These robots weren't really "walking" in the sense that humans walk through continuous dynamic balancing, i.e falling forward.
These used quasi-static walking, where the zero moment point (like a moving centre of gravity) is kept within the support polygon of the footprint. This is what gives them their weird swaying gait and extremely conservative movement characteristics. You could never make a bipedal robot run, jump or respond to large and sudden external forces using this method. It's essentially a balance free movement hack.
Ya, they walk like old people. By keeping thier cog over thier feet they are able to stop at any moment without tipping over. That's how old people with diminished motor neuron function walk. Both play it safe because they know they lack the reaction time to prevent a fall once cog is outside their footprint. It is also how one walks when on very slippery surfaces.
The sad part though: What even has Honda done with their humanoid robotics research? I remember being starry-eyed, excited as a kid to see ASIMO and all the amazing things it was doing. Past a couple hardware revisions they basically just let the thing rot out to die and it hurts.
They've done nothing. Because there was nothing to do, back then.
Humanoid robotics wasn't a hardware problem back then, and isn't a hardware problem today. It was, and is, an AI problem at its core. You can make a humanoid robot, but you can't make it do useful things.
This is what's changing today. AI tech is actually advancing enough that "useful humanoid robots" might be within reach.
Doraemon is the one you befriend
Gundam is the one you ride to lead the way
The round thing that cleans the whole room is the Roomba
Robots these days are there to help with the housework
Next up, emotional comfort? We might not even need arms and legs
These used quasi-static walking, where the zero moment point (like a moving centre of gravity) is kept within the support polygon of the footprint. This is what gives them their weird swaying gait and extremely conservative movement characteristics. You could never make a bipedal robot run, jump or respond to large and sudden external forces using this method. It's essentially a balance free movement hack.
What none of them did, however, was “learn” (as the title suggests). They used hardcoded algorithms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgaEE27nsQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X23jNzL3wuE
This commercial still holds a lot of spirit and heart to it. I really wish we could tap progress on the shoulder and ask for more forwards again...
Humanoid robotics wasn't a hardware problem back then, and isn't a hardware problem today. It was, and is, an AI problem at its core. You can make a humanoid robot, but you can't make it do useful things.
This is what's changing today. AI tech is actually advancing enough that "useful humanoid robots" might be within reach.