rk

Issue #62

Last Update February 28, 2009

Business and Technology Bioloid Robot Kit by Gerry Krownstein July 5, 2007 Robotics has entered the educational curriculum and the hobbyists market. High schools and colleges have robotics teams that compete in national and international contests. A number of companies market robotics kits of varying complexity and skill levels. One of the best of these is the Bioloid Robotics kit, created by the Korean company Robotis. We tested their deluxe kit, Bioloid Comprehensive Kit, assessing it on the dimensions of skill level, quality of documentation, flexibility and programmability. We also paid careful attention to how much fun one could have using the kit. Bioloid scored high on every dimension.

Our testing crew consisted of two (later three) thirty-somethings with graduate science degrees and a firm sense of playfulness. The basic kit construction procedure was:
1) Select a project
2) Read the instructions and view the video
3) Build the robot
4) Download the robot's program to enable the appropriate behaviors
5) Attempt to reprogram the robot to do things the original program did not intend.

Bioloid kits contain a myriad of parts that support the construction of basic, intermediate and advanced level robots. The instruction manual provides directions for a half dozen different robots at each level. (A basic kit is available at a reduced price; it can be upgraded to intermediate and advanced levels by the purchase of additional parts. The advanced kit has instructions and parts for all three levels.) The ultimate goal, however, is to build hardware and programming proficiency in the user so that he or she can design and program robots not described in the instruction manual.

The Comprehensive Kit comes with structural parts, the tiny screws and nuts needed to connect them, and the wires needed to connect the electrical parts to each other; actuators, which are small motors that provide the robot with mobility; sensor module that detects distance, brightness and heat, and also functions as a sound detector, remote control transceiver and buzzer; a programmable Main Controller, which is a small computer that acts as the brains of the robot, and a battery pack that allows the robot to do its repertoire of behaviors without being tethered by a power cord. In addition, there is a power cord for charging the battery pack, and a serial port cable for downloading programs into the Main Controller. A CD is also provided with PDF copies of the manuals, video clips of the robots in action, help files, and software (the various programs needed to make the robots operate, and to create new operating programs.)

The first project chosen by our two testers was one of the Basic-level robots, the Greeting Penguin. (An initial favorite was the Attack Duck, but a pacifist streak among other members of the team vetoed that.) Construction proceeded swiftly and without difficulty, although the tiny size of the screws and nuts caused the constructors to wonder whether a snap-together method of interlocking parts might not have been preferable. The instructions, although written in somewhat faulty English, were extremely clear, especially the many diagrams and illustrations. Even a basic robot has a great many parts. It is a tribute to the instructions that the testing crew was able to put it together without error and wire it correctly.

Once the robot was built, it was time to download its program. Here we encountered one of the few snags in using the Bioloid kit: none of the laptops available to us had a serial port. We tried substituting a USB to serial adapter, but none of us (all experienced computer users and some of us computer professionals) could get it to work. Finally we called in a third tester, whose computer was able to connect properly through the USB/serial adapter. One connected, downloading was a snap, and the Greeting Penguin then could be turned on and put through its paces. (This being a Korean kit, the Greeting Penguin bows when it recognizes an object in front of it. Objects that it detects to either side cause it raise its arm on that side level with its shoulder.)

Having succeeded in making the Greeting Penguin operate according to its original program, we reconnected it to the laptop and attempted to modify the program. This proved to be surprisingly easy to do. Although the C programming language is at the heart of the robot's software, a graphical representation of the subroutines making up the behavioral repertoire can be easily modified without changing any C code. In a short time we had the robot raising the opposite arm when approached from the side, and we could alter the height to which the arm was raised.

With that success fueling our enthusiasm, we disassembled the Greeting Penguin and began the construction of an advanced robot, The Puppy was chosen, pacifist considerations having ruled out the Attacking Dinosaur and the rather spectacular Attacking Spider. The Humanoid, which break dances and does other complicated things felt a bit adventurous for a second project.

Although the Puppy required the use of more components and was a bit more complicated to wire, building it followed the same processes as the basic Greeting Penguin. Once working, the much more complex behaviors were sufficient reward for the effort.

Although the kit is rated for 12 year olds and up, it would make an excellent high school and even college teaching and research tool. As easy to put together physically, as an Erector set, and able to be programmed at both a simple level (rearrange prewritten behavior subroutines and alter their parameters) and a highly advanced level (write and compile your own C routines to do whatever you want), the Bioloid Comprehensive kit, at almost $900 retail, would be a good investment for any school at any level, including robotics researchers who don't want to have to reinvent the wheel. Two things would substantially improve the kit, at no great cost to the manufacturer: a screwdriver of the appropriate size and type for the Bioloid screws, and a USB adapter and appropriate device driver to supplement. the serial cable and software.

A community wiki site for Bioloid users is available at: http://www.bioloid.info/tiki/tiki-index.php

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