Rapid morphological exploration with the Poppy humanoid platform

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the motivation and challenges raised by the desire to consider the morphology as an experimental variable on real robotic platforms as well as allowing reproducibility and diffusion in the scientific community. In this context, we present an alternative design and production methodology that we have applied to the conception of Poppy, the first complete 3D printed open-source and open-hardware humanoid robot. Robust and accessible, it allows exploring quickly and easily the fabrication, the programming and the experimentation of various robotic morphologies. Both hardware and software are open-source, and a web platform allows interdisciplinary contributions, sharing and collaborations. Finally we conduct an experiment to explore the impact of four different foot morphologies on the robot's dynamic when it makes a footstep. We show that such experimentation can easily be achieved and shared in couple of days at almost no cost.