Professor Sethu Vijayakumar FRSE (Professor of Robotics, The University of Edinburgh and Program Director at The Alan Turing Institute) and his colleagues at SLMC (Statistical Learning and Motor Control Group, The University of Edinburgh) have started collaborative research with KAWADA ROBOTICS CORPORATION using NEXTAGE OPEN, the research humanoid robot platform.

Interactive Collision-Free Bi-Manual Manipulation;　

This project focuses on realizing an obstacle-aware, safe bimanual robot system that can react to dynamic, unseen environments and perform tasks accurately and robustly with compliant real-time control.

Further details on the project can be found here:

https://web.inf.ed.ac.uk/slmc/research/projects-and-grants/kawada

The University of Edinburgh has installed nine NEXTAGE OPEN units for research and education in autumn 2019. The NEXTAGE robots are being used for a wide range of cutting-edge research topics such as teleoperation, motion planning, perception, and vision, as well as courses with a focus on practical aspects of robotics and industry driven applications.

＜figure1. NEXTAGE during milestone 1 demonstration>

<figure2. User interface for controlling the robot>