Mimicking human form, a humanoid or human-centered robot is designed to assist humans for safety and productivity. Since the 1950s, television and movies have portrayed these robots both very human-like and far from it, leaving uncertainty on the reality of human-centered robots. In a recent Electronic Design article, The Future of Human-Centered Robotics, Luis Sentis, Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, explores the potential applications and challenges of human-centered robots.
From human proxies in hazardous environments to space travel to elder care, human-centered robotics have many promising applications. Currently, researchers are striving to address the challenges in conception, design, and the hardware and software to support these robots. Luis provided insight on this topic at the annual SXSW Conference and Festival, March 10-19, 2017. The session, A Developer’s Primer for Coding Human Behavior in Bots, was included in the IEEE Tech for Humanity Series at SXSW.
