IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2021 - 154

significant concerns about safety in dense human-robot
coexisting scenarios, later leading to the 2011 standardization
in International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) 10218-1/2 of safety factors for industrial
robots [17]. Around the same time, Waseda University
and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna were integrating the
robotic hand RCH-1 into the 59-degrees of freedom
(DoF) humanoid platform WE-4RII [18], which was
capable of grasping a glass and a bottle of water and
pouring the latter into the former as early as 2004, as
shown in Figure 3(b).
In the following years, humanoid robotics evolved
through all aspects. The iCub was renovated through a
new mechatronics design, a neural network interface, tactile
sensors, teleoperation,
affordances, and skills
learning, among others
[19]. It was displayed in
Japan at the 2013 workshop
" Technologies for Humans
and Humanoid Robotics "
[see Figure 3(c)].
The many intuitions
that emerged from these
workshops have become a
reality. Exciting advancements
have been made in
the field of humanoid
robotics research worldwide,
especially concerning
bipedal locomotion,
dexterous manipulation,
and perception in comdevelopment
of humanoid robots with advanced humanlike
perception and action capabilities.
Despite the existence of
research on rescue robots
before then, Fukushima
became a proving
ground for any advanced
robot technologies
designed to operate in
hazardous conditions.
plex environments. These have recently led, for example, to
the impressive performance of the Atlas robot by Boston
Dynamics. In Italy and Japan, research has grown thanks
to the collaboration that furthered neuroscience with the
FP7-ICT Robotic Sense of Movement project, which has
sought to find new approaches to the design and
Robots for Rescue, Exploration,
and Facing Natural Disasters
Rescue, exploration, and disaster-related applications constitute
an important domain of robotics in the future. In
these situations, a variety of tasks can be assigned to a
robot, such as inspection, surveillance, mapping, and
recovery from failures. On top of that, the tasks are carried
out in extreme environments, such as operations underwater,
on unstructured terrains, in radioactive environments,
or in extremely confined systems (such as pipes), which
can be extremely dangerous for human beings. One of the
first examples of these applications is the Japanese snakelike
robot ACM-R5H, based on the first snake-robot prototype
created in 1972 [20] and now developed by the
company Hi-Bot, which features one Italian and one Japanese
researcher among its founding members.
In 2003, the Italy-Japan workshop was titled " Research
on Humanoid, Service, and Rescue Robots in Italy and in
Japan. " A few years later, the earthquakes that struck
L'Aquila in Italy in 2009 and the northeast of Japan in 2011
accelerated the need for rescue robots. Despite the existence
of research on rescue robots before then [21], Fukushima
became a proving ground for any advanced robot
technologies designed to operate in hazardous conditions.
At the same time, Italy had to face the issue of monitoring
water around the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia,
following its 2012 accident. In this regards, the workshops
were centered on " New Critical Challenges in Robotics "
(in 2011) and on " Assistance Robots for Disasters " (in
2012). At the 2012 edition, the workshop featured a
speaker from the Tokyo fire department who focused on
the need for robotic technology in case of this kind of
disaster. A relevant example of the advancements in this
field was provided by the report of rescue activity in
Mirandola, Italy [22], which featured a joint force of
humans with field robots, drones, and 3D reconstruction
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 3. The milestones in the field of humanoid robotics, driven by Japanese and Italian researchers. (a) Waseda's WE-4R emotional
humanoid robot with Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna's RCH-1 artificial hand exhibited at Robodex 2003, (b) the WE-4RII humanoid robot
with the RCH-1 robotic hand integrated, and (c) the iCub robot presented at the 2013 Workshop.
154 * IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE * SEPTEMBER 2021

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2021

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