Surena

Is an Iranian humanoid robot, named after the Parthian General Surena. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Iran’s manufacture of Surena makes it one of five countries in the world with the technology to make humanoid robots.

Surena 2, which weighs in at 45 kilograms and is 1.45 meter high, has a total of 22 degrees of freedom: each leg has 6 DOF, each arm 4 DOF, and the head 2 DOF. An operator uses a remote control to make the robot walk and move its arms and head. The robot can also bow. Surena doesn’t have the agile arms of Hubo, the powerful legs of Petman, or the charisma of Asimo — but hey, this is only the robot’s second-generation, built by a team of 20 engineers and students in less than two years. A first version of the robot, much simpler, with only 8 DOF, was demonstrated in late 2008.

The robot was unveiled by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on July 3rd 2010 in Tehran as part of the country’s celebration of “Industry and Mine Day.” The robot is a joint project between the Center for Advanced Vehicles and the R&D Society of Iranian Industries and Mines.

The third generation of the Surena robot is currently under development as a joint project between the R&D Society of Iranian Industries and Mines and the University of Tehran. It will be able to walk faster and also recognize faces, objects, words and sentences with appropriate reactions. The Surena project is enhancing the ability to design robots that walk on two legs, under a feedback control system that provides dynamic balance, yielding a much more human-like motion.