Dongbu Robot

[nicolas gomez]

Hi all here find another robot kit from dongburobot is very similar to Bioloid, could perhaps be another robotic kit distributed by robosavy

A video with the diferent set parts

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Assembly options
http://98.130.113.240/Assembly/index.html


Video of HOVIS Lite Humanoid Robot

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HOVIS Lite Humanoid Robot Simulation Software

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Set of servos




Shell Body

[limor]

thanks for compiling all this info.
We've had this robot and servos in our office (RoboSavvy) for about a year.
the short answer to why we don't sell them is "it's complicated".
drop me an email if you would like to discuss this (limor at robosavvy)

[PedroR]

Hi Nicolas

We now have the DONGBU HerkuleX Servos up for Sale on our online store.

You can check them out here http://robosavvy.com/store/advanced_sea ... rs&x=0&y=0


As Limor mentioned we've had these servos in our Lab for over a year now. We became involved with Dongbu very early, while they were still finalizing many important features (software, framesets, catalogs, etc).

The servos themselves are very impressive both in terms of Cost per kgf.cm and also by their very advanced firmware.

We're happy to say we've now come to a point where everything is ready and there is a wide range of accessories available.

If you have the time, check out the product pages, and in particular the Servo Manual.
It details all the parameters that can be controlled on the servo: these are the only servos where one can define in Great Detail the servo behavior while it's moving (define the speed and acceleration curves, acceleration and speed limits, limit the pwm on the motor and a lot more parameters).

We'll have to see how this can translate into real life results but these are for sure unique features.


They also have Full Duplex UART at TTL level which makes it much easier to communicate with the Servos from any MCU.

The Half Duplex Dynamixel bus poses some challenges if you want to interface them directly to a BeagleBoard or Gumstix; these servos with Full Duplex should make everything much easier.


With regards to the Humanoid Kits, we're still figuring out how they fit into the current offer on the Market. HOVIS Lite (the one you posted) seems to have a price tag a bit high for what it offers on the base version but does have great potential for adding a propper MCU (Linux based for example); HOVIS Eco seems to be more interesting in terms of both DoF, price and features.

We're still adding more of the DONGBU Portfolio to our store, This is just the kick start

Regards
Pedro

[nicolas gomez]

Hi Nicolas

We now have the DONGBU HerkuleX Servos up for Sale on our online store.

You can check them out here http://robosavvy.com/store/advanced_sea ... rs&x=0&y=0


As Limor mentioned we've had these servos in our Lab for over a year now. We became involved with Dongbu very early, while they were still finalizing many important features (software, framesets, catalogs, etc).

The servos themselves are very impressive both in terms of Cost per kgf.cm and also by their very advanced firmware.

We're happy to say we've now come to a point where everything is ready and there is a wide range of accessories available.

If you have the time, check out the product pages, and in particular the Servo Manual.
It details all the parameters that can be controlled on the servo: these are the only servos where one can define in Great Detail the servo behavior while it's moving (define the speed and acceleration curves, acceleration and speed limits, limit the pwm on the motor and a lot more parameters).

We'll have to see how this can translate into real life results but these are for sure unique features.


They also have Full Duplex UART at TTL level which makes it much easier to communicate with the Servos from any MCU.

The Half Duplex Dynamixel bus poses some challenges if you want to interface them directly to a BeagleBoard or Gumstix; these servos with Full Duplex should make everything much easier.


With regards to the Humanoid Kits, we're still figuring out how they fit into the current offer on the Market. HOVIS Lite (the one you posted) seems to have a price tag a bit high for what it offers on the base version but does have great potential for adding a propper MCU (Linux based for example); HOVIS Eco seems to be more interesting in terms of both DoF, price and features.

We're still adding more of the DONGBU Portfolio to our store, This is just the kick start

Regards
Pedro

Hi Pedro
thank you very much for telling me and for the information
Regards
nicolas

[Joe]

Hi all,

I picked up one of these Herkulex servos (the same ones used in the Hovis bipeds, as well as the Genibo robot dog) on my recent trip to Japan, and finally found time to hook it up. Here's my write-up of the experience:

http://botscene.net/2012/10/20/getting-started-with-the-herkulex-drs-0101/

I haven't done any "real" projects with it yet, but so far I'm very impressed with both the engineering of the servo, and their customer support.

Cheers,
- Joe

[nicolas gomez]

Here more info abour the hovis eco

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the HOVIS Eco is around 697 €

http://www.helidos.com/hovis-eco

€910
http://www.robotshop.com/eu/hovis-eco-h ... robot.html

HOVIS Lite €557

http://www.helidos.com/hovis-lite

€671.60
http://www.robotshop.com/eu/hovis-lite- ... bot-4.html

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http://nodna.de/Dongbu-Robots-Hovis-Eco-Humanoid

http://nodna.de/Dongbu-Robots-Hovis-Lit ... manoid-Kit

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Hovis-ECO-Humano ... 6189wt_793

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source
http://wistjedat.tweakblogs.net/blog/82 ... -huis.html

regards
nicolas

[PedroR]

Hi Nicolaz

Thank you for sharing this with us.

Regarding HOVIS Lite we actually have a sample/development model in our lab and I must admit we were not particularly impressed at the time. It looked like yet-another-Robot inspired in the ageing Bioloid Comprehensive.

