UNCW Students Bring Humanoid Robot to Life

This spring, UNCW became one of the few NC institutions to house a humanoid robot. The G1-EDU6 stands a little over 4 feet tall and weighs around 77 pounds. It offers a platform for exploring the complex engineering concepts of dynamic locomotion, human-robot interaction, advanced AI algorithms and dexterous manipulation, and more.

It arrived fully assembled. Students from the College of Science and Engineering spent the summer programming it to walk and perform basic object manipulation.

"It is a very complex system," said Hamed Saeidi, an assistant professor in the UNCW Department of Computer Science. "No single person can handle all the technical development. Tasks allocated to different students included device driver setup and software management, human-centered workflow for operating the robot, tactile-based object grasping, and localization and mapping."

Temo Meza '24M serves as the team leader. Saeidi was an advisor for Meza's master's thesis and they worked together on a single-arm surgery robot. Those experiences prepared him for working with the humanoid robot.

Meza's role was to learn as much as possible about the device and help the rest of the team get started with their tasks. He worked a bit with each team member, but the most with James Caddell '27 (intelligent systems engineering major and computer science minor) on how to develop custom gestures and programming the robot to perform them. He helped Anna Knorr '27 (an intelligent systems engineering major, minoring in physics and cybersecurity) learn how to obtain the data from the hands and send commands to move the fingers.

Knorr helped the robot grip simple shapes (like a ball) and make hand gestures (a fist or thumbs up). She is researching the ability to grip medical tools. Before this project, she saw humanoid robots as an engineering challenge but didn't appreciate how difficult it was.

"Working with a complex system like this has given me a better perspective on how challenging research can be, and with that, the tenacity to continue to chip away at the problem," she said. "I think I have better experience comparing tools and hardware, like which hands to use. I already have a clear idea of future hands to work with."

Because humanoids can be programmed to perform human tasks, they are proving to be useful not only in educational settings, but in healthcare, the auto industry and even home use.

"I did not have much hands-on experience with AI before this project," said Meza. "Single robot arms have been out for a while and common in some industries, but humanoid robots are starting to become more accessible. Everyone is racing to see what they can accomplish with their robots. It's wild to think that I have as much of a foot in this race as a team like Boston Dynamics (a leading global robotics company). I may end up being one of the pioneers for humanoid robots that can handle daily chores."

UNCW acquired the GI platform to equip the next generation of engineers and scientists with the tools and expertise to conduct research using medical and assistive robots. The purchase was funded by donors and the UNC System Office.

"Robots will be human co-workers in many places to cover workforce shortages and protect humans against hazardous situations," said Saeidi. "It's essential for our students to be trained in such high-demand technology. There are several sub-domains (perception, planning, multi-robot coordination) that are still being studied by research groups before these robots can become more autonomous. However, we are at the right point at UNCW to grow such a program."

A name for UNCW's robot will be decided via a voting campaign and revealed during a men’s basketball game.