The Open Source Humanoid Robot

The Open Source Humanoid Robot Build Your Own DARwIn-OP

DARwIn-OP RoMeLa

DARwIn-OP  America’s newest humanoid robot, unveiled this week at IEEE’s Humanoids 2010 conference.

It`s 18 inches tall, weighs 6 pounds and is ready to be messed with. It’s OK, he’s an open-source bot.

Designed by Dennis Hong’s RoMeLa team at Virginia Tech with collaborators at University of Pennsylvania's Grasp Lab, Purdue University, and Korean company Robotis, DARwIn-OP’s hardware and software are open-source — you can fabricate the parts, choose your own electronics and build one of your own. And why wouldn’t you? There’s something so cute about his Astroboy fins .

About 10 DARwIn-OP units were making the rounds at IEEE this week, and afterward will be distributed to the partner universities.

If you don’t work in a robotics lab and don’t have access to a CAD system, Robotis will build one for you, to the tune of $12,000 ($9,600 with an educational discount).

He even plays soccer, Sounds like a bargain.

Bigger Big Dog Robot

LS3- The Bigger Dog via Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics' Big Dog robot is scheduled to get bigger.

Working off a $32 million request from DARPA and the Marine Corps

Boston Dynamics has developed a souped-up version of the quadrupedal Big Dog robot called the the Legged Squad Support System (LS3). This new robot will have a longer range, heavier carrying capacity, and more agility than its predecessor.

Boston Dynamics designed the original Big Dog as a robotic replacement for flesh and blood pack animals. Mountainous or uneven terrain often proves impassible even for hardy vehicles like the Humvee, forcing soldiers to carry heavy loads themselves or forsake equipment entirely.

The agile Big Dog robot would carry that equipment, lightening the load for the soldiers, or allowing them to bring even heavier systems through nearly impassable terrain.

The LS3 serves the same function, only more so the original Big Dog can carry a load of 340 pounds almost 13 miles at a pace of four miles per hour, while being remotely operated by a human. Plus, it's agile enough to navigate a 30 degree incline.

The LS3, on the other hand, will carry a 400 pound load 20 miles, only refuel every 24 hours, and use a mixture of cameras and GPS signals to follow a squad autonomously.

 Boston Dynamics also plans to make the LS3 faster than the original Big Dog, and even capable of jumping over obstacles.

The Big Dog gained a degree of Internet fame through videos showing off it's remarkable capabilities and animal-mimicking gait. Unfortunately, it's going to be at least another 30 months before Boston Dynamics releases similar video of the LS3, so that awesome concept art, featuring a very Halo-esque head for the robot, will have to sate our robotic pack mule hunger until then.

Robot Toyota Humanoid Minstrels

Take the Stage in Tokyo Trumpeting Robots' Mastery of Music

Do you believe this  robot can feel!!! Toyota showed off its humanoid robots’ ability to let the music move them last weekend in Tokyo at an event soundtracked by a couple of humanoids playing the violin and the trumpet with human accompaniment.

Cheetah Robot Super Fast Running

Cheetah Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics developer of the headless humanoid Petman and the equally creepy Big Dog robots--has landed itself two more DARPA robotics grants to the tune of several million dollars each. New to the production queue: another humanoid designed to traverse rough terrain and a fast four-legged design modeled on the Cheetah that aims to be the fastest legged robot in the world.

ATLAS, as the humanoid will be called, will be a Skynet-styled super-strong, super-agile human-like bipedal robot that will build on Boston Dynamics’ PETMAN program. DARPA wants it to be able to climb, turn sideways to sidle through narrow spaces, and use its hands to augment maneuverability.

Cheetah, on the other hand, has one defining characteristic: speed. The four-legged ‘bot is expected to move at a pace of 20-30 miles per hour, but researchers see no reason why it couldn’t eventually keep pace with its biological counterpart.

“There’s no fundamental reason why it can’t go as fast as the animals (60 to 70 mph), but it will take a while to get there,” said Marc Raibert, Boston Dynamics’ president, in the Boston Herald.

DARPA is funding the initiatives out of its Maximum Mobility and Manipulation Program, which aims to create a framework for building robotic systems faster and enhancing their ability to move around and manipulate natural environments. If speed is what they’re looking for, the Cheetah is expected to deliver in more ways than one; the first prototype of the ‘bot is due in just 20 months.

Modular Robot Fits

 Modular Robot Fits Together to Form Larger Modular Robots

iMobot UC-Davis

Meet iMobot, a new reconfigurable robot that can be linked together like a chain to form larger versions of itself. With four degrees of freedom, it can stand itself up and turn into a tiny camera stand, roll end-over-end like a mini tank tread, or hunch along like an inchworm.

Researchers at the University of California-Davis have applied for a patent on the robot, which they say could be used for search and rescue operations as well as robotics research.

Its two modules have two joints at the center, which can rotate 180 degrees, and two rotating faceplates at each end, as the researchers explain. The faceplates turn continuously, allowing the robot to roll along as though it were driving. Future research will explore clusters of iMobots working together in even larger modular platforms.

Creators Graham Ryland and Harry Cheng received a $150,000 National Science Foundation grant to start Barobo Inc., a business aimed at commercializing the iMobot. You can find out how to get one here.

Modular robots could be a more cost-effective way to build robot helpers for a variety of tasks, like search-and-rescue snakebots or tree-climbing spy cams. The inventors hope it will be for sale by the end of the year.