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What if you can’t afford a Boston Dynamics robot dog that costs 530,000?Why not use open-source projects to DIY one with Raspberry Pi, costing less than 4,000 yuan?With such a stance, doesn’t it feel like having a Boston Dynamics dog?Let’s start with a warm-up exercise, showcasing flexible joints:Through three-axis body posture control, this Raspberry Pi version of the Boston Dynamics dog can achieve two movement modes.One is trot posture. In this 4-phase gait, the diagonally opposite legs of the robot dog move simultaneously, achieving faster movement speed.The other is walking posture. This combines body movement in an 8-phase gait, helping to maintain the balance and stability of the robot dog.This robot dog was created by a foreign guy Michael Romanko.Feeling a bit excited?Then keep reading, grab this open-source tutorial that is precise to every detail, and owning your mini Boston Dynamics dog is not a dream. (Dog head)
Hardware costs less than 4,000 yuan
This Raspberry Pi robot dog is built on the open-source ThingVerse Spot Micro framework. The shell is made using a 3D printer with a 0.6 nozzle.The software part is implemented on a Raspberry Pi 3B computer running Ubuntu 16.04.So first, you need to prepare a Raspberry Pi 3B development board worth around 230 yuan.The control components include a servo driver PCA9685, priced at less than 30 yuan with an I2C interface.And 12 servo motors PDI-HV5523MG, each priced at about 70+ yuan.Additionally, a 16×2 LCD with I2C interface is required.The battery is a 2s 4000mAh lithium battery, directly connected to the power servo, costing about 160 yuan.The voltage regulator used is HKU5 5V/5A UBEC, which powers the Raspberry Pi, LCD panel, and PCA9695 control board, costing approximately 45 yuan.The entire setup, including the 3D printer, costs less than 4,000 yuan, even lower than the cost of Stanford’s low-cost open-source quadruped robot Pupper (600-1000 USD).
△ Stanford Pupper
Detailed tutorial down to every detail
Mike’s assembly tutorial is relatively brief, but he provides a reference to a community called “Micro Robot Dog AI” (SpotMicroAI).The SpotMicroAI tutorial is practically “hand-holding”, where the engineer who wrote the tutorial provided every detailed step of assembling the robot dog, even including how to SSH into the Raspberry Pi, aiming for everyone to understand.First, install the operating system on the Raspberry Pi, it is recommended to install PINN, which is an enhanced version of the NOOBS operating system installer.After installation, the system comes with SSH and VNC, eliminating the need for external keyboard and mouse for the Raspberry Pi, allowing remote debugging.
△ Successfully connected to Raspberry Pi via VNC
Select to install Raspbian Lite from the numerous operating system options in PINN. After that, disconnect the VNC connection and connect entirely via SSH to the Raspberry Pi.The Raspberry Pi system comes with FTP, and to facilitate beginners in transferring files between the computer and Raspberry Pi, it is recommended to install FileZilla software.Enter the Raspberry Pi’s IP address, username, password, port 22, and click Quickconnect to connect to the Raspberry Pi’s file system. Now, you can drag and drop files from SpotMicroAI as needed.Next, we enter the most critical step, installing the robot dog control software. To simplify installation, the author has already written a script that automates the installation process:
Then start the I2C communication bus. Open the terminal and run the following command:
sudo raspi-config
Then make the following changes from the display options: Interfacing options → Enable I2CNext, connect all hardware to the Raspberry Pi as shown in the image below:The 3D printing files for the robot dog’s shell are also included. The author recommends using a 0.6mm nozzle, with a layer height set to 0.3mm to maximize printing speed.After completing the hardware assembly, the next step is software debugging.First, download the default configuration file in JSON format: https : //gitlab.com/custom_robots/spotmicroai/basic-runtime/-//blob/master/spotmicroai.default, and place this file in the user’s home directory.Open the calibration tool, and click to calibrate the 12 servos to find the initial position of the motors when the robot dog is in a “rest” state.
cd ~/spotmicroai/calibration./calibration.sh
After calibration, the robot dog can perform various actions.By the way, what is the display screen installed at the tail of the robot dog for? It helps us quickly see the current status of the robot dog.For example, in the panel above, we can see the current temperature of the Raspberry Pi CPU, the connection status with the external controller, the status of the servo control board, etc.Thus, the mini robot dog is complete. If you not only want to assemble it, but also want to learn more advanced development tutorials, you can check the content in Extra.
Next Steps
Currently, Mike’s mini robot dog can only perform simple actions. Mike’s next plan is to make it as intelligent as the Boston Dynamics robot dog. Mike’s future goals are:1. Add laser radar to achieve simple 2D mapping of rooms through SLAM, just like the original Boston Dynamics robot dog.Someone has already achieved Mike’s first goal:2. Develop an automatic movement module to guide the robot to perform simple tasks around the sensed 2D environment, such as navigating in a room and avoiding obstacles.3. Create software modules using cameras or network cameras for basic image classification. For example, perceiving the closing and opening of a fist, allowing the robot to respond to specific actions, achieving gesture control.
Netizens: Let’s Do It
DIYing a “Boston Dynamics dog” has received praise from the Raspberry Pi official.Netizens have expressed: “This is really cool.”Some are eager to start making it themselves.So, shall we do it?Reference Links:https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/mini-raspberry-pi-boston-dynamics-inspired-robot/https://github.com/mike4192/spotMicro#Overviewhttps://gitlab.com/custom_robots/spotmicroai
