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Time of India
10-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
DRDO scientists working on humanoid robot for military missions to reduce risk for troops
Scientists at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are working on a humanoid robot that can be part of frontline military mission, an official said on Saturday. #Operation Sindoor India-Pakistan Clash Live Updates| Missiles, shelling, and attacks — here's all that's happening Pakistani Air Force jet shot down in Pathankot by Indian Air Defence: Sources India on high alert: What's shut, who's on leave, and state-wise emergency measures The Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), a key lab under the DRDO, is developing a machine that can carry out complex tasks under direct human command, aiming to reduce troop exposure in high-risk environments, the official said. Talking to PTI, S E Talole, group director at the Centre for Systems and Technologies for Advanced Robotics within the R&DE (Engineers), said the team has been engaged in the project for four years. "We've developed separate prototypes for the upper and lower body and have successfully achieved certain functions during internal trials," he said, adding that the humanoid will be able to function on tough terrains like jungles. The robot was recently showcased at the National Workshop on Advanced Legged Robotics held in Pune. Live Events Currently in its advanced development phase, the team is focusing on refining the robot's ability to understand and execute operator commands. The system relies on three key components: actuators that generate movement like human muscles, sensors that collect real-time data from the surroundings, and control systems that interpret this information to guide actions. Talole said, "One of the biggest challenges is ensuring the robot can carry out desired tasks smoothly, which requires mastering balance, rapid data processing, and ground-level execution." Researchers are concentrating on these aspects as they move towards completing the project by 2027, said Kiran Akella, a scientist leading the design team. DRDO officials said legged robots, both bipedal and quadrupedal, offer immense potential in defence and security and sectors like healthcare, domestic assistance, space exploration, and manufacturing. However, creating autonomous, efficient-legged robots comes with significant technological hurdles, they said. Scientists explained that the humanoid's upper body would feature lightweight arms with a spherical revolute joint configuration, offering 24 degrees of freedom - 7 in each arm, 4 in the gripper, and 2 in the head. The robot will be able to perform complex autonomous tasks with closed-loop gripping and manipulate objects by turning, pushing, pulling, sliding doors, opening valves, and overcoming obstacles, especially in high-risk environments, they said. Both arms will work collaboratively to safely handle hazardous materials such as mines, explosives, and liquids. The system will operate seamlessly day or night, indoors or outdoors, and incorporate proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors, data fusion capabilities, tactical sensing, and audio-visual perception. The humanoid biped will include features such as fall and push recovery, real-time map generation, autonomous navigation, and path planning through simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM), enabling it to carry out complex autonomous operations in challenging, high-risk environments.
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
DRDO Pune lab developing humanoid robot for military operations
Pune: A team of scientists from the Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) of the is developing a for various defence applications essential for operational robot, designed to operate under human command, aims to participate in high-risk , thereby reducing soldiers' exposure to life-threatening scenarios. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The robot was showcased at the three-day national workshop on advanced legged robotics, which began in Pune on Thursday. This is the first time the DRDO has publicly showcased a technological demonstration in this field."The humanoid robot consists of a complex operating system that functions through a combination of advanced software and sensors. We have currently developed prototypes for both the lower and upper bodies of the robot and have achieved some applications during our internal testing," SE Talole, Group Director at the Centre for Systems and Technologies for Advanced Robotics of the R&D Establishment (Engineers), told TOI. The team has been working on the project for the past four years and has completed the initial stages of development. Once fully operational, the humanoid upper body system would have the ability to perform complex autonomous operations with closed-loop gripping. It will also be capable of turning, pushing, pulling or sliding doors, pushing obstacles, opening valves, and operating in high-risk zones. The robot should be able to process and successfully execute commands given by the operator, according to scientists. The functioning of the robot is based on three principles — actuators act as muscles to generate movement, sensors gather information, and control systems process this information."The challenging aspects for us are to execute various tasks seamlessly. To achieve that, we need to ensure high-level balancing, information processing, and execution on the ground," said Talole. "Our team is working on achieving these three objectives in the advanced phases of development. Our aim is to complete the task by 2027," said Kiran Akella, a scientist leading the design legged robots being developed by the DRDO's premier research laboratory in Pune have the potential to be put in use by Indian Armed fully functional, the humanoid upper body system would have a lightweight arm with spherical revolute joint configuration. It would have 24 degrees of freedom, including seven in the arm, four in the gripper, and two in the has been designed to safely handle hazardous objects such as mines, explosives, and liquids using both arms collaboratively. It can perform operations at day or night, indoors or outdoors. Audiovisual perception, multiple proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensing abilities, data fusion, and tactical sensing would also be humanoid biped system has been designed to possess stability, control, and balance while navigating unstructured would have real-time dynamics and kinematics, besides capabilities for fall and push recovery, and real-time map generation and planning and simultaneous localization and mapping in unstructured terrain as well as the ability to perform complex autonomous operations in high-risk zones are also features that the humanoid biped system would global players have also been developing effective humanoid robots for military purposes, with some countries already in the process of inducting these robots for logistics and other robotic systems, such as bipedal and quadrupedal robots, have numerous practical applications in various fields, including military and security, medical services, home services, space exploration, and manufacturing. However, the design and development of autonomous legged robots face a variety of technological challenges, an official said.
