Design, development, and analysis of the lower body of next-generation 3D-printed humanoid research platform: PANDORA

摘要

The main contribution of this paper is the design and development of the lower body of PANDORA (3D-PrintedAutonomous humaNoid Developed for Open-source Research Applications), a new humanoid robotic platformimplementing additive manufacturing techniques. The three joint configurations (hip, knee, and ankle) along withthe major three structural parts (pelvis, thigh, and shin) of the lower body are discussed. The use of 3D printing andPLA+material makes the robot an affordable solution for humanoid robotics research that gives a high power-toweightratio by significantly reducing the number of parts, as well asmanufacturing and assembly time. The range ofmotion of the lower body of PANDORA has been investigated and is found to be comparable to a human lower body.Further, finite element analysis has been performed on the major parts of the lower body of PANDORA to check thestructural integrity and to avoid catastrophic failures in the robot. The use of in-house developed actuators and robotelectronics reduces the overall cost of the robot andmakes PANDORA easily accessible to the research communitiesworking in the field of humanoids. Overall, PANDORA has the potential for becoming popular between researchersand designers for investigating applications in the field of humanoid robotics, healthcare, and manufacturing, justto mention a few. The mechanical designs presented in this work are available open source to lower the knowledgebarrier in developing and conducting research on bipedal robots.