UK developed Humanoid robot wins Igus award

A life-sized humanoid robot developed by Cornwall-based Engineered Arts is the winner of this year’s Manus award, a prize given by polymer bearings expert Igus for particularly innovative applications of its technology.

Boasting over 27 degrees of freedom, RoboThespian - which is widely used around the world at visitor attractions and as a research platform for academic groups - is able to make a wide variety of lifelike gestures thanks to a series of hybrid pneumatic motors, which are essentially air muscles combined with servo motors. 

Marcus Hold, one of the engineers behind the innovative system, explained that its fluid and friction free gestures also owe a great deal to the 85 Igus polymer bearings that are used on the rotational shafts throughout the robot’s body.

Hold added that while the current model is unable to walk (it’s actually attached to a stabilising platform) the firm hopes to develop a walking, running and hopping version of the biped through its three year Byrun project.