A tele-operated humanoid robot drives a lift truck

We have been developing new abilities of humanoid robots to realize proxy driving of a lift truck. Construction machines such as a lift truck play an important role in many tasks, but sometimes the environments are too hazardous for human operators. If a tele-operated humanoid robot can drive a construction machine, it can work at a dangerous place. This humanoid robot operator has two advantages over an automated construction machine. It is much easier to carry the robot to a disaster site than moving the special construction machine. Besides, the robot may be less expensive than developing the special automated machine whose required number is relatively small. We have been developing new abilities of the tele-operated humanoid robot HRP-1 to realize the application. The paper describes results of investigations and experiments for proxy driving of a lift truck by HRP-1