

IT6%

MATERIAL SCIENCE1%

MATH1%

MD1%

PHARMACOLOGY1%

PHILOSOPHY0.4%

PHYSICS13%

PSYCHOLOGY2%

HUMANISTIC10%

BIOCHEMISTRY1%

MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY2%

Countries of origin

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70

PhD

PostDoc

Team leader

Sen+Dir

*

*

*

*

Age (scientists)Average age ≈ 34 y

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Robotics is changing…

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Restricted spaces

Interactive

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ageing society sustainable manufacturing

safety & securityglobal warming

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PL

AN

TO

ID Rehab

iCu

b 3

.0

WA

LK

-MA

N

Full research platforms

Key enabling technologies

Applications

Plantoid

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Distributed control strategies

Distributed sensing systems

Redundancy

Robustness

Intrinsic structural properties

Tight connection of materials and behavior

Legged robots

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Requirements for versatile

locomotion:

• Withstand impacts and

crashes

• High actuation bandwidth

• High power-to-weight ratio

• Torque-controlled joints

• High performance

actuation control

• Compliant behavior

Large humanoid

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• robust mechanics

– modular design

– passive series compliance

• legs (ankle/knee and hip sagittal joints)

• torso (pitch and yaw)

• arms (shoulder and elbow)

– joint torque sensing

• power autonomy

– battery

– power management system

• on board computation

– 2 x dual core CPUs (one inside the

torso, one more to added in the head)

Small humanoid: iCub

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price: 250K€

30 iCub

distributed since 2008

about 3-4 iCub’s/year

• hands: we started the design from the hands

• sensors: human-like, e.g. no lasers

• electronics: flexibility for research

• reproducible platform: community designed

Examples of robotics-derived apps

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µRALPRehabilitation

iCub applications: a plausible future

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iCub new tech

(start-up company)

iCub2.0

iCub3.0

price: ~200K€

year: 2014-2015

height: 120cm

battery powered

fully covered

price: <10K€

year: 20xx?

height: ~120-140cm

“plastic” based

low cost

neuromorphic sensors and processing

MEMS tactile sensors, flexible sensors

low-friction tendons

additive manufacturing

energy harvesting

variable impedance actuators

fuel cells

printed electronics

bioplastics

price: 250K€

30 iCub

sold since 2008

3-4 iCub’s/year

iCub for

application in

the household

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