Robot: February 2017

TH1 Bipedal Humanoid Robot built by
Humanoido

Head movement for eye tracking with a PING
ultrasonic sensor

TH1 Humanoid

Designed & Built by Humanoido

From 2006, TH1 Bipedal Humanoid is a robotics creation by Humanoido. He has two arms, scanning head with ultrasonic eyes that offer night vision, two processors, two walking legs, feet and a torso.

I'd like to show my latest creation - a humanoid Toddler. This is a modified version of the original Toddler Robot from a Parallax kit of parts. For more information, there's a tech group for toddler type walking robots at the link below.

Humanoid Toddler started out as just a pair of legs - a biped walking robot. It's one of the most simple walking mechanisms with only 2 servos. This version is powered by batteries placed in the legs and a Parallax servo controller. Other versions use various incarnations of the Basic Stamp microcontroller and software code written in PBASIC.

Size comparison with a Parallax
Penguin robot

Also added to the humanoid conversion: extra servos, torso, head and arms. A Ping))) ultrasonic vision sensor was added on the head and is controlled with a BS2 microcontroller.

Showing the range of the
outstretched arms

The newest and latest walking robot from Parallax is the Penguin Robot, which uses the same walking design as seen in the two photos at left. There's an entire family of toddle type robots. If you don't believe me, just ask Ken Gracey or David Buckley. They've spent years, even decades inventing and developing robots of this design.

Upgraded TH1 is spectacular in functions

Seen here in front of Humanoid Toddler Robot, a very tiny Penguin bot sports a compass, two IR eyes, two photodetectors to sense light levels, expansion slot, an IR transmitter, a blue segment display, and one of the most powerful Basic Stamp MCUs in the series, the BS2px.

Human Toddler Robot V1.0

I have also written and posted 281 software programs for the Penguin Robot, free for anyone to use. Download at the Parallax Forum.

Size & Parts
It stands taller than a Robonova so it has a good size. No vids yet, only photos. The stock parts which comprise the biped section of the humanoid are precision-manufactured metal parts. The parts which comprise the humanoid section are scrounged materials from various local sources.

The bearings for the quad-servo-core (QSC) are cut from acrylic and Pexiglas. The mounts, bolts, nuts are all light weight nylon and the head and arms are molded and cut from a polypropylene material. Washers are phenolic. The humanoid section had to be the lightest possible weight due to the additional weight added by four more servos. The humanoid has a total of six servos. The light weight makes it possible to use common low cost standard Futaba servos that have model airplane ratings.

Another nice feature about Humanoid Toddler is that programming the motions is very easy and can happen in real time graphics over the USB cable and a portable computer. You just move a slider one direction or another for each of the 8 motors and set the position. This can be controlled in one of two ways - either with the servo controller in animatronic mode or the servo controller under control of the Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller. The BS2 MCU can also handle the Ultrasonic vision sensor, infrared transmitter and receivers, photodectectors, and other sensors, as a result of the servo controllers serial interface taking up only one port. In the prototype BS2 MCU version, there's a 2-line serial display, tiny keyboard, memory expansion card, decoder, reset, and additional sensors.

SSC Programming
It uses SSC programming code to position the servos and can be programmed for specific movements. Primary feature is the quad servo core.

QSC Quad Servo Core
The QSC Quad Servo Core is invented by humanoido, for simple construction. The humanoid has 6 DOF degrees of freedom, walking with two servos. One servo moves the head side to side for vision, two servos move the arms, and one moves the torso.

Levels
This version is Level I with two processors installed. This is the rare gold humanoid everyone is talking about at the Lab.

Potential Kit
TH1 is designed as a kit but there is only serial number one, a single item, making it very valuable to the collector.

Functions
The thick printed manual has many resources listed for applications and ideas to include languages, choreography, day and night security, signaling, martial arts, robo-chi, aerobics instructor, walking and dancing. Designed for education and experimenters.

Construction & Operations
He has a 16-inch reach and uses nylon bearings for torso movements from side to side. Using the serial servo controller, sliders on the computer are moved to make corresponding moves with the servos. It uses capture motion to capture, edit and playback sequences.

Toddler Humanoid Robots
https://humanoidolabs.blogspot.com/2012/09/toddler-humanoidlevel-1-construction.html
Humanoid Toddler at Robosavvy
https://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2423&highlight=toddler
Rare Gold Humanoid Robot
https://humanoidolabs.blogspot.com/2013/09/rare-toddler-humanoid-robot.html
Parallax
http://www.parallax.com/
Yahoo Toddler Group
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/toddler_robot/

Robot

Sunday, February 26, 2017

TH1 Humanoid

Friday, February 24, 2017

First Humanoid Robots Index