Interactive Design of 3D-Printable Robotic Creatures

摘要

We present an interactive design system that allows casual users tornquickly create 3D-printable robotic creatures. Our approach automatesrnthe tedious parts of the design process while providingrnample room for customization of morphology, proportions, gaitrnand motion style. The technical core of our framework is an efficientrnoptimization-based solution that generates stable motions forrnlegged robots of arbitrary designs. An intuitive set of editing toolsrnallows the user to interactively explore the space of feasible designsrnand to study the relationship between morphological featuresrnand the resulting motions. Fabrication blueprints are generated automaticallyrnsuch that the robot designs can be manufactured usingrn3D-printing and off-the-shelf servo motors. We demonstrate the effectivenessrnof our solution by designing six robotic creatures withrna variety of morphological features: two, four or five legs, point orrnarea feet, actuated spines and different proportions. We validate thernfeasibility of the designs generated with our system through physicsrnsimulations and physically-fabricated prototypes.