The KHR-1HV Chronicles

[wintermute]

Hey! I just noticed -- no longer am I merely a Robot Builder; I'm now a Savvy Roboteer. This unexpected honor has been bestowed in spite of the fact that I've yet to build my first humanoid robot, and therefore cannot claim to have attained savvyness. Goes to show -- it's not how much you know, only how often you spew.

[wintermute]

I should be getting that Christmas bonus pretty soon. At which time I plan to order a 1HV. I'm looking forward to the assembly process. Since I'll be depending on the 1HV manual that's written in Japanese and the 2HV manual that's written in English for documentation, it ought to be a challenge. If I get stuck, perhaps plingboot, Droid Works, and others who've put one together will give me the benefit of their expertise. Regardless, I'm compelled do things meticulously, so the assembly time will probably be longer than usual -- whatever usual is.

[wintermute]

Call me impulsive, but when tempusmaster reported today that Amazon was selling i-Sobots for $179.99, I couldn't resist. I ordered one. It'll give me something to fiddle with until I get my hands on a 1HV.

[wintermute]

A realistic walking gait seems to be the Holy Grail of humanoid robotics. Speaking personally, walking and movements that involve locomotion are infinitely more interesting to me than pushups, flapping arms, headstands, and other cliches (not that those things don't have their charms). Anyone with half a brain -- and I'm close to being confident that I qualify -- has to admire crabfu's work on motions with his KHR-2HV. Makes a person realize beyond a shadow of a doubt that being an animator is a tremendous advantage when it comes to programming realistic movements. Mr. crabfu definitely has got it going on, programming-wise. No doubt, more than a few KHR owners hope he'll make his routines available to upload to their KHR-series robots. I've seen a reference or two here that 2HV programs can be converted to run on the 1HV. But I couldn't find anything that explained why a 2HV routine wouldn't run unmodified on a 1HV, since their geometries seem identical except for leg-rotation. The difference in controllers, perhaps?

[wintermute]

I'm hereby changing the title of this thread, because the current title, "RoboPhilo no, KHR-1HV yes," seems to suggest that I was comparing the RoboPhilo with the KHR-1HV, which would be a foolish comparison. Since I'm getting an i-Sobot, I've decided to change the title to "KHR-1HV is way better than i-Sobot." A great improvement, don't you agree? No?! You say this thread is really a sort of blog about my decision to get a 1HV, and a detailed account of the process? Good point. So instead, I'm going to re-title it "The KHR-1HV Chronicles." I like that. Sounds big-time. On the other hand, if you feel you've been suckered in by the new title, thinking this was some thread you had previously overlooked, my apology.

[wintermute]

I'm a technical writer. When I assemble my 1HV kit, using (1) the Japanese 1HV manual, (2) Droid Works' literal translation of it, and (3) the English 2HV manual, I'm going to have a go at translating the 1HV manual into standard English as I proceed, and smooth the way for future 1HV owners.

All the same, I love reading Asian equipment manuals. The fractured syntax and off-kilter phrasing are often unintentionally hilarious. One of my favorites, from a Japanese motorcycle manual: "If dog shall sport in roadway, tootle him with horn. If dog shall persist, tootle him with vigor."

When I rewrite the manual perhaps I can preserve the Asian feel somewhat, for the sake of authenticity. ("Now you may place your jolly dream on your impressive Kondo robot to enjoy a comfortable locomotion.") Then again, maybe not.

[plingboot]

there's an interesting line in the rcb3 manual, in the catch-n-play tutorial, which tells you to "press the shitter" which always makes me snigger like a kid.

[limor]

When I rewrite the manual perhaps I can preserve the Asian feel somewhat, for the sake of authenticity. ("Now you may place your jolly dream on your impressive Kondo robot to enjoy a comfortable locomotion.") Then again, maybe not.

Check out some Korean sites' google translations and you'll find that the "sea urchin" is a very important issue in most robotics related discussions.

looking forward to see your documentation of the KHR-1HV.

[rudukai13]

I would have to agree with you-it would seem to me that emulation of human movement is more important then tricks. I would have to say though that I would think you could get more realistic movement out of the 2HV. Granted the 1HV is without a doubt more graceful in it's movements due to the leg rotation, however I don't know about the rest of you but I can't rotate my legs in that fashion. I would think that in order to get more realistic movements in the robot you should invest your time in putting an ankle rotation degree in the robot, as that is more like what (most) humans have in order to make tight turns, etc.

[wintermute]

Granted the 1HV is without a doubt more graceful in it's movements due to the leg rotation, however I don't know about the rest of you but I can't rotate my legs in that fashion.

Really? I can rotate my legs at least 45 degrees; barring some injury to the hip socket, most people can. Lock your ankle and rotate your foot. I'll bet your foot and kneecap will be angled well outside their normal forward position. But I agree completely that it would be desirable for a robot to have additional DOF in the ankles.

[rudukai13]

I can only turn my leg a small degree before my ankle starts to turn on it's own. But I can see why they would put the extra freedom into the leg. It would be interesting to see which would be more effective to recreate human motion-a rotational joint at the hip or at the ankle?

[zaboomafuu]

I love this forum. people come up with such cool ideas I would like to see a bot with a rotation in the ankle. sitting at my desk I just realized that I cant rotate my ankle with my leg straight. I try and it just pivots lateraly. I can still get a rotational deflection out of it but i think its a mix of forwards and backwards lean and side to side. another thing I would like to try is to add a spring loaded hinge in the front half of the foot like the spring you get out of your toes when you run.... what do you think?

[rudukai13]

Hmm...A micro servo that breaks the foot into two pieces might work.

[zaboomafuu]

it could even be passave just a spring layed out like a slinky flat on a table. it could store energy from the rotation of the lower leg and release it as forward motion as the weight was taken away

[zaboomafuu]

I was thinken they were talking about the ubly knee joint on the khr line is there any reason why you couldnt switch the brakets around .. even make brakets that flip the knee servo around to the back so it would look like he had a calf muscle rather than a big funky knee?