DARwIn-OP Humanoid Robot Demo

Virginia Tech roboticist Dennis Hong shows off the new DARwIn-OP open-source robot

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Erico Guizzo is IEEE Spectrum's Digital Innovation Director.

DARwIn-OP Humanoid Robot Demo

darwin-op

Dennis Hong is a Virginia Tech roboticist who has been building some really cool robots. He's also a good salesman. Watch him showing off his "new baby," DARwIn-OP, at this week's IEEE Humanoids 2010 conference in Nashville, Tenn. Designed by Hong's RoMeLa team and collaborators at University of Pennsylvania's Grasp Lab, Purdue University, and Korean company Robotis, DARwIn-OP has both its hardware and software open source. That means that in principle you can fabricate the parts, choose your own electronics and actuators, and build your own. Or maybe you'd prefer to buy one already assembled? Robotis is selling it for around U.S. $8,000 . (Update: Robotis announced that it will be $12,000 MSRP and $9,600 educational discount price.)

Specs below from Robotis:

DARwIn-OP (Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence-Open Platform)
* Height: 455 mm (17.9 inches)
* Weight: 2.8 kg (6.3 lbs)
* Head: USB camera (HD); status LEDs on eyes and forehead; USB mic; two microphones on sides of the head (optional)
* Torso: Speaker; 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis accelerometer; Mini SD; WiFi; two cooling fans; two USB interfaces; HDMI; audio line-in; audio line-out; battery; external power input; power switch; Ethernet port; seven status LEDs; removable handle
* Feet: FSR X4 sensor (optional)
* Default walking speed: 24.0 cm/sec (9.5 in/sec); 0.25 sec/step (user modifiable gait)
* Default standing up time from ground: 2.8 sec (from facing down) and 3.9 sec (from facing up)
* Built-in PC: 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z530 on-board 4 GB flash SSD
* Management controller (CM-730): ARM CortexM3 STM32F103RE 72 MHz
* 20 actuator modules: Robotis Dynamixel RX-28M (6 DOF leg x2 + 3 DOF arm x2 + 2 DOF neck)
* 1 spare actuator (for maintenance and expansion)
* Self-maintenance kit
* Standby mode for low-power consumption
* 4.5 Mbps high-speed Dynamixel bus for joint control
* Battery (30 minutes of operation), charger, and external power adapter
* Mechanical and electronics information and source code: https://sourceforge.net/projects/darwinop

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