Baby steps: A design proposal for more believable motion in an infant-sized android

In studying human interaction, an android can serve as a precisely controlled apparatus to elicit human response. However, if an android is to substitute for a human being in social, cognitive, and neuroscientific experiments, it is essential to control for the effects of appearance by designing it to look and move as much like a human being as possible. The goal of this project is to create an infant-sized android to use in experiments. We propose design concepts for an- droid joints and joint control to imitate human muscle control and appearance. The synchronized motion of servomotors and anatomi- cally correct muscle-joint relations combine with the passive motion of elastic muscles to control the android's movements. The imple- mentation of an android leg exhibits these concepts.