15-494: Cognitive Robotics, Spring 2009
Richard Ha
Description
The right-front leg (RFr) of the Chiara, unlike other legs, has an extra degree of freedom that can be called a ``shoulder'' of sorts where it enables the Chiara to rotate the leg upwards or downwards giving the Chiara more freedom in performing tasks that might not have been possible before. This leg could then be used as a ``pincer'' or ``scythe'' of sorts that the Chiara could use to perform neat tricks such as engaging objects while walking or reaching hard to reach places. What I did for my project was explore new ways that the scythe-leg could be used for and add functionality through an easily accessible library. (pdf writeup (not yet) available here.)
Goals
The goals for this project were based around getting around the hurdles needed to allow easy access to the scythe-leg.
- Re-write the Chiara's walking plist (human-readable XML) files to free up the scythe-leg for other activities.
- Write code that will give the Chiaras a large repertoire of actions that they would be able to perform.
- Fix macros to enable the Chiara to use the scythe-leg while walking (next-gen robot soccer).
- Write code that will coordinate the gripper leg with the scythe-leg for more functionality.
- Channel the energies of the Dark Templars (needs more Khala)
Accomplishments
- Successfully wrote code that took advantage of the arm's mobility.
- Chiara can move and interact with objects now.