Project Readiness Package Rev 9/1/11
INTRODUCTION: The primary objective of this Project Readiness Package (PRP) is to describe the proposed project by documenting requirements (customer needs and expectations, specifications, deliverables, anticipated budget, skills and resources needed, and people/ organizations affiliated with the project. This PRP will be utilized by faculty to evaluate project suitability in terms of challenge, depth, scope, skills, budget, and student / faculty resources needed. It will also serve as an important source of information for students during the planning phase to develop a project plan and schedule.
In this document, italicized text provides explanatory information regarding the desired content. If a particular item or aspect of a section is not applicable for a given project, enter N/A (not applicable). For questions, contact Mark Smith at 475-7102, [email protected].
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:
Project Name TigerBot Humanoid Platform (tentative):
Project Number, if P12202 known:
Preferred Start/End Quarter in Senior Design: Fall/Winter Fall/Spring Winter/Spring
Faculty Champion: (technical mentor: supports proposal development, anticipated technical mentor during project execution; may also be Sponsor)
Name Dept. Email Phone Ferat Sahin EME [email protected] 475 2175
For assistance identifying a Champion: B. Debartolo (ME), G. Slack (EE), J. Kaemmerlen (ISE), R. Melton (CE)
Other Support, if known: (faculty or others willing to provide expertise in areas outside the domain of the Faculty Champion)
Name Dept. Email Phone Wayne Walter ME [email protected] 475-2925 Adriana Becker-Gomez CE [email protected] 475-5292
Project “Guide” if known: (project mentor: guides team through Senior Design process and grades students; may also be Faculty Champion) o George Slack
Primary Customer, if known (name, phone, email): (actual or representative user of project output; articulates needs/requirements) o Multi Agent Bio-Robotics Lab, Electrical and Microelectronics Engineering, RIT
Sponsor(s): (provider(s) of financial support)
Name/Organization Contact Info. Type & Amount of Support Committed Ferat Sahin [email protected] Seed money for the first two projects
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PROJECT OVERVIEW: 2-3 paragraphs that provide a general description of the project – background, motivation, customers, problem you’re trying to solve, project objectives.
This senior design project is the second one of the series of projects planned, called TIGERBOT, for developing humanoid robots at RIT. The humanoid robot will be designed as the test bench for the future senior design projects. The future senior design projects will aim to improve/redesign certain aspects of humanoid robots. Thus, TigerBot senior design project series will have two tracks: platform and area specific. This senior design will focus on designing the platform which will be used as test bench for the area specific senior design projects.
The platform will be a robot with enough number of joints and power to walk straight and turn. This platform will be used to generate future senior design projects and be a test bed for the new ideas regarding humanoid components such as electromechanical body, intelligence, control, and sensors. Since this is a platform robot, senior design team will focus on system level design rather than component level design. Thus, students can use existing designs, ideas, component of the shelf parts, and custom design components. However, as this is the second platform project, you will be able to interact with the first team and benefit from their findings in order to come up with a better design or improve the existing design.
DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The goal of this section is provide enough detail for faculty to assess whether the proposed project scope and required skills are appropriate for 5th year engineering students working over two quarters. The sequence of the steps listed below may depend on your project, and the process is usually iterative, so feel free to customize. Emphasis is on the “whats” (qualitative and quantitative), not the “hows” (solutions), except for the section on “potential concepts,” which is necessary to assess the appropriateness of required skills and project scope. Not all of the information in this section may be shared with students. (Attach extra documentation as needed).
Customer Needs and Objectives: Comprehensive list of what the customer/user wants or needs to be able to do in the “voice of the customer,” not in terms of how it might be done; desired attributes of the solution. o Mobile – can walk straight and turn o Autonomous . Voice activated . Non-tethered . Obstacle avoidance capable o Can get up from backward and forward fall o Fall resistant o Minimum of 20 Degrees of Freedom . 4 DOF for each leg and arm (Total of 16 DOF) . 2 DOF for head: up/down and right/left . 2 DOF for torso: up/down and right/left
Functional Decomposition: Functions and sub-functions (verb-noun pairs) that are associated with a system/solution that will satisfy customer needs and objectives. Focus on “what” has to be achieved and not on “how”it is to be achieved – decompose the system only as far as the (sub) functions are solution independent. This can be a simple function list or a diagram (functional diagram, FAST (why-how) diagram, function tree).
