Today we would like to publish a new humanoid robot platform, but this one is yet in the development stage. We still wanted to share it with you as it looks like a promising model and a really attractive looking one. Our thanks to James Nordstrom of humanoidrobotplatform. If you have similar projects, please contact us.

Here are the details of the robot:

Robot Name:    Humanoid Platform

Category:  Humanoid Robot

Made By:   Nordstrom Robotics

Country:  USA

Date of manufacture or date of introduction: 2012 – In prototype phase

Introduction: The Humanoid Platform is a fully programmable, six foot tall, durable, low cost universal robot that closely resembles the human form and function.  The platform is designed for researchers, the open source community and third party resellers.

Targeted/Planned uses, and user groups:  As a multipurpose Humanoid Robot, the Platform is only limited by the software deployed to it.  This makes the Platform suitable for many markets. Developers and user will develop functionality to enable the Platform to take on a large number of roles and responsibilities.

Price: $10K to $15K

Link: http://www.humanoidplatform.com

Project Start Date and Duration:  9/2009 – 3 Years

Control and Software: ROS, AI Engines and other user provided software.

Simulators: Simulators are

OS – Linux, Windows, etc.

What tasks can be done autonomously? Semi autonomously?

Semi Autonomous

The Humanoid Platform can operate in semi-autonomous teleoperated mode where some actions operate autonomously and others require human teleoperation, example the operator can request the Humanoid Robot to walk autonomously to a destination on a map where upon arrival the human operator can resume control.

Fully Autonomous

The Humanoid Platform can operate in fully autonomous mode where the Humanoid Robot carries out objectives and task without a human operator.

Fully Autonomous with Human Authorization Required

The Humanoid Platform can operate in fully autonomous with specific action limiters mode, where the Humanoid Robot operates entirely autonomously with the exception of deferring critical decisions to the human operator, example; an autonomous police officer or soldier requesting authorization to fire on a selected target.  The Humanoid Robot notifies the operator that there is a decision pending. The operator connects into the Humanoid Robot’s video/audio feed, assesses the situation and issues a command to the Humanoid Robot. The operator does not need to watch a live feed of the Humanoid Robot’s actions and can assume control when the Humanoid Robot requests it, or on demand as the situation dictates.

Visual processing:  Stereo HD cameras, optional laser range finder, thermal camera, sonar and radar

Sound and voice processing:  Stereo microphones located on each side of the head for hearing, a speaker located in the jaw for speaking and an electronic nose located in the center of the face that detects smells and odors.

Teleoperated Operation:

The Humanoid Platform can be teleoperated, where a human operator wearing a pair of stereo video goggles is presented the view and sound from the stereo cameras and microphone embedded within the Humanoid Robot head via long range audio/video transmission, general movements like walking and running are controlled via a handheld game controller, where the operator directs the robot to walk in a specific direction and for detailed movements the robot’s arms, hands and fingers replicate the movement of virtual reality type gloves worn by the human operator. (We like this one! Remember the movie surrogates)

Height:  6′

Weight:  150lb (estimated)

Navigation: GPS

D.O.F:   Seventy nine actuated degrees of freedom enabling the Platform to reproduce ninety percent of the common human range of motion. (wow! this is more than Asimo!)

Body Frame:  Engineering polymers

Number of motors:  Seventy nine

Servo power:  Custom low cost, high torque motors, gearboxes, embedded controllers and shaft locks. (See presentation)

Limb position: Magnetic encoders with 65,000 point position accuracy

Power source: Lithium Polymer batteries and full body flexible solar panels

Processing Power: User selectable x86 or ARM main with 16GB RAM and SSD plus 79 ARM A8 CPUs with 40Gb RAM (In addition to the main CPU and memory  every motor uses an embedded, IP addressable ARM A8 CPU. When motors are idle the ARM A8 CPUs can be repurposed to extend the Platform’s processing power)

Pieces and parts:

External sensors and types: Triple Axis Accelerometer, Gyroscope and Magnetometer. Temperature sensor, Gas detection

Planned upgrades: Full body sensor mat, that when touched, will return the exact position and applied force of the touch

Codes, schematics, references, links, videos : http://www.humanoidplatform.com/features/