Realising Herbert: An affordable design approach of an anthropometrically correct compliant humanoid robot

Abstract

In this paper we present our new full-sized anthropometrically correct humanoid robot Herbert. Herbert has 18 DOF: 1) 14 active DOFs (2 × 1 DOFs in the knees, 2×3 in the hips, 3 in the waist and 3 in the head); 2) 4 passive DOFs (2 × 2 in the ankles). We follow a simple design approach while keeping the costs low but ensuring high-performance is achieved. We employed a modular design in realising Herbert. The two core mechanical modules that are used to construct this humanoid robot are: 1) a small compact drive module; and 2) a compliant drive module. We also provide a brief overview of the electronics and the software architecture that support the overall development of this system. Finally, we provide results demonstrating our robot's performances: demonstrating the module's compliant behaviour, the ability of tracking a desired position/velocity as well as a simple torque controller. All in all, we show that our system is compact and able to achieve comparable human performances and proportions.