TigerBot platform has four subsystems: electromechanical body, control systems, intelligence, sensors
o Electromechanical Body . Links Different length and sizes based on the body structure and ergonomics Page 3 of 8 Project Readiness Package Rev 9/1/11
. Joints Two types of servos: different sizes based on the torque requirements Axis of rotations: z and x axes o Control Systems . Servo drivers . Separate power supply from the electronics o Intelligence . A small factor computer, a good micro controller capable of running at least a micro OS, or a smart phone such as iPhone . Initial software library for posture, recovery, walking, and turning schemes . Sensor interfacing
o Sensors . Internal Sensors Balancing ad posture sensors . External Sensors Sensors for human interaction and remote control Sensors for autonomy and obstacle avoidance
Potential Concepts: Generate a short list of potential concepts (solutions) to realize the system and associated functions. This may involve benchmarking or reverse engineering of existing solutions. For each concept and its associated function(s), generate a list of key tasks or skills needed to design and realize the function(s), and identify which disciplines (ME, EE, CE, ISE, …) are likely to be involved in the design and realization of the function(s). See the “PRP_Checklist” document for a list of student skills by department. Potential concepts, skills, and tasks should not be shared with students. o As mentioned before, this senior design project’s goal is to design a platform for future humanoid projects. Thus, students are encouraged to use the existing solutions for reverse engineering purposes. In addition, students are encouraged to use component of the shelf parts or parts of an existing humanoid. o Electromechanical Body . Two types of servos may be used: medium power and high power based on the torque needs of the joints . Only revolute joints should be used to simplify the design. . The number of degrees of freedom is limited to 20 as described . Links and joints can be reverse engineered based on our humanoid, ROBONOVA. o Control Systems . Existing servo controllers can be used as there are servo controllers with 32 ports capable of controlling 32 DOF . Intelligence A PC101 type small computer, ARM based micro controller board could be used as the main computer of the system, or a smart phone The software libraries will be sequence of angles for the servo motors. Thus, they can be experimentally determined. For interfacing with other components of the system, the main computer should have multiple means of interfacing such as I2C, ISP etc. o Sensors . Internal Sensors Accelerometer and gyros are available on the market . External Sensors Voice recognition circuitries and chips are available on the market Page 4 of 8 Project Readiness Package Rev 9/1/11
Bluetooth or wireless communication maybe part of the main computer Proximity sensors such as IR proximity sensors can be used for object detection
Specifications (or Engineering/Functional Requirements): Translates “voice of the customer” into “voice of the engineer.” Specifications describe what the system should (shall) do in language that has engineering formality. Specifications are quantitative and measureable because they must be testable/ verifiable, so they consist of a metric (dimension with units) and a value. We recommend utilizing the aforementioned functional decomposition to identify specifications at the function/ sub-function levels. Target values are adequate at this point – final values will likely be set after students develop concepts and make tradeoffs on the basis of chosen concepts. Consider the following types of specifications:geometry (dimensions, space), kinematics (type & direction of motion), forces, material, signals, safety, ergonomics (comfort, human interface issues), quality, production (waste, factory limitations), assembly, transport/packaging, operations (environmental/noise), maintenance, regulatory (UL, IEEE, FDA, FCC, RIT). o System Level Engineering Specs . TigerBot needs to be between 20 inches to 3 ft . It needs to carry ¼ of its weight. o Electromechanical Body . Robot needs to have maximum of 20 DOF (4 DOF arms and legs, 2 DOF head (optional), and 2 DOF Torso (optional)) . TigerBot head needs to turn 90 degrees towards right and left . TigerBot torso needs to 90 degrees down and 45 % left and right about the center axis . The links and joints of the robot are required to be proportional to a human. o Control Systems . In the platform robot, servo motors available on the market are required . Servo drivers available on the market should be used but a driver with high number of ports should be determined for future expansions. o Intelligence . Micro controller which will handle the motion control of the robot needs to be a small factor computer with an operating system . Software Libraries Movement Schemes o Walking o Turning – Left and Right o Recovery . Forward fall and backward fall . Resistance to fall o Obstacle Avoidance . Stop when an object is in 25 inches . Turn right/left to avoid the obstacle
o Sensors . Internal Sensors Sensors will determine the falls and external forces applied to the robot. This sensors should provide information to support resistance to fall and posture determination. . External Sensors Proximity sensors
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o Robot is required to detect object in front, back, right, left and 45 degrees angled forward. Voice recognition unit/sensor – This is required to detect at least 16 words regardless of the person speaking
Constraints: External factors that, in some way, limit the selection of solution alternatives. They are usually imposed on the design and are not directly related to the functional objectives of the system but apply across the system (eg. cost and schedule constraints). Constraints are often included in the specifications list but they often violate the abstractness property by specifying “how”.
