Mini-PR2 constructed using CkBot modules

Modlab recently constructed a miniature version of the Willow Garage PR-2 robot. This video demonstrates the arm capability, compatibility with ROS, and base motion. The arms each have 6 degrees of freedom (plus gripper), and the base can reconfigure to translate in any direction or rotate.

The gripper is compliant, and grasps complex objects by allowing deformation of the gripper "hand".

Also, the mini can be "puppeted" by moving the arms of the new PR2 at UPenn. We are working on and anticipate soon having the ability to "puppet" the PR2 by moving the mini-PR2 arms.

The current arm mirroring system works by reading the joint_states topic from the PR2 or simulator, and translating it into ckbot joint angles, which are transmitted to the system via the CAN bus.

The mini-PR2 uses:
14 U-Bar ckbot modules
4 L7 ckbot modules
4 ckbot motor modules

Totalling approximately $5000 worth of robotic modules.

You can find more information about the PR2 on the willow garage website:
http://www.willowgarage.com/pages/robots/pr2-overview

More information about ROS can be found here:
http://www.ros.org/wiki/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• pr2
• minipr2
• ckbot
• modular
• robot
• robotics
• ros
• simulator
• motion
• base
• virtual
• puppeting

[KennyWrites]

I checked out the Willow Garage site, very cool! I bet those PR2s are going to cost many thousands of dollars when they are released. I'd love to have one!

What about the ckbot modules, are they available anywhere for private researchers to get and work with?