robotics Article HBS-1: A Modular Child-Size 3D Printed Humanoid Lianjun Wu, Miles Larkin, Akshay Potnuru and Yonas Tadesse * Received: 6 November 2015; Accepted: 4 January 2016; Published: 13 January 2016 Academic Editor: Huosheng Hu Humanoid, Biorobotics and Smart Systems Laboratory (HBS Lab), Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson TX 75080, USA;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +1-972-883-4556; Fax: +1-972-883-4659 Abstract: An affordable, highly articulated, child-size humanoid robot could potentially be used for various purposes, widening the design space of humanoids for further study. Several findings indicated that normal children and children with autism interact well with humanoids. This paper presents a child-sized humanoid robot (HBS-1) intended primarily for children’s education and rehabilitation. The design approach is based on the design for manufacturing (DFM) and the design for assembly (DFA) philosophies to realize the robot fully using additive manufacturing. Most parts of the robot are fabricated with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) using rapid prototyping technology. Servomotors and shape memory alloy actuators are used as actuating mechanisms. The mechanical design, analysis and characterization of the robot are presented in both theoretical and experimental frameworks. Keywords: humanoid; mechanical design; actuators; manufacturing; 3D printing 1. Introduction Humanoid robots have great potential for use in our daily life by accompanying or working together with people. Growing interest in humanoid robots has spurred a substantial increase in their development over the past decade.