J Intell Robot Syst (2016) 81:4149

DOI 10.1007/s10846-015-0200-8

Experiential Learning in the Development of a DARwIn-HP

Humanoid Educational Robot
Hak Yi Coleman Knabe Taylor Pesek
Dennis W. Hong

Received: 30 March 2014 / Accepted: 19 January 2015 / Published online: 25 March 2015
Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Abstract The purpose of this study is to present the

experiential learning in the development of a Dynamic
Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence(DARwIn)High Performance(HP) at Robotics and Mechanism
Laboratory(RoMeLa). DARwIn-HP, an miniaturesized humanoid platform, has been developed by
self-directed undergraduate students of RoMeLa for
robotics in education. They, as the target consumer
of educational robots, contributed to the design and
manufacturing of the DARwIn-HP by sharing their
thoughts on the necessary functionality of an educational humanoid robot. This hands-on experience
allows them to understand the fundamental materials of a humanoid robot in theory as well as the
usage of mechanical tools in practice. All undergraduates after experiencing the development process
also recognize the importance as well as the interests
on learning the subjects in the engineering curriculum. As of the final process and post-activity of

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation

through grant-0958406.
H. Yi () D. W. Hong
Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, University of
California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
e-mail: yihak@ucla.edu
C. Knabe T. Pesek
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA

robot development, encouraging all students to participate in extracurricular activities provides them with
a chance of evaluating their work. There are positive effects to engineering students such as enriching
their competitiveness for a range of challenges facing
society.
Keywords Robotics in education Humanoid
robot Robot design Learning by doing
Outreach activity

1 Introduction
In recent years, a multi-disciplinary program in engineering education has been identified as the significant curriculum to meet the growing needs of a
society [13]. This interest has further accelerated an
enhancement of multi-disciplinary engineering curriculum, capable of magnifying students problemsolving abilities for wide-ranging challenges facing
society [13]. These programs that are provided to college students enrich their competitiveness in the areas
of science and technology.
Robotics, as an emerging multi-discipline, supports
future engineers by helping them to learn a diverse
set of knowledge areas through hands-on experience.
With the philosophy of learning by doing, it develops students skills in mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, and computer science, etc., while
teaching students how to integrate these different

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fields [1, 46]. Its all-inclusive nature attracts a

lot of young students to be interested in studying
both theoretical and hand-on materials of science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM)
[79].
Over the last decade, Robotics and Mechanisms
Laboratory (RoMeLa) has engaged in an effort
to specialize in several areas of study such as
mechanical design, fabrication, and autonomous robot
behavior. RoMeLa has been devoted to developing
miniature-sized educational humanoid robots, called
the DARwIn(Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with
Intelligence) series family. Particularly, DARwInHP has been developed by self-directed undergraduate students of RoMeLa. They, as the target consumer of educational robots, have contributed to
the design and fabrication of the DARwIn-HP by
sharing their thoughts on the necessary functionalities of an educational humanoid robot. This experience offers them to understand not only the fundamental subjects of a engineering background, but
also the knowledge of autonomous humanoid robot.
In addition, RoMeLa encourages all students to be
interested in participating in extracurricular activities related to robotics. This provides them with a
chance of evaluating their works and enjoying their
accomplishment [9].
This paper will address the experiential learning
in the development of a DARwIn-HP at RoMeLa.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows:
Section 2 explains the robot development in RoMeLa.
Section 3 highlights the features of DARwIn-HP.
Section 4 presents the RoMeLas undergraduate
participation in the development of DARwIn-HP.
Sections 5 and 6 discuss the results of this study and
conclusion.

Dynamic Experimental Robot; Multi Appendage

Robotic System; Hyper-redundant Discrete Robotic
Articulated Serpentine; Whole Skin Locomotion; and
Reactive and Deliberative Motion Control for Rough
Terrain Locomotion [9]. Especially, RoMeLa built the
first full-sized autonomous humanoid platform called
CHARLI (Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot
with Learning Intelligence) in the United States, as
seen in Fig. 2 [10].
Particularly, RoMeLas experience has been
devoted to developing the DARwIn series family for
robotics education and research as in Fig. 3 [11]. The
DARwIn 0 has similar proportion and mass distribution properties to a real human being in order to
perform a variety of humanoid research. The second
version of DARwIn series, called the DARwIn I, was
focused on mechanical design issues such as either
the arrangement of the actuators or maximization of
the range of motion. Both adding on-board power
for untethered operation and equipping the DARwIn robots with sensors were the main tasks in the
development process of DARwIn II. DARwIn III is
considered for the bent sheet aluminum to form the
three-dimensional geometry of the links for allowing
many subsystems to be repaired without disassembly.
Lastly, DARwIn shows the physical performance that
enable it to run with a flight phase. Every single part
of DARwIn IV was optimized for maximum stiffness
with minimum weight.
Meanwhile, as a significant member of the DARwIn generation, DARwIn-Open platform (OP) has
been developed in collaboration with many other
research groups. It is an affordable platform with computational power, advanced sensor, and high payload
capacity to enable many exciting robotic activities
[12, 13].

