Humanoids toward Practical Applications - Robotic Material Handling

Humanoids have been developed over the past few decades through the integration of many high-level technologies. These robots are designed to function in human-centered environments, like homes, offices, hospitals and factories. Previous generations of humanoids have been developed to showcase technological prowess and captivate the general public but the demand for practical uses like patient nursing in hospitals, industrial efficiency in factories and warehouses, and disaster restorations has spurred research towards more robust interactions with humanoids and human-centered environments. Such practical uses require humanoids' capabilities to percept surroundings, manipulate tools, and navigate through the real world environments. Furthermore, these humanoids must be reliable, stable, and adaptable to arbitrary environments. However, a lack of artificial intelligence and integration of loosely-coupled sub-fields in humanoids, namely legged walking, motion planning, force control and manipulation, hinder the immediate utilization of these robots in practical applications.This dissertation demonstrates a tele-operated humanoid platform which shares autonomy with human operators. The semi-autonomous humanoid receives high-level commands, such as decision making, from human operators but controls low-level functions, such as balance, locomotion and manipulation for material handlings. The methodologies described in this dissertation are theoretically constructed and empirically tested and evaluated on a full-sized humanoid. Through the 2013 DARPA Robotics Challengehose installation and rough terrain walking challenges, humanoids' capabilities to function within a human-centered environment have demonstrated.Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics -- Drexel University, 201