Nao Robot

Generation of a Faster Active Balanced Walking Gait for Nao Robot.

About Nao Robot:

Nao Robot is a 57-cm tall humanoid robot with the following key components:

• Body with 25 degrees of freedom (DOF) whose key elements are electric motors and actuators
• Sensor network, including 2 cameras, 4 microphones, sonar rangefinder, 2 IR emitters and receivers, 1 inertial board, 9 tactile sensors, and 8 pressure sensors
• Various communication devices, including voice synthesizer, LED lights, and 2 high-fidelity speakers
• Intel ATOM 1,6ghz CPU (located in the head) that runs a Linux kernel, Second CPU (located in the torso)
• 27,6-watt-hour battery that provides NAO with 1.5 or more hours of autonomy, depending on usage

About The Project:

This Project is done as my winter 2012 internship at Gade Autonomous Systems, Mumbai. Currently I am reading about the Balancing techniques which have already been developed and their implementation on the NaoSIM simulator. During December 2012 I will start working on the actual robot.

Details and Resources:

As of nao (pun intended), I am still working on the project, once I am through with it, I will be putting up the details. But here are some useful links which will help you get started with humanoid robots :-

• Online course on Basics of Robotics by Stanford University
• Tutorial on Basics of Bipeds by Kirill Van Heerden
• UncleBot's Tutorial on Humanoid Walking
• Nao Robot Tutorials
• Nao Robot Downloads: Even if you dont have a Nao Robot you can download its simulator's trial version by registering for free on this link. By following the tutorials in the previous link you will be able to test your algorithms on the robot in the simulator.
• Webots Simlulator: This is another nice simulator especially if you want to test any robot in particular environment.

There is a lot of research done on humanoid robots and you will find many research papers under IEEE, International Conferences, etc. If you have come across useful links please share in the comments, so that we can include it in the site for others to see.