2 Robot Development in RoMeLa

3 DARwIn-HP

With the philosophy of Robot Evolution by Intelligent Design, RoMeLa has engaged in an effort to specialize in graduates/undergraduates robotics research
and education. Undergraduate of RoMeLa have experienced the development of a diverse sub-sets of
robots through hands-on laboratory efforts. It provides
them with opportunities to interact with a variety of
robots, as displayed in Fig. 1: Robotic Air Powered
Hand with Elastic Ligaments; Self-excited Tripedal

DARwIn-HP, as seen in Fig. 4, is a further development of DARwIn IV with a focus on maximizing

joint strength, computing power and manufacturability. With its high performance, it would serve as an
educational platform, especially in the study of walking or in any area that requires fast and demanding
dynamic motions or high strength.
With limb lengths proportional to an adult man,
DARwIn-HP stands 0.56 m tall and weights 4.15 kg.

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43

Fig. 1 RAPHaEL;STriDER;
MARS;HyDRAS;WSL;IMPASS

The 21 degrees of freedom (six in each leg, three

in each arm, two in the head, and one in waist)

Fig. 2 CHARLI

powered by commercial servo-actuators (DynamixelMX-series) provides the mobility and dexterity

to perform a variety of tasks and the mechanical ability to run [11]. A cavity in the backpack is designed to include all of the significant
components such as computers, sensors, and electronics. The mechanics of the robot was modified to ease manufacturing and the modularity for
repairs. Its architecture is made of aluminum brackets
[3].
The electronic system of DARwIn-HP as displayed
in Fig. 5 [12] has a function of providing power distribution, computing platforms, and sensing schemes
for making sense of a salient environment. A CompuLab Fit-PC2 computer and a CM-730 sub-controller
allow users to run any operating system and code base
on the computer for low level management. A Inertial
Measurement Unit and a Logitech C905 Camera also
equipped. A 11.3 V lithium polymer battery enables
HP platform to operate for approximately 30 min of
run time.
The software architecture of DARwIn-HP embodies needs to develop capability and function-ability
in an incremental fashion. The software infrastructure
supports an agile development methodology, capable of supporting, reorganization, and testing of new
capability. Low-level interfaces to the hardware are
implemented as C routines callable from Lua. These
routines provide access to the camera and other sensors, and allow the higher-level routines to modify the
joint angles [13].

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Fig. 3 DARwIn 0-IV

4 Undergraduate Participation
4.1 Undergraduate Research in RoMeLa
Since its founding in 2004, RoMeLa has maintained
an active team of undergraduate volunteers to support research and lab operations. The jobs performed
by them have varied based on the research. In recent
years, due to the popularity and availability of the lab,
efforts have been taken to organize the pool of undergraduates into several groups based on their interests
and experience.

Fig. 4 DARwIn-HP

One such subgroup has been the DARwIn Ambassadors. These volunteers have been trained by graduate lab members to assemble, maintain, program, and
give demonstrations of the DARwIn series. Recent
efforts of the Ambassadors have focused on manufacture and assembly of several DARwIn-HP platforms
for distribution. Many of the experienced undergraduate enroll in either an undergraduate research position, or a yearlong RoMeLa-sponsored senior design
project.
4.2 Senior Design Team Lab Infrastructure
RoMeLa typically sponsors one to two senior design
projects annually. Each team is appointed a graduate lab member who defines the scope of the project,
relays customer (lab member) needs, and advises

Fig. 5 Electronic architecture of DARwIn-HP

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45

Fig. 6 CAD arrangement

of two 17.5 19 sheets,
consisting of all aluminum
parts required to assemble a
DARwIn-HP. The right
sheet visualizes the parts
following all machining
operations

