Embedded Hardware for a Humanoid

Exhibitor: Simon Matthews-Frederick

Supervisor: Gordon Wyeth

Research Group: Complex and Intelligent Systems

Industry Sector: Scientific / Research Services

Now in its third year of development, the GUROO project, a platform for the investigation into humanoid robotics was brought to working order last year. The first generation of hardware (shown at right) worked well enough for GUROO to take his first steps and enable significant work to be undertaken in gait generation and development of a walking algorithm. However as with all first generation products the system has been found inadequate for future development and a new system must be designed to enable further investigation into the field of humanoid robotics.

This thesis "Embedded Hardware for a Humanoid" has been involved in analysing the current system along with a design proposed last year and has come up with a new hardware design that will be faster, more efficient and ready for the future of the GUROO project. The main areas of improvement have been:

- Upgrading the CPU, which will enable faster cycling of the control loop resulting in more accurate motor control and more motors to be controlled per board.

- Moving to a more efficient design by using a SMPS to regulate power from one set of batteries, and changing the motor driver to a semi-discrete H-bridge design to further increase efficiency.

The improvements have been integrated together to produce a new design (outlined in the block diagram below) ready for construction in the near future. The hardware design proposed by this thesis will provide a platform for further software development that will result in GUROO, someday playing soccer.

Thesis Document (PDF)

Other Related Files

Poster Presentation (PDF)