BrainBot Coming Together

So, things are starting to come together - all this being super busy stuff is starting to pay off. BrainBot* is getting close to being functionally complete. There is still a bunch of work to be done, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I've got the robot put together, in close to its final form. All the boards are mounted, and a lot of the wiring is done. BrainBot weighs in at a hefty 3.0 kg, so it will be very interesting to see how well the AX-12 servos do under that kind of load.

I have to give a demo at the Brain Engineering Lab in New Hampshire at the end of May, with BrainBot walking and capable of manipulating small objects, with a nice text-mode (URBI) socket server front-end.

With any luck at all, BrainBot will be going on sale as a full-on kit sometime later this year. Imagine being able to buy a research biped that has a pan and tilt stereo vision head, dual two-axis manipulators, a total of 24 degrees of freedom, a high bandwidth wifi interface to a PC, a six axis IMU for balance, and pressure sensitive feet and grippers.

*The BrainBot project is directed and funded by the Brain Engineering Lab and Neukom Institute