Oussama Khatib, a robotics researcher at Stanford, discusses human-guided robots, dexterous manipulation, and OceanOne at the TUM Robotics Symposium in Munich.
Khatib describes OceanOne, a remotely operated underwater robot designed to let a person guide delicate work at depths that divers cannot safely reach. Haptic controls let operators feel contact through the robot and use their judgment while its autonomous systems help coordinate movement. The project could also support marine research, offshore maintenance, and hazardous work such as mining.
Khatib argues that robots need to do meaningful tasks, not just move well. Programming every action in advance becomes impractical in changing human environments, so robots need reusable skills that can be taught and applied as conditions change. He points to manipulation as a major challenge.
Traditional industrial robots are rigid and powerful, making close work alongside people difficult. Khatib traces torque-controlled, lightweight robots from Stanford’s Artisan work and its collaboration with DLR to later systems such as KUKA robots and Franka. With compliant control, contact forces can guide tasks such as aligning parts, recovering from a disturbance, or placing a lid.
Khatib groups applications across work in the field, healthcare, and industrial or service settings, and says they depend on shared research in areas including sensing, control, planning, perception, haptics, and human motion. He describes a layered architecture that connects perception and action with human input, from voice and programming to physical interaction. People can step in at different levels as a robot handles complex tasks.
OceanOne was shipped to Marseille and tested first at shallow depth before attempting a dive near the wreck of La Lune. Sediment stirred up near the seabed obscured visibility and trapped the robot between cannons, but Khatib used the haptic controls to help free it. The team later retrieved an intact Catalan vase from 1664, and Khatib says the next generation was being developed to reach 1,000 meters.
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Professor Oussama Khatib, a Stanford robotics researcher and advisor to the Technology Innovation Institute, discusses practical robotics and AI with host Amandeep on ATRC’s AI to Eye podcast.
Professor Oussama Khatib of Stanford University discusses human-robot collaboration, from compliant manipulation and whole-body control to OceanOne’s underwater archaeology work, with the MIRMI robotics community in Munich.
Prof. Oussama Khatib of Stanford University discusses robotics and human-machine collaboration at Le Lycee SF in San Francisco.
Dr. Oussama Khatib, director of Stanford’s Robotics Lab, discusses human-robot collaboration, safe robot design, and applications ranging from deep-sea exploration to caregiving at KAUST’s Winter Enrichment Program with host Nick.
Prof. Oussama Khatib, a robotics researcher at Stanford, explains how human guided robotics can help people explore and work in dangerous environments, focusing on OceanOne’s underwater archaeology mission in the Mediterranean.
Oussama Khatib, a robotics researcher at Stanford, discusses human-robot interaction and mobile manipulation at a Berkeley robotics event with CITRIS and the Banatao Institute.
