Current fully autonomous robots are unable to navigate effectively in visually complex environments due to limitations in sensing and cognition. Full teleoperation using current interfaces is difficult and the operator often makes navigation mistakes due to lack of operating environment information and a limited field of view. We present a novel method for combining the sensing and cognition of a robot with that of a human. Our collaborative approach is different from most in that we address bi-directional considerations. It provides the human a mechanism to supplement the robot's capabilities in a new and unique way and provides novel forms of feedback from the robot to enhance the human's understanding of the current state of the system and its intentions.

This video highlights work to date on the Yobotics-IHMC lower body humanoid robot. The robot is a twelve degree-of-freedom robot with force controllable series elastic actuators at each degree of freedom. Control algorithms utilize virtual model control, and foot placement is determined using capture regions. The robot can recover from moderate disturbances and walk on flat ground. Ongoing work is focused on improving robustness to disturbances, walking more quickly and efficiently, and walking over rough terrain.

We present several biologically inspired concept designs and feasibility analyses for underwater swimming exoskeletons. These designs are biologically inspired, based on observations of dolphins, sea turtles, and penguins. Biologically inspired designs have the advantages of stealth, maneuverability, and a natural interface when compared to propeller driven underwater propulsion devices. We present a lower body concept, based on dolphin locomotion and an upper body concept based on sea turtle and penguin locomotion. The dolphin based concept has the advantages of using the wearer's most powerful muscle groups, of being the most natural to swim with, and of leaving the user's hands free for other tasks. The sea-turtle based concept has the advantage of novelty and may have appeal as a recreational device. We predict that with actuation and energy storage components available today, an exoskeleton that produces a cruising speed of over 1 m/s and a top speed of over 1.5 m/s is feasible. We estimate that cruising at 1 m/s can be achieved with less than 504 Watts power consumption, which translates into 2.4 kg of off-the-shelf silver-zinc batteries per hour of operation.