Source: Quantum Bit
What to do if you can’t afford a Boston Dynamics robot dog priced at 530,000?
Why not use an open-source project to DIY one with a Raspberry Pi, costing less than 4,000 yuan.
Doesn’t it feel like you have a Boston Dynamics dog?
Let’s start with a warm-up exercise to show off the flexible joints:
Through three-axis body posture control, this Raspberry Pi version of the Boston Dynamics dog can achieve two movement modes.
One is jogging posture. In this 4-phase gait, the two legs on the diagonal move simultaneously, achieving a faster movement speed.
The other is the walking posture. This 8-phase gait, which combines body movement, helps maintain the balance and stability of the robot dog.
This robot dog was created by a foreign guy Michael Romanko.
Are you feeling a bit excited?
Then keep reading, grab this open-source tutorial that is precise down to every detail, and having your own 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 part 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, you need to equip a 16×2 I2C interface LCD display.
For the battery, a 2s 4000mAh lithium battery is used, directly connected to the power servo, priced at around 160 yuan.
The voltage regulator used is HKU5 5V/5A UBEC, which powers the Raspberry Pi, LCD panel, and PCA9695 control board, priced at approximately 45 yuan.
In total, the entire setup, including the 3D printer, costs no more than 4,000 yuan, even lower than the cost of Stanford’s cheap open-source quadruped robot Pupper (600-1000 dollars).
△ Stanford Pupper
Detailed tutorial
Mike’s assembly tutorial is quite brief, but he provides a reference to a “mini robot dog AI” (SpotMicroAI) community.
The SpotMicroAI tutorial is indeed “step-by-step”, as the engineer who wrote the tutorial has provided detailed instructions for assembling the robot dog, even including how to SSH into the Raspberry Pi, ensuring that everyone can 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, no need to connect a keyboard and mouse to the Raspberry Pi, and you can debug it remotely.
△ Successfully connected to the Raspberry Pi via VNC
In the many operating system options of PINN, choose to install Raspbian Lite. After that, disconnect the VNC connection and connect to the Raspberry Pi entirely via SSH.
The Raspberry Pi system comes with FTP. To facilitate beginners in transferring files between the computer and the 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 comes the most critical step, installing the robot dog control software. To simplify the installation, the author has already written a script, and the installation process is automated:
ssh [email protected] https://gitlab.com/custom_robots/spotmicroai/basic-runtime/-/raw/master/utilities/self_install.sh | bashThen start the I2C communication bus. Open the terminal and run the following command:
sudo raspi-configThen make the following changes from the display options: Interfacing options → Enable I2C
Then 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, it’s time for 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 it in the user home directory.
Open the calibration tool to calibrate the 12 servos and find the initial position of the motors when the robot dog is at rest.
cd ~/spotmicroai/calibration./calibration.sh
After calibration, the robot dog can perform various movements.
Wait, what is the display screen installed at the back of the robot dog for? Actually, 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 some simple movements. Mike’s next plan is to make it as intelligent as Boston Dynamics’ robot dog. Mike’s future goals are:
1. Add a laser radar to achieve simple 2D mapping of the room through SLAM, just like the original Boston Dynamics robot dog.
Someone has already achieved Mike’s first goal:
2. Develop an automatic motion module to guide the robot to perform simple tasks around the sensed 2D environment. For example, navigating in the room and avoiding obstacles.
3. Create a software module using a camera or webcam for basic image classification. For example, perceiving a closed and open fist, allowing the robot to respond to a specific action and achieve gesture control.
Netizens: Let’s do it
DIYing a “Boston Dynamics dog” has even received praise from the Raspberry Pi official.
Netizens have expressed: “Wow, this is really cool.”
Some are already eager to get started.
So, shall we do it?
Reference links:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/mini-raspberry-pi-boston-dynamics-inspired-robot/
https://github.com/mike4192/spotMicro#Overview
https://gitlab.com/custom_robots/spotmicroai
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