Introduction
    Humanoid robots are becoming the next explosion point in global technology and manufacturing. According to a research report by Morgan Stanley, the global humanoid robot market revenue is expected to reach 5 trillion US dollars by 2050, and the future global humanoid robot market size may even reach 60 trillion US dollars. The rise of this blue ocean market will not only reshape the landscape of manufacturing and services, but also bring unprecedented opportunities to the semiconductor industry. As a leading global semiconductor company, Texas Instruments offers advanced gallium nitride, gate drivers and precision sensor devices for system-level integrated solutions for building future robots, aiming to help engineers design safer, smarter and more compact humanoid robots.

Market Opportunities and technical Challenges of humanoid robots
    The application scenarios of humanoid robots are extremely extensive, covering multiple fields such as industrial automation, healthcare, education and research. Its core advantage lies in its ability to imitate human actions and decision-making capabilities, and adapt to complex and changeable environments. However, to achieve this goal, the development of humanoid robots still faces multiple challenges: high-precision joint control, complex environmental perception, efficient internal communication, and requirements for size and heat dissipation. These challenges have put forward higher requirements for advanced semiconductor technologies.
    How is a humanoid robot that can walk smoothly and achieve precise grasping given "life"?

Disassemble the core semiconductor technology in humanoid robots
Joint - High power density and high-precision motor control
"Combining flexible tendons and a powerful core"
    The joints of humanoid robots are the core of their movements, and the precise control of the joints cannot do without an efficient motor drive system. In a typical humanoid robot architecture, it is often necessary to integrate more than 30 distributed joint motors to form a highly complex multi-degree-of-freedom motion system. This intensive electromechanical integration poses a dual challenge to the drive system: on the one hand, it needs to meet the differentiated drive requirements of different joints; on the other hand, it must achieve the ultimate space utilization rate. TI, through its advanced motor control technology, provides high-precision and high-response solutions for robot joints.
    Small joints such as fingers and wrists have extremely high requirements for control accuracy and power density. The 48V/16A three-phase inverter reference design developed based on gallium nitride (GaN) technology is optimized for the driving requirements of small joints and is particularly suitable for 1000W-class electric drive systems. Compared with the traditional MOSFET scheme, GaN FET can not only achieve a smaller size (with a volume reduction of more than 50%), but also effectively reduce switching losses due to its higher theoretical efficiency, support higher-frequency PWM control, thereby achieving a smoother motor current waveform and more precise control.
    For high-power joints such as the waist and hip, TI has launched a 4kW high-power solution based on MOSFET, which uses the half-bridge intelligent drive DRV816X. Compared with the traditional half-bridge drive, this scheme has a higher degree of integration and integrates overcurrent protection, low-side current sampling and internal pull-in current functions simultaneously. Furthermore, the F28P65x real-time microcontroller is used in this scheme, integrating EtherCAT MAC and the complete USB 2.0 (MAC + PHY). Two external PHYs can be attached to achieve the EtherCAT hibiscus chain. Its 9x9 package is also competitive in the industry's EtherCAT miniaturization solutions.

Vision - Millimeter-wave radar sensing and sensor fusion
It's like equipping the robot with the echolocation system of bats.
    One of the important capabilities of humanoid robots is to detect and interpret the physical environment: just as humans rely on their senses for navigation and interaction with the world, humanoid robots also need complex sensing systems to perform tasks autonomously and effectively. Compared with traditional lidar or cameras, millimeter-wave radar is not affected by dust, smog or insufficient light, and has lower power consumption. However, for humanoid robots, using one type of sensor may have the limitation of incomplete and inaccurate data collection, which in turn leads to errors in navigation, object handling and environmental interaction.
    TI has proposed an innovative multi-sensor fusion solution - adopting an AI-optimized radar SoC and an integrated neural network accelerator processor architecture. That is, by combining the camera with the IWR6843 millimeter-wave radar, an edge AI model is run on the AM62A processor to achieve environmental perception. In this scheme, the camera completes human visual recognition based on the AI model, while the millimeter-wave radar accurately acquires human contour and distance information through point cloud analysis.
    This integrated system demonstrates outstanding environmental adaptability and can help robots reliably complete the tracking and detection of three-dimensional space objects in extreme scenarios such as fire scenes and smoke environments. With the built-in functional safety mechanism and device safety certification of (TUV) SUD, TI radar devices can provide the necessary diagnostic coverage required by IEC 61508, meet hardware functions up to SIL 2 at the component level, and ensure reliability guarantees in critical mission scenarios.

Nervous system - Single-line Pair Ethernet solves internal communication problems
Just like upgrading the messy telegraph lines to a fiber-optic network.
    Advanced humanoid robots require a communication system that is not only integrated within a space-constrained lightweight framework but also meets the requirements of communication interfaces such as bandwidth. Moreover, it CAN support real-time high-bandwidth data transmission among numerous joint controls - traditional CAN communication can only support up to ten megabits at most. In terms of bandwidth and real-time performance, it has been difficult to meet the communication rate requirements of humanoid robots above 100 megabits.
TI adopts SPE technology and/or Daisy chain topology to reduce the overall size of the wiring harness (from 4 100M cables to 2 100M cables), significantly reducing the weight and complexity of the robot wiring harness. The Arm® -based controller AM261 is designed for a single-wirel-pair Ethernet solution. It is equipped with an internal PRU module that supports protocols such as EtherCAT, Ethernet, and PROFINET. This scheme also integrates the IEEE 802.1AS protocol, supports network time synchronization with an accuracy of 1-15ns between the controller and I/O nodes, and has a strong EMI/EMC anti-interference ability. It complies with industrial IEC and CISPR standards and can work stably in the noisy environment inside the robot. In addition, the cable diagnostic function further enhances the reliability and maintainability of the system.

Conclusion
    TI has built a complete set of solutions in the field of humanoid robots through the synergy of three core technologies: motor control, sensor fusion and high-speed communication.
    Although science fiction films often depict scenes where robots take over human jobs or control the world, the development of robot technology has always aimed at expanding the boundaries of human capabilities. The current evolution direction of humanoid robots indicates that their application scenarios will continue to deepen and expand. Standing on the eve of the robot revolution, Texas Instruments' modern technologies and achievements in the chip field are laying the foundation for more possibilities in the future.