The Robosapien V2 is a 22-inch tall humanoid robot  that sold in retail stores from 2005 to 2007(?). Weighing 10 lbs, it stands twice as tall as the original Robosapien and can talk, hold heavier objects and perform more complex actions.

Both generations of Robosapiens are based on a technique called biomorphic robotics, behaviors inspired by living creatures. As a result, a Robosapien moves fluidly and is more animated compared to most traditional robots.

Why I like the Robosapien V2

My interest in the RS V2 is two-fold:

1. To take it apart and study in how it achieves biomorphic behavior as Mark Tilden, Robosapien’s chief designer, has actively encouraged others to do.

2. Assess its suitability as a robot development platform. Specifically, I want to find out how easily one can use the RS V2 as a robot base from which to build more features such as vision and finer-grain motor control.

In my ongoing quest to find an affordable but capable robot platform, the RS V2 nicely fits the bill. Admittedly I am a very late adopter of this technology (I bought one from eBay in March 2010), five years after its first release. Not surprisingly, I could not find anyone in the RoboCommunity, Evosapien and Robots Rule online forums who are still actively tinkering with this robot. Fortunately there are still several tutorials and archived discussions remaining on the Web to draw useful information from. UPDATE: 9/14/10, there’s some recent discussions on RoboCommunity about RS V2 mods.

My Enhancements

• Wiring repair – a necessary fix for the notorious “flaking wire insulation” problem
• Arduino serial interface – control your robot from a computer through an RS-232 serial port
• RoboMoco (Robosapien Motion Compiler) – teach your old dog new tricks. With this Python program, you can make your bot do fancy moves.

Project UPDATE

I have been using RoboMoco to see how far I can push RS V2′s mechanical ability. So far I can make him bow, wave SOS, do karate arm blocks and grasp objects within reach (it takes a few tries). Here’s my writeup on what I learned about the Robosapien V2.

Out-of-the-box Features

• head tilts up-and-down, turns left-and-right
• each arm has 2 DOF (degress of freedom): twisting around the shoulder and elbow
• each hand gripper opens and closes
• torso has 3 motors: twist left-and-right, tilt forward/backward, tilt side-to-side
• each leg had 1 motor to move foot…, but the legs work in conjunction with the torso to make walking movements…

Hardware/Software Technical Details

For a consumer product that was promoted as “hackable”, WowWee Inc. ironically did not provide any technical documentation on the RS V2′s internals. I was expecting a set of official docs comparable to that of the Lego Mindtorms NXT developer kits but found none. Fortunately many individuals have posted their discoveries and hacks. Some of the useful ones I found are listed below.

• hardware board pinouts and wiring diagrams – a great guide for helping you dismantle (and put back the boards and wire cables
• EEPROM memory map
• Infrared (IR) codes and modulation format – describes the IR protocol and shows the IR codes
• Arduino “Wedge” code – Karl Castlet’s code for making a Robosapien controllable by PC or the IR remote control. I used his code to write part of RoboMoco (Robosapien Motion Controller).
• how to directly control the Robosapien using a microcontroller – K. Smiths’ nice tutorial goes into the details of how to bypass the IR receiver and directly send commands using a Basic Stamp.

Two books on the Robosapien were published in 2005: The Robosapien Companion: Tips, Tricks and Hacks and  The Official Robosapien Hacker’s Guide but both pertain to the original Robosapien (the V1), and thus are less useful.

Other interesting links

• Evolution of the Robosapien V2 design – nice article showing how the design of the RS V2 shaped up over time
• Robosapien V2 Secrets – Knitsu’s list of interesting RS V2 tricks (from Mark Tilden?).