Ambitious AI / Autonomous humanoid project

[Marc X]

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My Name is Marcus and I'm living in Northern Norway.
I have for some 20 years been thinking of an "AI" autonomous robotic project, but because of limited avaliability of components that's small and cheap enough for a "hobby-bot", there has been no realization of this project.

A few days ago I browsed arround the net searching for a Linuxbased small controller for another project of mine (neurosurgical technology). Suddenly I realized that these controllers are so powerful that they might be the ticket to fulfill my ancient "hobby-bot" project!

Now I would be very glad to hear some input, so I don't try to invent the wheel again. I'm planning to build a robot and see if I can implement the functions I once thought of.

This is my project outline:

CHASSI / MOBILITY:

A bi-pedal, humanlike, walking robot with the following features:
* At least 22 DOF
* 3-axial gyro for stability
* Accelerometers in body, feet and hands for balancing and smooth walking.
* 4 pressure sensors in each foot for force distribution and balance.
* Environmental sensors such as temp, light, humidity, pressure etc for general "environmental awareness".

SENSES

* Artificial vision using colour cameras for face and object recognition / location.
* Artificial hearing / voice recognition and sound locating using stereo microphones.
* Artificial speech using a text-speech engine.
* IR lasers for precision ranging in the sub-mm range located in swivel / tilt -head
* IR lasers in hands and feet for collision avoidance and precision location (pick-up of delicate objects)
* Compass / magnetic field sensor for orienting.

In my original spec the robot has a robotic "twin" for "swarm" / distributed tasksolving. This for experiments like "room-mapping" / orienting / object avoidance / object search (&destroy).
Now I'm not sure I will build the twin due to overpowering costs, but it would be fantastic to do a thing like this. In case I can build two of thesel they will be put online for user interaction (online robofighting!

The electronics will be built using a "disributed computing" approach. Several on-board, task specific CPU's will be networked for maximum computing power. Eventually a host "mainframe" will be part of the network.

DSP's will be used for video / audio processing and a uCLinux controller will be running the main control logic.
WiFi and BlueTooth will be used for inter-robot networking and intenet / host access.


First of all; Norway isn't a "Meccha" for hobby robots and because of this there is virtually NO local expertise in the field. I have been doing research in the robotics / automation field for years, but only a few days in the "hobby-bot" area.

Now I need some feedback from the hobby community. The feedback I want is foremost suggestions for hardware / software and comments about the project in general.
I have zoomed in on a few products that I'm planning to use in this project:

Chassi: KONDO KHR-1HV
CPU's: fast controllers / DSP's capable of running embedded Linux

The on-board Linux motion controller will drive the KONDO original RCB3 via hi-speed serial line. One thing I will try to implement is "Autotune" of the walking algorithms. The robot should learn to walk with certain goals like smoooth / non-jerk motion with high progress rate. (therefore need for a lot of sensors, and a fast CPU).




QUESTIONS:

Does this sound like a "healthy" project, or has this been done over and over (in the hobby arena)?

Does the KONDO RCB3 allow for servo manipulation / override through the serial line?
(what I'm thinking of is that the basic motion patterns should be done by the RCB3, but the Linux controller will "orchestrate" the movement pattern. It should also be able to interrupt a motion and take control over the servos (for fine motor adustments during pickup and handling of objects)


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DONATIONS:

Because I can only work part-time due to illness and since all my R&D is privately funded by me and currently goes 100% into my other research, ALL DONATIONS OF EQUIPMENT IS VERY WELCOME!

If you have something lying arround that you don't use anymore, which could be useful in this project; Please feel free to drop me a message! All help will be MUCH appreciated!!!
This could be old servos, actuators, sensors etc, or almost anything useful.

ALL donations will be mentioned on a website dedicated to this project when it's being a reality!

If you represent an importer, distributor or dealer for the KONDO robot, and donate one of their KHR-1HV, I will personally make you a very special upgrade and "suit" for a KHR-1HV. This will be a copy of the suit I will make for my own robot, but in another colour. The suit will be very "familiar" to people in the "small-bot" community and the modified robot will be approx 580mm high. If the donation is substantial, I will give you a prominent, permanent ad at the top of the projects front webpage, (perhaps a complete bot-kit and some small extras), and you will be mentioned at all presentations of the project. You will also be offered to have a "robo-twin" built. (a hardware / software clone).

The robot will be used as a promotionl item for kickstarting the hobby robotics in Scandinavia, and as such be highly profiled.




Kind regards

Marcus, 70 degrees North

[wintermute]

That's an ambitious project, all right, especially for someone on a limited budget; it would be an ambitious project for a university or company with comparatively large resources and a team of roboticists. Not that you should be discouraged; ambitious goals are achieved a step at a time, and you're bound to learn a lot in the process, regardless. There are other folks here who are working on their own autonomous robots; I'm sure one or two of them will chime in to offer sage advice and counsel. Good luck!

[Robo1]

For what you what to do I would recommend a gumstix + bioloid.

Bren

[Marc X]

For what you what to do I would recommend a gumstix + bioloid.

Bren

Hi Bren,

I have been looking at the GumStix for main CPU and It is one of my favorites for now.

Another one which is EXTREMLY cute is the "C Data CompactFlash Computer". It's based on a CompactFlash TypeII and has a backplane for up to 4 CFII modules. This is based on a 66MHz Freescale MPC5272 SoC and includes 32MB SDRAM and 8MB flash, and runs uClinux as well. I'm afraid it is a tad too slow though...

See: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2844504302.html

The Bioloid is very nice, but I'm afraid that it will be VERY expensive if equipped with the morepowerful servos which I think I need...

..but if a sponsor shows up, I'm more than willing to give it a try!

Kind regards



///M

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[limor]

I would be surprised that you find any sponsorship for your project from robot parts vendors in Europe. Your only chance of getting money is if you manage to convince some local Norwegian company that the robot will serve to advertise their produce. For any company with a budget of millions in advertisement, a tiny budget of 2000EUR is nothing and the upside would be to have a humanoid robot as a mascot or something that will entertain visitors in their HQ.

I can completely understand where you are coming from in terms of enthusiasm and aspirations. So in my opinion you should take it one step at a time and gradually set your objectives higher.
Have you done any microcontroler programming recently? if not, why dont you first get an Arduino and a couple of servos. Then, if you want a 22dof humanoid, you have to design it otherwise get one that suits your taste:

* KHR2-HV, KHR-1HV - best for aesthetic mobility but lack a formal programming language with RCB-3 controler.
* Bioloid - this one is for hardcore programmers that want to get as deep and wide as possible with their humanoid.
* Robonova - can be modified and programmed check out the Knowledgebase.