Introduction: Inexpensive Autonomous Humanoid Robot

Meet Johnny 5. 

He's an autonomous humanoid robot that is 53 cm tall, weighs just about 1 kg, and has 20 servo motors each capable of 14 kg*cm of torque. On board, custom circuit boards tie together four powerful microprocessors: two 500 MHz Blackfin DSPs (one for each of the two cameras in the head for stereo vision), one 600 MHz Gumstix Overo Air linux microcomputer, and one 20 MHz motion controller board. 

How did you make him?
We purchased a Kondo KHR-3HV Humanoid Robot kit from Kondo in Japan (http://kondo-robot.com/sys/). We then modified the torso to accommodate the computers, larger battery, and related electronics, and created a pan-tilt head assembly to accommodate the two cameras. The electronics consist of a couple of custom PCB boards we designed that integrate and power the two 500 MHz Blackfin computers with the Gumstix. 

How much would it cost ME to make one?
Only $2,500 USD in mechanical / electronic parts and a LOT of free time.

Where can I find out more?
http://cs.gmu.edu/~robotics/Main/RoboPatriots

What can he do?
Check out some videos:
http://www.youtube.com/TheGMURoboticsLab

I Made It Photo Contest

Participated in the
I Made It Photo Contest