Robotics Research

MuLIR

Abstract
MuLIR is a Multi-Legged Interactive Robot designed and built by Patrick Mills and Jay Herrick as a Senior Engineering Design project.

Front Views
Top Views
Walking Views

MuLIR is based extensively on similar work by the Mobile Robot Group at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The design specified a self-contained system capable of interacting quickly with its enviornment while still being biologically feasible.

To achieve these goals, the control system utilizes the subsumption architecture developed by Dr. Rodney Brooks. The hardware consists of five Motorola M68HC811E2 processors operating in parallel. Three of the processors are dedicated to controlling the six legs, one to sensory input, and one for running the global control code and communicating with an external machine for dynamic data transfer and code revision. The processors use a dynamic master/slave selector to coordinate interprocessor communication.

Commands for movement are generated by the control processor based on feedback provided by the legs and environmental sensors. Each leg may be addressed individually or as a group allowing many possible gaits.

To read the entire paper (design, biological background, schematics, parts list, etc.), download the MuLIR PDF paper (507K).

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