Scorpios Anatomy-Mimetic Arm Integration: Endowing Superior Dexterous Capabilities to The Draco Humanoid Robot
Abstract
We propose to acquire an anatomy-mimetic ~whole-body manipulation-capable~ proprioceptive robot arm and integrate it into the University of Texas at Austin / Apptronik Draco liquid cooled viscoelastic biped robot. The combined technology will produce a prototype humanoid robot aimed at studying complex whole-body dexterous capabilities for effective shipboard operations. Two of the main components of the robotic arm, dubbed UT Austin / Apptronik Scorpios, are theApptronik~s Pyxis Rotary Series Elastic Actuator and the Apptronik~s Medulla Axon Embedded Nervous System. Those products have been recently developed at Apptronik under USSOCOM STTR funding for a new generation of agile whole-body exoskeletons. Another key technology we will acquire is a 5-degree-of-freedom (DoF) anatomy-mimetic shoulder mimicking scapulaelevation / depression and abduction / adduction. The scapula is the larger bone of the shoulder. These 5-DoF shoulder augmented with an elbow joint and a 3-DoF forearm/wrist will be sold by Apptronik as part of an anatomy-mimetic articulated body that connects to the previous actuators and embedded nervous system. Typical robotic arms consist of 3-DoF shoulders instead of 5-DoFs. However, mimicking the movement of the 5-DoF human shouldercould play a fundamental role on whole-body manipulability akin to the role of dexterous wrist joints. In particular the Scorpios robot arm will be integrated with the Draco humanoid robot to yield never-seen-before manipulation capabilities in tight spaces and using the robot~s entire body. In this project, we aim at acquiring and assembling the following systems: 1) nine Apptronik Pyxis Rotary series elastic actuators, 2) one Apptronik Medulla Embedded mastercommunication node, 3) nine Apptronik Axon V2 Embedded amplifiers and slavecommunication nodes, 4) one Apptronik Scorpios anatomy-mimetic body, articulation and transmission arm module compatible with Apptronik~s Draco biped module, 5) one Carnegie Mellon Multisense SL camera and LIDAR module, and 6) one Robotiq 3-Finger hand gripper module. In light of this discussion, the contributions of this acquisition and equipment integrationprocess are multi fold: 1) we integrate for first time an 5-DoF anatomy-mimetic shoulder for a robotic arm to enable superior dexterity in tight spaces, 2) we integrate the Medulla / Axon embedded nervous system which is designed for modern whole-body proprioceptive controllers; and 3) we integrate together the Scorpios anatomy-mimetic arm with the Draco biped robot to
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 10, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812238
Entities
People
- Luis Sentis
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Texas at Austin