As for Hovis Eco, it looks much more interesting - and I'm particularly impressed with the nice packaging.
There has been an internal decision to not include Hovis in our Christmas line up but we've been keeping an eye on their development.

I believe I already wrote somewhere we became involved with Dongbu very early in the pre release process. At the time a lot of things were missing including software so we decided to stock only the servos.
(HOVIS Eco for example, was not completely ready from what I remember at the time).

We know software (and hardware) has been maturing (and is at a good level now) and we also know Dongbu is still investing in developing new features and accessories for the robots.
We'll see what the future brings

Kind Regards
Pedro.

[Joe]

I'd also like to thank you for posting these photos and videos. I love the drawer box that the kit comes in!

Pedro, I agree with you that the Hovis Lite isn't all that interesting... as ugly as a Bioloid, and not much cheaper than the Eco. But the Eco looks very nice, very similar to a Manoi but much less expensive.

I've been playing with the Herkulex servos and I really like them; I also really like the customer support I've gotten from Dongbu. My impression is that they're still new and ironing things out, but their engineering quality (both software & hardware) is really good. I think we'll see some great things from them in the years to come.

[Dave]

Hi there,

Just thought i would ask a quick question here!!
Is the eco hovis actually any good?
i mean, i am looking into getting another humanoid again - had a khr2hv and biloid. not sure whether to go bioloid/robobuilder or hovis. Hovis looks great with the shell, and without. but not sure in regards to parts/batteries etc.Or should i hang back for any newer versions!

Ta In advance.

[UncleBob]

Cool it was fighting jacky chan's Drunken Fist.

Don't like the remote. Can't fit the zigbee module to the Bioloid boomerang ?

[PedroR]

Hi Dave

We've only evaluated HOVIS Lite and I must say it's not all that interesting. Looks like a Bioloid Comprehensive with one extra servo in the torso (to bow).
As I was told this was also the design of the original comprehensive (with 19 servos) but the 19th DoF was later removed.

The issue with Hovis Lite is not the technology but mostly the looks because the servos seem very good (they're the same on Lite and Eco afaik).

Eco looks nicer, and from looking at the catalog looks more convincing.

Now, as you know, we don't sell HOVIS on RoboSavvy so I don't have much more advice to offer.

What I can say is that whether you go with HOVIS or Robobuilder, they both have great potential for expansion of the MCU which I believe is where Hobby Humanoids should improve.

ATMEL based MCUs have been around since the time of the Robonova and apart from the expensive DARwIn and NAO there hasn't been much improvement in terms of onboard processing power or programming languages/capabilities.

Robobuilder has a full featured serial protocol so you can add an extra MCU outside the robot and you can then make clever things programming on the PC or similar.

Additionally both Robobuilder and HOVIS have full Duplex TTL serial servos meaning that, if you want, you can strip out the controller and add an Arduino (or other) in place to control the servos/robot.
(we like the ArduIMU for this task btw: it has an onboard voltage regulator to accept a wide range of voltage input and takes power directly from the servos/battery, includes a 6 axis IMU and is an Arduino).

You can be a bit more ambitious and add a RapsberryPI but this requires a bit more hacking. It's an interesting project though and some more advanced users ahve made good progress in this area.


Regards
Pedro.

[Dave]

HI Pedro,

Thanks for that!

I really do like the look of the hovis eco actually.
Dont think im quite advanced enough to get into the RapsberryPI.

Would like to get as far as i can with the standard kit with gyro etc, and go from there i think.

The only problems i have come across would be getting additional parts, like gyro spare batteries, as well as actually getting the kit itself.

[Dave]

HI Pedro,

Thanks for that!

Robobuilder is awesome, i looked some time ago at getting one but went bioloid instead in the end.

Now time has moved on i am in the market for a humanoid once more!

I really do like the look of the hovis eco actually.
Dont think im quite advanced enough to get into the RapsberryPI.

Would like to get as far as i can with the standard kit with gyro etc, and go from there i think.

The only problems i have come across would be getting additional parts, like gyro spare batteries, as well as actually getting the kit itself.

[PedroR]

Hi Dave

Regarding HOVIS Eco, I don't really know where you can source it. We're not currently carrying it on our catalogue.

Regarding Robobuilder, we do have it in stock and we're able to get practically any part you ant or need (even if its not listed on our store). Request for special parts take a few weeks to fulfil (as we need to group them with the next order from Robobuilder) but we are able to supply any extra or accessory parts to the customers provided Robobuilder is selling them of course.

Regards
Pedro.

[nicolas gomez]

HI Pedro,

Thanks for that!

I really do like the look of the hovis eco actually.
Dont think im quite advanced enough to get into the RapsberryPI.

Would like to get as far as i can with the standard kit with gyro etc, and go from there i think.

The only problems i have come across would be getting additional parts, like gyro spare batteries, as well as actually getting the kit itself.

Hi Dave

here some links with the separe parts

http://nodna.de/navi.php?k=182&seite=&h ... g=0&af=100

http://www.sgbotic.com/index.php?dispat ... ct_id=1194

http://www.helidos.com/shopby/dongbu_robot



from http://wistjedat.tweakblogs.net/blog/82 ... -huis.html