The main contribution of this paper is the design and development of the lower body of PANDORA (3D-Printed Autonomous humaNoid Developed for Open-source Research Applications), a new humanoid robotic platform implementing additive manufacturing techniques. The three joint configurations (hip, knee, and ankle) along with the major three structural parts (pelvis, thigh, and shin) of the lower body are discussed. The use of 3D printing and PLA+ material makes the robot an affordable solution for humanoid robotics research that gives a high power-to-weight ratio by significantly reducing the number of parts, as well as manufacturing and assembly time. The range of motion of the lower body of PANDORA has been investigated and is found to be comparable to a human lower body. Further, finite element analysis has been performed on the major parts of the lower body of PANDORA to check the structural integrity and to avoid catastrophic failures in the robot. The use of in-house developed actuators and robot electronics reduces the overall cost of the robot and makes PANDORA easily accessible to the research communities working in the field of humanoids. Overall, PANDORA has the potential for becoming popular between researchers and designers for investigating applications in the field of humanoid robotics, healthcare, and manufacturing, just to mention a few. The mechanical designs presented in this work are available open source to lower the knowledge barrier in developing and conducting research on bipedal robots.

This work presents the design and development of a biologically inspired 12 degree of freedom (DoF) quadruped robot,“Squeaky,” to use as a learning platform for research and education and as a companion robot. The design of this robot is based on and derived from the behaviors and locomotion of one of the most common pets, dogs, which exhibit a unique interaction and connection with humans. The robot design is based on three main factors: minimizing production cost by using readily available components, simplifying the manufacturing process using 3D printed parts, and streamlining onboard electronics and software using simple communication and control schemes. The use of 3D printing technology makes the robot easy to manufacture, assemble, and make design modifications to if the user requires different functionality. The main controller of the robot is a Raspberry Pi 4, which receives data from a camera and an IMU to enable various levels of autonomy. Squeaky includes a default gait generator to allow trotting locomotion with various types of motion inputs from the main controller. The simplified software and multifunctional platform of Squeaky can be useful for researchers as well as developers working in the field of quadrupeds.