HOPPY: An open-source and low-cost kit for dynamic robotics education

TL;DR

HOPPY is an open-source, affordable robotic kit designed for dynamic robotics education, enabling hands-on learning of legged locomotion and control in real systems.

Contribution

This paper introduces HOPPY, a modular and low-cost robotic kit that bridges theoretical coursework and real-world dynamic robot experiments.

Findings

Successful implementation of a simple controller achieving 2m/s velocities

Positive student feedback from semester-long educational projects

Effective demonstration of dynamic hopping and disturbance mitigation

Abstract

This letter introduces HOPPY, an open-source, low-cost, robust, and modular kit for robotics education. The robot dynamically hops around a rotating gantry with a fixed base. The kit lowers the entry barrier for studying dynamic robots and legged locomotion in real systems. The kit bridges the theoretical content of fundamental robotic courses and real dynamic robots by facilitating and guiding the software and hardware integration. This letter describes the topics which can be studied using the kit, lists its components, discusses best practices for implementation, presents results from experiments with the simulator and the real system, and suggests further improvements. A simple controller is described to achieve velocities up to 2m/s, navigate small objects, and mitigate external disturbances (kicks). HOPPY was utilized as the topic of a semester-long project for the Robot Dynamics and Control course at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Students provided an overwhelmingly positive feedback from the hands-on activities during the course and the instructors will continue to improve the kit for upcoming semesters.