Patent ID: 6902015

Claim:
A biped walking humanoid robot, comprising: a body portion having an upper and a lower part, a pair of leg portions attached to the lower part of the body portion at a pair of its opposite sides, respectively, a pair of arm portions attached to the upper part of the body portion at a pair of its opposite sides, respectively, and a head portion attached to an upper end of the upper part of the body portion, wherein each of the leg portions includes two upper leg portions attached to the lower part of the body portion so as to be pivotally movable relative thereto triaxially, a lower leg portion attached to the upper leg portion so as to be pivotally movable relative thereto monoaxially, and a foot portion attached to the lower leg portion so as to be pivotally movable relative thereto biaxially, wherein each of the arm portions includes two upper arm portions attached to the upper part of the body portion so as to be pivotally movable relative thereto biaxially, a lower arm portion attached to the upper arm portion so as to be pivotally movable relative thereto monoaxially, and a hand portion attached to the lower arm portion so as to be pivotally movable relative thereto biaxially, wherein the body portion has an intermediate, anteflex region at which it is made able to bend forward; and wherein the robot further comprises a drive means for pivotally moving each of the foot portion, the lower leg portion and the upper leg portion of each of the leg portions, and the hand portion, the lower arm portion and the upper arm portion of each of the arm portions, and the body portion at the anteflex region, and a control means for controlling driving actions of the drive means; the robot being characterized in that: there is provided a contact detector at each of an outer area of an elbow portion formed between the upper and lower arm portions, and an outer area of a wrist portion formed between the lower arm portion and the hand portion of each of said arm portions, and a lower side of a toe portion formed in the foot portion, a lower side of a heel portion formed in the foot portion, and an outer area of a knee portion formed between the upper and lower leg portions of each of said leg portions, and a hip region and a back region of said body portion, and said contact detector comprises a casing portion forming an outer covering surface of the robot at said contact detector, a pressure sensor for sensing a pressure acting on said casing portion and an impact absorbing material for relieving a shock acting on said casing portion, wherein the control means determines a state, based on signals from each of the contact detectors, that the robot is falling.