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Asked — Edited

Has Anyone Simulated The Jd Humanoid Robot In V-Rep?

Hi all!

Just Joined the community on 10DEC2016Sa and purchased a JD Humanoid Kit. I'm experienced in software design and programming.

Has anyone here tried to simulate the JD Humanoid(JDH) in the V-REP simulator?

The reasons for simulating JDH are to experiment with various algorithms without damaging the real robot and also validate and verify modifications on size and capabilities. Additionally, it would be great learning to eliminate the discrepancies (called "simulation gap") between actions of the real robot in the real world versus actions of the simulated robot in the simulated world by applying noise to the simulation to calibrate/synchronize the robots.

I'd like to set up the simulation, so I'm ensuring that it hasn't already been done.

I haven't learned ARC yet, but it appears not to have simulation capability.

Any suggestions?

samq


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PRO
Synthiam
#1  

That would be a super fun project. It would be neat if v-rep could export the movements in an Auto Position file format to be imported into ARC. That way simulations could be turned into real movements. Does vrep have an export/plugin style ability?

#2  

At the moment I'm not familiar with the AutoPosition file format of ARC or how it exacly works. I hope it would support various walking gaits.

I'm in the process of learning V-REP so if it has export/plugin ability.

Thanks for the idea! I'll consider it.

samq

PRO
Synthiam
#3  

I can help you with any questions you have for import/export. Also, there is a plugin tutorial which shows you how to make your own controls to share within the community.

All of the STL files for every robot is available in the 3d printing section within this community forum, or linked within the robot's product page in the store.

#4  

I need the width, length, height and weight of the: 18-RGB eye controller, the ezrobot camera(looks like there are cm placeholders that need filling in), female Clip'n'Play Connection(got the weight), HD L Bracket (weight only), shoulder brackets that connect to the Humanoid body,

for simulation. l couldn't find the specs.

Thanks,

samq

PRO
Synthiam
#5  

The 18 led rgb eye is inside the head of the jd. I think what you need is the weight of the head?

Might be best to weigh the items when you get them. Otherwise i can give you exact weights on a scale sometime next week.

#6  

Getting exact weights next week is fine!

Thanks.

samq

PRO
Synthiam
#7  

Nice! I return to Calgary middle of this upcoming week and can weigh some parts to assist the model creation.

If need be, i can also take a look with you and we can create an ARC skill plugin that integrates with the software so more ppl can use it. This will be fun :D

#9  

It also turns out that it would be great if the left foot and right foot assembly servo motor stl was downloadable since I need that as part of simulation graphics. Right now they already exist but are not downloadable. Additionally, the servo body stls for the lever servo and the micro servo stl to the head are also needed. They also already exist but are not downloadable.

PRO
Synthiam
#10  

They're in the software. Load ARC and view the robot model. The servo parts are there.

Otherwise you can look in the 3D printing section of this website and download the stl files in the designer resources https://synthiam.com/Community/Revolution/DesignFiles.aspx

#11  

Thanks, great info!

The V-REP Simulator is able to import various cad formats including .STL. There is a Hexapod tutorial that uses a .dxf file generated by an autodesk cad app. This .dxf is quite helpful since all the parts of the hexapod are downloaded all at once and also linked together(!).

When I saw the Designer window in ARC, all the parts are already connected(!) and it seems like it would be easy to export everything in .dxf format; so as far as I can tell ARC doesn't support exporting the completed model in the Designer window in a .dxf format? Is there any way you could provide that on the side(only if it's easy for you)? This would make it super easy to quickly support EZ-Robot simulation in V-REP since it saves lots of time otherwise spent on connecting all the .STL components by hand.

PRO
Synthiam
#12  

The ARC designer doesn't actually "connect" the components

#13  

Hey DJ!

Which unit of measure was used when you created the STL files? (m, mm, cm....etc)

PRO
Synthiam
#15  

That was the shortest message i've ever written on this board :D

#16  

But it had GREAT impact!

#17  

DJ,

Earlier, you mentioned the idea of a plugin for V-REP so ARC could accept commands to send to the controller so JD Humanoid could execute movements.

All that is great using the Windows OS, but I was wondering if the controller is permanently tied to EZ-Buiilder. It would be fantastic if the controller could work with any computer platform/OS and use ARC if on Windows OS.

For starters, I'd like to send ROS-based commands to the controller (ROS to V-REP and ROS to controller) but then Linux is the required platform/OS. Simulation code could then also work directly on the robot with no code changes. Creating the ability to use ROS with EZ-Robots would certainly open up a much larger market for you since so many ROS packages could work with EZ-Robots to extend educational possibilties for everyone!

Alternatively, ARC could be made multi-platform if it's necessary to keep the ARC + Controller model.

So what's you take on all this?

PRO
Synthiam
#18  

You can send commands from any os, including ROS. Under the software tab of this website are available sdk's and open source uwp. If you view the datasheet of the ezb, there's also the command protocol sheet.

Here's the command protocol sheet: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Lesson/18?courseId=5

You can learn more about your ezb on the learn section: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Course/5

The software link at the top of this website will provide many methods to use ezb from different os's