Humanoid Robot Head Dan Potratz Cody Genkinger Tim Meer Jason Pollard Andrew Taylor

Requirements The head has three degrees of freedom, and can turn from side to side smoothly in under a second. Facial features will be controlled by servomotors, balancing performance with noise. Will connect to a computer for input commands via serial port, while using an API that is congruent with the existing API used for the accompanying arms. Microphones will be used to listen for sound within 3m of the robot, and must be able to distinguish between human voice and ambient sounds. A camera will be implemented within the head or body. The head must look clean, and not creepy.

Concept Renderings

System Description The basic idea is to send code from computer to microcontroller to motor. Serial wires will be used for transmission. The servomotor microcontroller will control all servomotors in the face and neck. Three motors will be used in the neck, two for the eyes, one for the eyebrows and one for the mouth.

Market Survey Limited amount of similar projects. MIT does have a comparable project that is focusing on environmental interaction, and is replete with eyebrows, eyes, mouth and neck.

Risks: Technical Servo controller malfunction Servomotor malfunction Programming hiccups Difficulties integrating serial interface

Risks: Financial Parts may exceed small budget. Project could lose funding. Advisor may deny funding for parts.

Risks: Schedule Shipping delays on parts exceeds scheduled shipping time Expected timetable on tasks is exceeded.. Classwork taking up too much time, pushing project tasks back.

Risks: Customer Acceptance Customer doesn’t like end result, forcing us back to square one. Customer is displeased with design and documentation. Customer finds no fault with the end product but finds the solution too expensive.