A French artist and designer named Gael Langevin has taken the idea of a “build your own robot” kit to the next level through an ambitious hobbyist project called InMoov. The open-source project’s ultimate goal is a full-sized animatronic humanoid robot that can be printed and assembled by anyone with a 3D printer.
Langevin writes a detailed
blog about the project, charting its progress every step of the way by sharing sketches of his work and the trial-and-error process of designing the robot. The blog also includes the printer files for the robot for free download. The robot can then be assembled from those parts and off-the shelf electronics at a cost of less than $1,000. The robot’s parts are mainly made using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS, plastic material.
Through his InMoov project, French artist and designer Gael Langevin is working on a humanoid robot that can be printed with a 3D printer then assembled at home. So far he has completed the robot’s head, arms, and hands, and is working on its torso. (Source: Gael Langevin)
Langevin -- who works as a sculptor and model maker for Factices Ateliers -- has so far finished the head, arms, and hands of the robot, which looks like an albino and a slightly more lifelike C3PO from the Star Wars films. He is currently working on its torso, according to his blog.
To program the robot, Langevin used a number of sketch programming languages, including Serialterm, MyRobotLab, and Arduino.
Langevin’s blog also includes a forum where people working on building the robot can share tips, ask questions, and generally geek out over the project. It is also a help center for assembly of the robot at home, with a photographic step-by-step guide to building it.
The artist has some fairly ambitious plans for a homemade robot in terms of capabilities, according to the blog. Voice recognition and object detection are among Langevin’s goals for his 3D-printed humanoid robot, which in a recent video can be shown already responding with movement to voice commands (watch it below).
In addition to the printer, in order to assemble an InMoov robot, you will need:
12 MG995/HK2598 servos
Eight Hitec HS805BB servos
0.8 mm nylon thread (or fishing line)
6V 44A batteries and charger, among others
There seems to be no end to the number of things that can be created using a 3D printer these days. Auto parts, reproductions of old recordings, and even haute couture clothing have now been printed this way, and the list of possibilities for 3D printing keeps growing.
I spent several years learning the language, but I also spent some time there as a young adult, and I think it forever changed my sense of cuisine and fashion. There's an immediately recognizable visual elegance (that word keeps coming up) to French design that's different from the sense of style in Italian design. If this were a robot designed by an Italian artist/designer, it would be subtly different.
Ha, Ann, your comment made me laugh! But it's true...the French obviously have that "je ne sais quoi" even when it comes to robots. They're like Italians that way--always paying attention to style, even in the most unlikely places. I think as far as humanoid robots go, this one is one of the most attractive. (Yes, it feels strange to say that about a robot!)
I keep looking at the photo of this robot--it's so French! By that I mean elegant, sophisticated and with lovely lines. And I'm saying that about a piece of plastic that barely looks like a person!
There certainly are a lot of 3D printers around, but a lot fewer of those able to print steel or other metals. That capability is a lot more expensive, both machine and supplies, and it seems that organizations that own such a machine that is not fully utilized could do printing for others to provide a better ROI, based on a greater sysem utilization.
There are plenty of 3D printing companies out there willing to print your work for fairly cheap. However, I think you mean every-single 3D printer being used at all times. I have a friend who’s day job has one. It’s hardly ever used. How to organize a way to have it print any project, then ship it to the end customer seem impossible. However, I might be thinking too myopically.
C
This is indeed the starting of a new era in what can be made. The biggest limitations on what can be made have been reduced to limitations on material properties and limitations on what can be drawn in a 3D view. I am not aware of any printing system that works from the traditional three view drawings. The materials limitation is the same one that dogged DaVinci, in that the materials for his designs were simply not available yet. Likewise, the less expensive 3D printers are limited in material capabilities and material strength. Those systems delivering steel alloy parts are far above the hobby class, at least as far as prices go. Probably the best short term option would be for a way to purchase unused 3D printer time on machines able to use the desired materials. Sort of like "cloud" production facilities. Is anybody marketing that yet?
Elizabeth M, Your quite welcome. Time and resources are key to creating personal technology on your own time. Thanks for presenting this article to the Design News community.
Thanks for reading and the compliment, mrdon. It is pretty amazing what you can do with time, interest, intelligence and money to afford some of the latest and greatest in home technology. I am still pretty awed by this project myself.
Elizabeth M, The applications of 3D printing are truly endless as by the InMoov Opensource Robotics project discussed in your article. It's amazing how tools that cost thousands of dollars are being democratized and founding homes within the hobbyists community. I'm very intrigued by the fact an artist/designer is capable of building a sophisticated machine with electronics and software with no formal training. I noticed the Arduino embedded within the robot's skelton which demonstrates Massimo Banzi's vision of a low cost microcontroller prototyping platform used in endless industrial and artistic applications. Great Article Elizabeth!
Hi, William, to answer your question, yes, he has only completed the head, arms and hands of the robot and is working on the rest. As for the video being vague--if you look on the blog there are other videos and very detailed descriptions of his work and progress, as well as how to put the robot together etc. It gets pretty specific at times. This is a work in progress for sure.
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