Meet the Hexapod Mark IV: an educational robot with DYNAMIXEL-X servos for smooth movement. It uses a Raspberry Pi 3B+ computer using Ubuntu and ROS Melodic. The robot can be controlled using a PS4 controller or using a Python API. The below video shows how it is coming along:
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Meet the Alpha Hexapod: a 6-legged robot with individual leg control that can move its body while standing still and walk in all directions. It can lower or raise its body to adapt to tasks at hand.
Here is another DIY kit for those serious about building their own robot. The Punk Knight K2 Smart Robot Car comes with everything you need to build a tracked vehicle. It comes convenient remote control for raising or lowering the platform and moving the robot in all directions.
Engineers are inspired by nature all the time to improve their robots. Take Snatcher for instance: it is a chameleon inspired shooting tongue for robots with a range of 0.8m. It uses a hook to grab and move objects. This can be used on drones for snatching action in the air.
[HT: Dong-Jun Lee and Gwang-Pil Jung/SeoulTech]
In the past few years, we have covered a whole host of Boston Dynamics robots including Spot here. These robots are not cheap, but you can always build a smaller version of them powered by a Raspberry Pi. Take Spot Micro for instance: it is a quadruped robot that runs custom C++ and Python code on a ROS Kinetic framework.
Plenty of researchers are working on ways to make robots even more human-friendly. This video from Hybrid Robotics shows how the Cassie robot can be enhanced to twist, wiggle, and walk to behave with emotions. As the engineers explain, they use:
use an animation framework to design emotive motions for the virtual robot’s character. A dynamics optimizer is then used to convert the animated motion to dynamically feasible motion. Real-time standing and walking controllers and an automaton are developed to bring the virtual character to life.
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Here is a humanoid robot that you can control with your body movement. GJS’ battle bot has an ABS, PC, and aluminum alloy construction. It comes with servos all over its body for smooth movement. It also has 7 points for scoring.
Meet the Pumpkii: a cute modular pet robot that makes it easier to stay in touch with your pets. It has mecanum wheels, so you can move it in all directions. It has a 720p camera with a 120-degree wide angle lens. Pumpkii comes ready to go out of the box but can be enhanced with modular accessories, such as a treat dispenser, mechanical arm, and cat teaser. It also has a snack bucket to carry 100 pieces of treat for your pet.
Meet the VIPR-L from SuperDroid Robots: an autonomous indoor robot that creates and updates a map of its surroundings as it moves around. This robot has programmable waypoints. It uses advanced cameras and sensors to get around and avoid obstacles.
Meet the PALOMAT AMR: an autonomous mobile robot system for logistics that can save businesses time and money. It eliminates time spent on manual pallet handling. It is 100% electrically driven and safe around humans.
