Child-sized 3D Printed igus Humanoid Open Platform

TL;DR

This paper introduces the igus Humanoid Open Platform, a 90cm child-sized humanoid robot that is affordable, customizable, and suitable for research, with a fully 3D printed structure and open-source software and design files.

Contribution

The paper presents a new, affordable, and customizable standard humanoid robot platform in the child-sized range with a fully 3D printed structure and open-source design and software.

Findings

Lightweight, 3D printed design enhances accessibility.

Equipped with sufficient torque and computing power for diverse research.

Open-source CAD files and ROS software facilitate community use.

Abstract

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.