Energid Technologies and ITRI to Advance Humanoid Robot Grasping and Manipulation

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Energid Technologies Corporation has partnered with the Industrial Technologies Research Institute (ITRI) to provide grasping and manipulation for ITRI's Roppie, a humanoid robot with powerful actuation and versatile human-like motion.

With more than 20 degrees of freedom, Roppie is a premier platform for developing powerful behaviors and grasping control.  Roppie's fingers expose advanced touch sensors, allowing it to perform delicate manipulation tasks.  The system was designed with the capability to perform burdensome household tasks, including manipulating and folding towels, linens, and certain types of clothing.

Energid and ITRI will apply new grasping software developed by Energid under a grant from the National Science Foundation.  This software removes the complexity involved in controlling advanced high-degree-of-freedom robots.  Algorithmic strategies are cascaded to build unique grasping and manipulation systems that allow robotic hardware to achieve its full potential.

"With extra degrees of freedom, humanoid robots can perform tasks in many ways," said James English, CTO of Energid Technologies. "Energid and ITRI will take advantage of this to enable advanced grasping with Roppie."

"Through cooperation with Energid, ITRI will use Actin to accelerate the development of advanced robotic behaviors.  ITRI's Roppie humanoid robot will perform genuinely useful tasks," said Cheng-hua Wu, Department Manager at ITRI's Intelligent Robotics Technology Division.

For more information, contact Mary Salzman at Energid Technologies ([email protected]), +1.617.401.7090 x 420, or Cheng-hua Wu at ITRI ([email protected]).

About Energid Technologies

Energid Technologies develops tools for robotic applications in the aerospace, agriculture, transportation, defense, and medical industries.  Energid's Actin™ and Selectin™ products provide advanced robotics technology in the form of extendable software toolkits.  Energid specializes in complex systems.

About ITRI

ITRI is Taiwan's largest applied technology R&D institution. Since its founding in 1973, ITRI has accomplished to promote development of Taiwan's high-tech industry. To date, ITRI has accumulated over 9000 patents and has assisted in the creation of over 150 start-up and spin-offs, including global semiconductor leaders TSMC and UMC. Our current focus areas include Information and Communications, Electronics and Optoelectronics, Nanotechnology, Material and Chemical, Energy and Environment, Advanced Manufacturing and System, and Biomedical Technology.

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SOURCE Energid Technologies Corporation