Shop OBEX P1 Docs P2 Docs Learn Events
Announcing, 21st Century Robot "Jimmy" — Parallax Forums

Announcing, 21st Century Robot "Jimmy"

Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
edited 2014-05-31 20:21 in General Discussion

http://21stcenturyrobot.com/
21st Century Robot Manifesto - A Robot Is: Imagined first. Easy to build. Completely open source. Fiercely social. Intentionally iterative. Filled with humanity and dreams. Thinking for her/him/itself.
Jimmy may not be all those things yet, but he definitely is exciting. For starters, he wasn’t built in some secret lab at Intel HQ. Much of Jimmy’s construction took place at Trossen Robotics, a name well known to Hackaday. [Matt] and [Andrew] at Trossen describe all the details in their video down past the break.
This version of Jimmy is a research robot, which mean’s he’s not going to come cheap. Jimmy sports an Intel i5 NUC motherboard, 20 Dynamixel servos, a 5052 aluminum frame and a host of sensors. A 4S 14.8v 4000mAh LiPo battery will power Jimmy for 30 to 60 minutes between charges, so be sure to budget for a few spare packs. The most striking aspect of Jimmy is his 3D printed shell. The 21st Century Robot Project gave him large, friendly eyes and features, which will definitely help with the social aspect of their goals.
Jimmy is all about open source. He can run two flavors of Linux: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or a custom version of Yocto Pokey. There is a lot to be said for running and developing on the same hardware. No specialized toolchains for cross compiling, no NFS shares to move binaries around. If you need to make a change, you can plug a monitor (or launch an VNC session) and do everything with Jimmy’s on-board computer. Jimmy’s software stack is based upon the DARwIn OP platform, and a ROS port is in the works.
We’re excited about Jimmy, but at $16,000 USD, he’s a bit outside our budget. Thankfully a smaller consumer version of Jimmy will soon be available for around 1/10th the cost.

Comments

  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2014-05-29 14:45
    Looks nice. Just one thing, why the "stomp" gait? I can't find the video now but some time ago I saw the same typo of servo based robot walking smoothly just like humans do.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2014-05-29 14:53
    W9GFO wrote: »
    Looks nice. Just one thing, why the "stomp" gait? I can't find the video now but some time ago I saw the same typo of servo based robot walking smoothly just like humans do.

    I thought the same thing - not too smooth...
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2014-05-29 17:10
    I wonder if AMD has a robot too.
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2014-05-30 12:52
    The stomp is probably because they haven't made a system to shift the balance from side to side as it walks, so their only option is to 'hurry the steps' so that it isn't unstable for long enough to tip over...

    Ignoring the fact that they're using servos instead of even cheaper DC motors, its not really all that much more advanced than the RoboSapiens toys.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2014-05-30 19:04
    Jimmy's down! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Apa0nG1OfUc#t=111
  • mklrobomklrobo Posts: 420
    edited 2014-05-31 19:03
    hey, how about a new name for the development of the "mind" of the robot - Pychoandrotics - "the mind of the artificial man".
    What do you think?
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2014-05-31 20:21
    mklrobo wrote: »
    hey, how about a new name for the development of the "mind" of the robot - Pychoandrotics - "the mind of the artificial man".
    What do you think?

    Lost an "s" in there to make it 'psychoandrotics,' but seriously, all I can think about with "psycho" in the name is Norman Bates. Thank Hitchcock for making "psycho" a loaded word.
Sign In or Register to comment.