<< RHex << Kod*lab Projects

Current EduBot platform, 02/2009
Photo courtesy Kevin Galloway

EduBot

Overview

The goal of EduBot project is to develop a small form-factor modular RHex variant that is a cost-efficient education and research tool. The development of the EduBot platform started in late 2005 as part of the NSF-FIBR program. The platform has been employed in ESE112 and ESE313 which are two undergraduate level courses in the Electrical and System Engineering Department of University of Pennsylvania. The platform has also been used for various research activities and undergraduate senior design projects.

Another RHex variant akin to EduBot v1.0; SandBot is used actively by colleagues at Georgia Tech to study methods of traversing granular surfaces, such as sand, using a legged robot.

Beginning Fall 2008, our group have focused on the new generation of the EduBot platform which is more robust than the first version in terms of mechanics, electronics and programming infrastructure.

Robotic Platforms

• EduBot v1.0
• EduBot v2.0

Collaborators

• PolyPedal Lab, University of California at Berkeley
• University of Pennsylvania, ESE Program

Sponsors

• NSF-FIBR - Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research
• University of Pennsylvania - Kod*Lab, ESE Undergraduate Program

Relevant Publications and Media Appearances

2011

• EduBot Hexapod Breaks New Ground In Robot Mobility, Geeky Gadgets
• Running Hexapod Gets Fancy New Tunable Legs, IEEE Spectrum Automation Blog
• Experimental Investigations into the Role of Passive Variable Compliant Legs for Dynamic Robotic Locomotion, ICRA 2011

2009

• Sensitive Dependence of the Motion of a Legged Robot on Granular Media, Proceedings of National Academy of Science, February 2009

2008

• A Physical Model for Dynamical Arthropod Running on Level Ground, Proceedings of 11th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, July 2008
• ‘Rocky’ robot may climb museum steps, The Daily Pennsylvanian, March 7, 2008 PDF version

2007

• Heterogeneous Leg Stiffness and Roll in Dynamic Running, Proceedings of IEEE Conference of Robotics and Automation, 2007
• Robotics as the Delivery Vehicle: A contexualized, social, self paced, engineering education for life-long learners, Robotics Science and Systems Workshop on “Research in Robots for Education”, 2007
• Second nature to robots, The Journal Gazette, February 26, 2007 PDF version
• We’re going the way of the robot, Newsday, February 20, 2007 PDF version
• Woof, woof; click, click, The Daily Pennsylvanian, February 15, 2007 PDF version
• Stair-climbing robots introduce young engineers to Penn, The Daily Pennsylvanian, February 9, 2007PDF version

2006

• New hunt is on for robot top dog, New Scientist, April 24, 2006 PDF version