Low-Cost Interactive Humanoid Robot

Humanoid robots have been on the frontier of robotic science for several decades, where human alike capabilities have been replicated into electromechanical units. Humanoid robots hold promises in the field of rescue, quarantine, hazardous conditions, radiation leakage, medical trials, etc. Building a humanoid robot is very complicated as it has to deal with locomotion, power, drive train, sensors and computing at the real time. With the development of Single board computers (SBC), the cost of computers has drastically fallen in last 2 decades. At the same time the computation power (GF/Sec) has also increased exponentially. Similarly, MEMS and sensors have also become industrially available with micro sized, robust and reliable. The power source used by robots has also advanced from dry cell to Li-Ion batteries with 5 to 8 times more energy density, resulting in higher operation time. The objective of this paper is to propose a low-cost Humanoid platform comprising a computational platform, sensors, power unit and drive train to deliver basic human alike functions like speech, visual signs, and navigation. The proposed humanoid robot uses a single board computer (SBC) capable of executing python-based AI frameworks combined with Ultrasonic sensors, Li-ion battery and DC motor drives. A top mounted touch screen is used for human machine interface (HMI). This human robotics used in a mid-size campus to guide people to their respective destination, display brief information to new users and navigate to different locations. The humanoid robot adds an aesthetical value to the campus.