The TigerBot platform senior design will only use components readily available on the market. Thus, the available components will drive the robot’s structure and design. Here are some of the constraints regarding certain design aspects of the TigerBot platform.
. Robot center of gravity needs to be lower than the waist . Medium and high torque servos are required based on the joint types and locations . Micro controller which will handle the motion control of the robot needs to be a small factor computer or a system with comparable characteristics as: 32 bits >2 G bytes Embedded OS C/C+ compiler Multiple Interfaces: I2C, SPI, USB,
. Internal Sensors Accelerometers – This is for detecting external forces such that the robot resists falling Gyroscopes – This is for detecting falls and primitive posture detection.
Project Deliverables: Expected output, what will be “delivered” – be as specific and thorough as possible.
o A walking, turning, and balancing humanoid o Human interaction via voice and wireless communication o Autonomous o Voice Activated o Self-balancing o Resistance to fall o Able to get up any fall o Wiki for the project o Operation Manual o Software Manual for Software Libraries developed.
Budget Estimate: Major cost items anticipated.
o $2000
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Intellectual Property (IP) considerations: Describe any IP concerns or limitations associated with the project. Is there patent potential? Will confidentiality of any data or information be required?
o Possibility of an IP is very less likely in the platform robot as components available on the market will be used for the design of this humanoid.
Other Information: Describe potential benefits and liabilities, known project risks, etc. The TigerBot humanoid will not only be a platform for future humanoid robot senior design project but it will also attract attention from local media. As humanoids are very attractive for young adults, it could also be used as recruitment tool. In the future versions, they could be used during college and careers days and visits of the prospective students’ families.
Continuation Project Information, if appropriate: Include prior project(s) information, and how prior project(s) relate to the proposed project.
In the MABL research lab, we have a 16 DOF humanoid called Robonova. This humanoid has voice activation, balancing, and obstacle avoidance capabilities. This senior design will use Robonova as well as other humanoids on the market to come up with TigerBot design. Thus, the TigerBot platform project is a system design projects rather than designing individual components from scratch. The TigerBot will have four additional degrees of freedom as it will have four DOF freedom in the arms instead of three and two DOF for the head.
STUDENT STAFFING:
Skills Checklist: Complete the “PRP_Checklist” document and include with your submission. o ATTACHED
Anticipated Staffing Levels by Discipline:
How Discipline Anticipated Skills Needed (concise descriptions) Many? 3 Design of the joints, interfaces, and sensor integration. Power EE management and distribution. 2 1-Design of joints and links, 2- Biomechanics of the Robot as it needs to ME mimic human look, 3 – Design of the Robot body and internal compartments 2 Interfacing controllers, programming walking sequences, and designing CE the sensor and actuator interface ISE Other
OTHER RESOURCES ANTICIPATED: Describe resources needed to support successful development, implementation, and utilization of the project. This could include specific faculty expertise, laboratory space and equipment, outside services, customer facilities, etc. Indicate if resources are available, to your knowledge.
Category Description Resource Page 7 of 8 Project Readiness Package Rev 9/1/11
Available?
Faculty Ferat Sahin
Wayne Walter
Environment Multi Agent Bio Robotics Lab
Multidisciplinary Senior Design Laboratory
Machine Shop and EME Senior Design Lab
Equipment Equipment in MABL and EME Senior design lab
Tools in Machine Shop
Materials
Other
Prepared by: FERAT SAHIN Date: 11/28/2011
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