Likely one of the most awe-inspiring robotics projects to date, genius-maker Danny Benedetelli constructed a humanoid robot that’s wirelessly controlled using a wearable exosuit made from LEGOS. By donning the exosuit and flailing his arms, Danny is able to make the robot replicate his exact movement, gesture by gesture.
The robot featured in the experiment is a modified version of Danny’s cyclops robot designed four years ago using the LEGO Mindstorms NXT system and an Android phone running a custom app. This allows a Bluetooth-enabled Arduino embedded within the suit to wirelessly communicate with the robot and transmit data from a multitude of potentiometers (one for each degree-of-freedom) to the robot’s motors.
As MAKE points out, remote manipulators have actually existed in NASA labs, special-effects studios, and assembly lines for a number of years in the form of hand-like mechanisms controlled by human operators. Often called the a “Waldo,” after a 1942 short story written by Robert Heinlein, remote manipulators were originally designed to handle radioactive materials from above a sealed chamber.
Danny’s project is distinguished by its use of wireless Bluetooth, exoskeleton, and LEGOS, the key component responsible for the lowering the cost of entry enough to allow an amateur roboticist to replicate a small-scale proof of concept of million dollar technology. He likens it to a prototype, stating that he’ll be developing it further with additional controls such as walking and opening and closing of its hand.
The latest updates are logged on his website, where readers may also find a slew of robotics-related projects for all those who are interesting.
Source: Makezine
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