Project Files
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BigDog Rough-Terrain Quadruped Robot Control Board
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BigDog is the biggest and boldest of Boston Dynamics’
robots. BigDog is a rough-terrain walking robot that can
run, climb and carry heavy loads. BigDog has four
articulated legs with compliant elements that absorb shock
and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog weighs
240 pounds, and is the size of a large dog or small mule:
about 3 feet long, 2.5 feet high.
BigDog's on-board computer controls locomotion, servos the
legs and monitors a variety of sensors. BigDog’s control
system maintains balance, navigates, and adjusts system
kinetics as conditions change. Sensors for locomotion
include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground
load, a gyroscope, LIDAR and a stereo vision system. Other
sensors monitor the internal state of BigDog: hydraulic
pressure, oil temperature, engine functions, and battery
charge.
Click
here to view BigDog videos on YouTube.
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System
Overview
Boston Dynamics implemented BigDog with a variety of
COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) computing hardware.
Bolton Engineering worked with Boston Dynamics to
develop a flexible high-speed general purpose “robotics
toolkit” PC-104+ PCI bus interface board. The board
contained on-board power supplies to convert battery
power to several required system voltages as well as a
variety of general purpose hardware:
- Eight Motor Quadrature Encoder interfaces
- Thirty-three channel expandable A/D converter and
sixteen channel D/A converter
- Serial interface to sensors
- Four serial ports, configurable as either RS-232 or
RS-485
- Forty-eight lines digital I/O, with level converters
- Eight-channel RC-servo interface
- Expandable connector slot into which boards with new
functionality may be placed
- Multi-Voltage Power Supply, for on-board logic and for
other system electronics
Project Scope
Bolton Engineering wrote the specification, designed the
schematics and circuit board, developed a flexible
5980-LE PLD (Programmable Logic Device)-based I/O
system, fabricated and debugged the hardware. Boston
Dynamics was responsible for all system, navigation,
communications and control software. The project was
completed in twelve weeks, on schedule for a company
demonstration. The first-pass boards performed all
required functions and required only minor design
changes. |
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Consumer and Computer
