You're ahead of the rest of us that are still waiting on the new EZ-B(4) and all the other robot goodies. The only source that may answer your question will have to come from the EZ-B engineers for now until the rest of us get our hands on the new hardware.

I think I remember Neik saying he got JD walking in one of his "ez-robot experience" videos. adding another joint may make JD unstable and harder to maneuver.

I am still waiting as well. I am typically patient but I am doing well when it comes to this lol.
I am obsessed with the NAO and how well it moves. I know there is no comparison between a $15,000 robot and all the other ones on the market but it gives me something to shoot for personality and movement wise.

Hi ings , the closest you could get to nao stability if not better would be ax -10 or ax 12 robot servos which are serial controlled and can be chained together making wiring so much easier. Dj has ordered one of the servos to see about making a control option for them in the software. Just think though. NAO has a ton of markup. It's a research machine but it is marketed like a toy which manages to get t a lot of attention. It still is just a frame full of servos tethered to a pc doing all the work. EZ Robot will quickly catch up to what nao does.

Hey guys,

Although we haven't actually tried it, I don't feel the addition of another joint would help JD all that much in terms of balance. He actually walks very well with his lower center of gravity. I was actually very surprised the first time I had to program JD to walk. It was much simpler than I ever imagined (the auto-position frames in ARC work extremely well) and I went from not really ever touching JD, or any Humanoid robot for that matter, to getting him to walk at a decent clip in a span of ~2hours. It was awesome!

P.S. Not to worry, Video of JD walking will be coming pretty soon :)

I also believe the NAO seems overpriced. And I am really looking forward to seeing what I can get JD to do.

@Technopro haha, I love it when people mention me I did in fact get JD walking... it just took me a couple of days. I was with DJ when he got JD walking, and it only took him 30 minutes :)

I've been working on my own humanoid for a while, (24 DOF, the most joints i've ever had on a humanoid) and it looks like if you wanted to have NAO stability/power, you'd have to have dynamixels,(like jstarne said) same as I have to. I've been using a old bioloid comprehensive CM-5 until my EZ-B v4 comes in to test stability and speed, and the servo performance seems exactly like the performance of a nao, only with 20 12a Dynamixel actuators (the kind that come with a bioloid premium) and 4 radioshack micro-servos instead of the NAO servos (whatever they use). Though you could probably customize JD into a impressive little humanoid using the Clip N' Play technology, using Dynamixels would help you to create a NAO-like humanoid in terms of performance the taller he becomes.

@Cupcakehat Not to be a downer or anything... But you are going to need to be stellar at programming (even with EZB builder) in order to get your creation to move and perform even close to Nao...

I know, rryerson, and i've been learning the software while I wait for the EZ-B to ship.

@cupcakehat , don't let a project being difficult discourage you. All great projects require months of work to accomplish success. On a uplifting note DJ did order a ax12 dynamixel in order to implement it's serial interface into a servo control. Since they are the number one robotics servo in the personal robotics and hobbyists industry it makes since to support it. No promises of when or functions but that's the inside scoop

I've actually wanted to build a robot like this since I was 6-7 (when i got a robosapien) and I'm prepping myself for the worst. Hopefully in a couple days I can buy a nice camera and show you the robot I've been blabbering about for a while. :D

It's ok , pull out your camera phone bud. That's what i take nearly all my pictures with. You can take nicer ones later. Where did you get your dynamixel and how much were they?

Trossen robotics, and I bought all 20 dynamixels for $763.3. The frames were about 30-40 dollars all together, and I was able to create a bioloid premium (With 2 more dynamixels! :D) for 200-300 less (sensors were also a lot, and the bot doesn't have the bioloid shell). I also got another 100$ dollars off with a coupon code (some sort of black friday code). I already had a CM-5 from a bioloid comprehensive kit I had earlier, so that also took some money off. Also, the camera on my HTC One already broke when it was dropped on a wood floor. I'm hoping to get a intermediate Nikon camera for about 900-1000$ in 2-3 days (as stated), so you have to wait a few days, but it'll be worth it.

In a related note. I found some knock off dynamixles on ebay.

I searched the term robotis and they were down under the More items related to "robotis" section in case you want to repeat the search and see all of the results.

Here's one of them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SR508H-Robot-Servo-300-rotation-10kg-6-12V-18-Kgf-cm-Mixed-Gear-for-robotic-/271187152063?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f24038cbf

Something tells me the plastic on those would crack under very little pressure, but then again this is the first time i've seen them They might also be alright for people working on a smaller budget.

On a related note: "Be compatible with robotis dynamixel communication protocols, Much thanks for you looking!"

Is engrish compratiber with robort?

I found it interesting that it said they also have the feedbacks as well. When I first sow them I thought they just may be regular digital servos in cases made to look like dynamixles. You always have to be careful when shopping on the internet. :)

I would still spend the extra money and go with dynamixels, with these kinds of rip-off brands you usually have no idea what you're getting in to. It's like taking a nose dive into what could be concrete.

Also, if anyone is interested in building a humanoid, I found this pretty snazzy looking humanoid on ebay for around 400$:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Biped-robot-humanoid-robots-walking-robots-17-degrees-of-freedom-/281170049966?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item41770a7bae

all it needs is a battery

I wasn't trying to discourage you... But you will have to put some serious effort into this project... It may take a while, just don't give up... Think of the accomplishment you will feel when you finally get to where you want to be... And don't forget leaning aspect of this either... Personally, I always found that the "doing" gave me more satisfaction than the final outcome...

Cheers R