It began in the summer of 2009, with two legs and a camera
mounted on top – but it was still far from being a robot of humanoid
appearance. Gradually, the TOrque controlled humanoid RObot (TORO), the German
Aerospace Center's (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) walking
machine, has become more human-like – an upper body, a head with camera eyes
and arms have been added. TORO is now complete, with forearms and hands with sensors
and flexible joints that allow it to respond to its environment with
exceptional sensitivity. TORO must now learn, step by step, how to perform
simple human actions – climbing stairs or opening doors, for example. "Now
that the robotic body is complete, we can test processes where the robot
carries out sequences of movements with foresight and fluency," explains
Project Manager Christian Ott.