ChiroBot: Modular-Robotic Manipulation via Spatial Hand Gestures.

by | Jun 17, 2014

Authors: Jasjeet Singh Seehra, Ansh Verma and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Interaction design and children (IDC '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 209-212.
Paper
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We introduce ChiroBot, a cyber-physical construction kit that allows users to create custom robots out of craft material, easily assemble the robots using joint modules and control them using hand gestures. These hand-crafted robots are assembled using our modules packaged with actuator, wireless communication and controller electronics. These modules eliminate the need for expertise in electronics and enable a plug and play system that directly encourages users to explore by quick prototyping. We designed a glove embedded with sensors to enable the user to control the robots using hand gestures. We present different usage scenarios to demonstrate the system’s versatility such as vehicular robot, humanoid puppet, robotic arm, and other combinations. This paper describes the ChiroBot system, interaction methods, few sample creations, and proposes possible “play value”.

 

ChiroBot

 

Ansh Verma

Ansh Verma

Ansh Verma is a Master's Student in School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University since Fall 2013. He completed his undergraduate (B.Tech Mechanical) degree from SRM University, India. During his undergraduate studies he was the design engineer for his university's FSAE Team. He subsequently spent his 7th Semester (Fall 2011) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA in the school of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. He completed his final year thesis work from MIT Media Labs, working with "Opera Of the Future" group. In 2012, he worked part-time with a national level news channel in India - NDTV, as a journalist providing assistance in making documentaries and in parallel cleared his Indian Air-force selection examination (SSB). His present research at C-Desgin Labs, focuses on Human Computer Interaction techniques like tangible media, input devices, micro-controller based intelligent systems, flexible circuits and wearable computing.