STRIDE: An Open-Source, Low-Cost, and Versatile Bipedal Robot Platform for Research and Education

TL;DR

STRIDE is an open-source, cost-effective bipedal robot platform designed for research and education, featuring modularity, versatility, and the ability to simulate natural terrains and disturbances for testing locomotion algorithms.

Contribution

The paper introduces STRIDE, a novel, reconfigurable bipedal robot platform that combines affordability, durability, and versatility for advancing research and educational purposes.

Findings

Successfully demonstrated adaptive walking control on STRIDE.

Showcased the platform's ability to simulate natural terrains and disturbances.

Validated the platform's effectiveness for testing locomotion algorithms.

Abstract

In this paper, we present STRIDE, a Simple, Terrestrial, Reconfigurable, Intelligent, Dynamic, and Educational bipedal platform. STRIDE aims to propel bipedal robotics research and education by providing a cost-effective implementation with step-by-step instructions for building a bipedal robotic platform while providing flexible customizations via a modular and durable design. Moreover, a versatile terrain setup and a quantitative disturbance injection system are augmented to the robot platform to replicate natural terrains and push forces that can be used to evaluate legged locomotion in practical and adversarial scenarios. We demonstrate the functionalities of this platform by realizing an adaptive step-to-step dynamics based walking controller to achieve dynamic walking. Our work with the open-soured implementation shows that STRIDE is a highly versatile and durable platform that can be used in research and education to evaluate locomotion algorithms, mechanical designs, and robust and adaptative controls.