HERMES: the fearless life-saving humanoid robot of the future (video)

8 Aug 2015

HERMES' sensors send balance information back to the human controller who can see and touch what the robot sees.

The bright minds at MIT have revealed their latest creation: HERMES, a robot that has the dexterity and balance of a human and which can go into dangerous situations like explosions and fires and rescue people.

Robot researchers from MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering have designed an interface that takes advantage of a human’s split-second reflexes, allowing a humanoid bot to maintain balance and complete tasks.

They explain that the robot could be deployed for rescue jobs normally reserved for the dexterity of humans.

The robot can act like a kind of puppet that can act with precision. It sends feedback to the human controller who wears a kind of exoskeleton suit to control things like balance.

“We wanted to put a human’s brain inside the robot,” explained Joao Ramos, PhD student at MIT.

“We wanted to take advantage of what humans can do. Humans can learn and adapt in order to face new situations and challenges that we may not predict.

HERMES the robot in action

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