Facts About the New Four-Legged Robot

Microcontroller and Block Diagram

The custom-made microcontroller circuit consists of a Renesas SH2/7125 MCU (Micro-Controller-Unit) with 8k of flash-ROM and 4k of RAM. A control cycle time of 8 ms or shorter can be realized for the 15 motors. The MPU provides a wide range of I/O capabilities including 8 analogue-digital-converters (ADC). Two ADCs are hard-wired to the most relevant directions of the acceleration sensor, the other six ADCs may be accessed freely by pin headers. In the circuit 18 digital I/O pins and may be accessed by pin headers. The firmware of the microcontroller will be open and a flash development kit is available which enables the robot programmer to modify the firmware as needed, e.g., for inverse kinematics calculations.

Diagram of the structure and connections between the new robot's sensors, actuators, computers and external connectors.