VACANCIES > Ongoing Research Projects > Animatronics & Humanoid
Animatronics and
Humanoid Robots
Mechanical 3D Printed Design, Fabrication and Control of Humanoid Robot Platform

Design, Fabrication development, and motion planning of a Humanoid Robot, Mechanical design will be the main topics that should be covered in this project. The design concept, lower body design, upper body design and actuator selection of joints are included in this project.
Project Description
Design Fabrication and Control for Animatronics Robots Based on Kinetic Wires

Elastically deforming wire structures are lightweight, durable, and can be bent within minutes using CNC bending machines. We will work on design of kinetic wire characters, tailored for fabrication on consumer-grade hardware. Our technique will takes as input a network of curves or a skeletal animation, then estimates a cable-driven, compliant wire structure which matches user-selected targets or key frames as closely as possible. To enable large localized deformations, we will shape wire into functional spring-like entities at a discrete set of locations. We first detect regions where changes to local stiffness properties are needed, then insert bendable entities of varying shape and size. To avoid a discrete optimization, we first optimize stiffness properties of generic, non-fabricable entities which capture well the behavior of our bendable designs. To co-optimize stiffness properties and cable forces, we will formulate an equilibrium-constrained minimization problem, safeguarding against inelastic deformations. We will demonstrate our method on six fabricated examples, showcasing rich behavior including large deformations and complex, spatial motion.
Project Description
Digital Twin for the Simple 3D Wire Bending Machine: Fabrication and Control

A digital twin is a virtual representation that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or process. Though the concept originated earlier the first practical definition of digital twin originated from NASA in an attempt to improve physical model simulation of spacecraft in 2010. In this project, we will start to build a simple 3D wire Bending Machine as an Example for one of the Mechatronics System that we need to build a digital twin for it and also we are looking to build an Augmented Reality for the Machine (AR) to help in the maintenance and assembly process.
Project Description