Author: Yu Hang He, Email: hey6@unlv.nevada.edu
Date Last Modified: 07/16/2018

This week, members of the Hubo Lab performed a full scale demonstration using many humanoid robots that are available in the lab. The lab members showed Hubo 2 imitate a human motion using mobile controller. They showed how the controllers are used to accurately control FX-2's hand motion.

They demonstrated DRC-Hubo driving a vehicle, walking across uneven terrain and climbing stairs. It is incredible to witness first hand the DRC-Hubo that won the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge perform some of the tasks during the competition. The other demonstrations are just as insightful and incredible. The demonstrations reminded me that Hubo Lab is one of the leading laboratory in the field of humanoid robotics. I am grateful for this opportunity more than ever.

This week, I was busy with my project and did not have the opportunity to meet a new Korean outside of Hubo Lab. However, I was able to meet a Chinese student currently working in Korea. Her name is Ajiu, and she studied at Chungnam National University. I met her inside a cellphone service store where she works. She was extremely helpful with setting up the cellphone service for me. I learned from her that a lot of Chinese students study Chungnam University, which is right next to KAIST, because there is a language school in the University. I have the opportunity to talk with her in Chinese, which was a nice change of pace.

The most popular sport in Korea is football, or soccer as we call them in U.S.. The second most popular sport is baseball. However, football is clearly the most popular sports. The excitement surrounding football is especially high during our stay in Korea because it was during the 2018 World Cup held in Russia. Many KAIST students and Hubo Lab members know how to play football and pay close attention to the World Cup.

This week, the Hubo Lab members invited me and Leo for a football game. The lab members rented a small football field for a hour and half and I was able to enjoy an exciting soccer game. This is the first time that I played soccer. Regardless, it was still an fun experience for me. I always considered myself an indoor type, however, playing the soccer game showed me how exciting and fun sports can be. I really love the cooperative aspect of football game, where the teammates have to work together, pass the ball each other, in order to score a goal. By the end of game, I even tried to take a couple of shot at the goal myself. I look forward to play more sports in the future.

Inverse kinematic is one of the most crucial part of this project. This week, I learned how to use the inverse kinematic(IK) function for Hubo 2 and created a PODO AL program to test the IK function. I used Choreonoid simulator to test the program.

After learning how to use inverse kinematics, I transferred my functions that was originally written in Matlab into the C++ PODO AL program that I created for this project.

Another problem that I encountered during the project is the orientation of wrist. During the initial motion capture, I did not take the orientation of wrist into consideration. However, in order for the IK function to work properly, orientation of wrist is a crucial input parameter. In the end, I have to transformed the orientation captured during mocap into an orientation that can be used with IK function.