NU-Biped-4 a Lightweight and Low-Power Consumption Full-Size Bipedal Robot

Abstract

A newly developed full-size (1.1 m), lightweight (14 kg), and low-cost (5.000 $ for components and materials) bipedal robot is presented. The entire mechanical structure is realized in aluminum, while the feet, to allow absorbing the impact forces, include elastic elements at the ankle level. The mechanical and electrical design are introduced together with the solution of the inverse kinematics based on the successive screw displacements method. Preliminary tests, conducted in a simulation environment and on the real robot prototype, show the low requirements in term of joint torques and energy consumption (408 W) while performing a static walking gate.