Toward autonomous car driving by a humanoid robot: A sensor-based framework

To achieve the complete car driving task with a humanoid robot, it is necessary to develop a set of basic action primitives, including: walking to the vehicle, manually controlling its commands (ignition, accelerator and steering), and moving with the whole-body, for car ingress/egress. In this paper, we propose an approach for realizing the central part of the complete task, consisting in driving the car along a road. The proposed method is composed of two main parts. First, a vision-based controller uses image features of the road, to provide the reference angle for the steering wheel. Second, an admittance controller allows the humanoid to safely rotate the steering wheel with its hands and realize the desired steering command. We present results from a car driving experience, by humanoid robot HRP-4, within a video game setup.