Jalisco Talent Land 2019

In Hollywood, robots are often depicted in the humanoid form. Thus when we think of robots we naturally imagine humanoid robots. For robots to move around in a human environment and to do work using tools made for humans, it is natural to have robots that have the shape and size of a human. We have been developing humanoid robots at RoMeLa (Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory) for more than a decade for fire fighting and disaster relief applications. However, such robots are still too slow, too unstable, too complex, too expensive, and too unsafe which prevent them to be used in real life situations. Do robots really need to look like human? We revisit this question and present some of the new exciting morphologies as solutions, discuss the creative process, and imagine our future with robots.