Bryan Kobe

Humanoid Robotics and Digital Signal Processors

Motivation: Humanoid robotics is a technology that is growing in research in the world today. Many universities and industries are developing their own human0like robots, to eventually replace human beings in common everyday tasks. One humanoid, HuBo (developed by the Korean Institute of Science and Technology) is an excellent platform to perform research with. The National Science Foundation is funding a grant to Drexel University for the PIRE (Partnerships for International Research and Education) Humanoids project, in order to set up partnerships with not only colleges in the United States, but across the globe. With the collaboration of countries such as South Korea and the United States, a better humanoid can be developed by using each country’s strong abilities in engineering.

The HuBo Humanoid Robot

Approach: First, before research can be done on a full size humanoid platform, an understanding of the basics must be accomplished. This includes gaining knowledge on everything from the mechanics and kinematics of the robot, to the electrical work and hardware, then to the programming needed to process the data.

The Biloid humanoid robot by Robotis

The Netburner DSP: My current research involves implementing the Embedded Netburner DSP (MOD5213) to communicate with the Biloid robot (www.robotis.com). This small scale humanoid robot (~12 inches tall and 18 DOF) will be used to understand the basic kinematics of humanoid robots. See my web page for more information and tutorials on the Netburner DSP.

http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~bdk29