Child-sized 3D Printed igus Humanoid Open Platform
This platform solves the problem of high cost and complexity for child-sized humanoid robots, enabling more research groups to conduct experiments in human-scale environments, though it is incremental as it builds on existing open-source and 3D printing approaches.
The paper introduces the igus Humanoid Open Platform, a 3D printed, child-sized (90cm) humanoid robot designed to be affordable and customizable, addressing the lack of standard platforms in this size range. It provides open-source CAD files and ROS software to lower entry barriers for research.
The use of standard platforms in the field of humanoid robotics can accelerate research, and lower the entry barrier for new research groups. While many affordable humanoid standard platforms exist in the lower size ranges of up to 60cm, beyond this the few available standard platforms quickly become significantly more expensive, and difficult to operate and maintain. In this paper, the igus Humanoid Open Platform is presented---a new, affordable, versatile and easily customisable standard platform for humanoid robots in the child-sized range. At 90cm, the robot is large enough to interact with a human-scale environment in a meaningful way, and is equipped with enough torque and computing power to foster research in many possible directions. The structure of the robot is entirely 3D printed, allowing for a lightweight and appealing design. The electrical and mechanical designs of the robot are presented, and the main features of the corresponding open-source ROS software are discussed. The 3D CAD files for all of the robot parts have been released open-source in conjunction with this paper.