Design, development, and analysis of the lower body of next-generation 3D-printed humanoid research platform: PANDORA

Abstract

AbstractThe main contribution of this paper is the design and development of the lower body of PANDORA (3D-Printed Autonomous humaNoid Developed for Open-source Research Applications), a new humanoid robotic platform implementing additive manufacturing techniques. The three joint configurations (hip, knee, and ankle) along with the major three structural parts (pelvis, thigh, and shin) of the lower body are discussed. The use of 3D printing and PLA+ material makes the robot an affordable solution for humanoid robotics research that gives a high power-to-weight ratio by significantly reducing the number of parts, as well as manufacturing and assembly time. The range of motion of the lower body of PANDORA has been investigated and is found to be comparable to a human lower body. Further, finite element analysis has been performed on the major parts of the lower body of PANDORA to check the structural integrity and to avoid catastrophic failures in the robot. The use of in-house developed actuators and robot electronics reduces the overall cost of the robot and makes PANDORA easily accessible to the research communities working in the field of humanoids. Overall, PANDORA has the potential for becoming popular between researchers and designers for investigating applications in the field of humanoid robotics, healthcare, and manufacturing, just to mention a few. The mechanical designs presented in this work are available open source to lower the knowledge barrier in developing and conducting research on bipedal robots.