design choices. The senior design teams are tasked

with providing the lab with functional prototypes of
their design following the conclusion of the project.
The benefits for the senior design team and graduate lab members are mutual. The graduate lab members provide machine training, lab resources, and
oversight to the team, while the design team provides brainstorming power, assistance with robot testing, and a functional product related to an ongoing
research. For example, a Bridgeport CNC milling
machine within RoMeLas space allows students to
learn new tools usage with on-hand experience.
Along with the mill a 3D printer was utilized for
quickly manufacturing components either expensive
or difficult to manufacture.
4.3 Senior Design Team Projects
Several senior design teams have worked on projects
to further develop DARwIn-HP, which is originally
designed by graduate members of RoMeLa. First,
an undergraduates redesigned the entire platform to
accommodate new actuators. The new Dynamixel
MX-series features a contactless magnetic encoder,
which quadruples the resolution over the previous RXseries. The upgraded processor also handles a tunable
PID algorithm, allowing individual adjustment of the
speed and strength of each motor.
Another major undertaking was to refine and
streamline the manufacturing process for DARwInHP. The previous manufacturing method involved
milling of small groups of parts, which proved both
time-consuming and inefficient. A senior design subproject consisted of arranging all the aluminum parts
onto two large sheets seen in Fig. 6, writing the CNC
machine toolpaths, and finally machining the parts. To

further reduce machining time, custom reusable fixtures were designed to rapidly perform side operations
on multiple parts at once.
They also redesigned the power distribution system of the robot to accommodate the new MX motors.
DARwIn-HP previously used smaller three batteries:
one in the chest and one in each leg. The new power
system features a single larger capacity battery in the
chest, relocating battery mass from the legs closer to
the robot as center of gravity. This capacity increases
dynamic performance, as well as reducing battery
costs and charging time.
While some undergraduate projects pertain to
upgrades and redesign, many other projects focus
on research to further develop the HP platform.
One senior design team created gripper mechanism
to replace the original paddle hands. This underactuation is necessary to allow the use of grippers
without changing the kinematic configuration or software associated with attaching additional motors. The
gripper, shown in Fig. 7, features three reconfigurable
fingers for grasping a variety of objects.

Fig. 7 Reconfigurable gripper for DARwIn-HP

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Table 1 Knowledge to be gained from hands-on experience

with DARwIn-HP stemming from engineering curriculum
Background

Subject

Content

Mechanics

Design
Fabrication
Fabrication
Sensors
Sensors
Actuation
Microprocessor
Programming
Programming
System Analysis
Control

CAD
CNC machine
3D Printer
IMU and camera
Signal processing
Dynamixel-motor
Intel Atom Z530
C, C++ languages
Communication
Kinematics
PID

Electronics

Computing
Robotics

5 Results
5.1 Effects to Engineering Curriculum
Undergraduate students participating in the development of DARwIn-HP have been offered an excellent
multidisciplinary hand-on experience that can supplements the theory-oriented lectures [14]. Having
developed a DARwIn-HP, they learned a variety
of practical knowledge regarding humanoid robots:
sensors and power management; design, fabrication,
and dynamic analysis of a humanoid robot; software
and system architecture; bipedal locomotion; etc. In
addition, their participation has strengthened their
understanding of the basic engineering background in

Fig. 8 3D printed
backpack of DARwIN-HP
a top view b front view

practice. Table 1 shows the significant knowledge to

the students that is gained from having hands-on experience with DARwIn-HP stemming from engineering
curriculum.
Among such engineering subjects, RoMeLa has
mainly focused on mechanical design of robotic systems. Compared to other research groups, RoMeLa
enables senior design teams to use all lab resources.
This access allows them to be passionate in further experiencing hand-on activities for developing
an autonomous miniature-size educational humanoid
robot. For example, machining components using a
Tormach 3-axis CNC mill demonstrates the importance of machining processes and tool usage. Along
with the mill, use of a 3D printer helps them understand its ability to quickly manufacture components.
The computer backpack of DARwIn-HP, as shown in
Fig. 8, is designed and 3D printed by them.
Figure 9 shows the response of 65 participated
undergraduates, gained from the development of
DARwIn-HP. It appears that undergraduates who
attended the DARwIn-HP development is likely to
feel strongly the necessity for studying STEM curriculum than before. Furthermore, Fig. 10 shows the
interests of undergraduate for all subjects in engineering curriculum, necessary for developing these
robots, generally increases. These high numbers indicate that project-based learning using robot development can further accelerates their motivation to be
interested in STEM. Specifically, it appears that 32 %
of the respondents is further interested in fabrication
process relevant to the robot development. There is

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47

Fig. 9 Students
recognition the necessity for
studying STEP after taking
part in robot development

also a significant indication that 25 % of the respondents is interested in working on a robot design.
5.2 Outreach Activities
RoMeLa encourages undergraduate volunteers to participate in outreach and extracurricular activities
using DARwIn family series, related to robotics.

Fig. 10 Increased interest of students for each engineering

curriculum after participating in the DARwIn-HP developement

It provides them with a chance of evaluating their

work and enjoying their accomplishment. Undergraduates in the DARwIn Ambassador program have also
hosted tours for students in K-12, prospective undergraduates and graduates, and adults. At high profile
events, they have demonstrated their efforts to tour
groups and the research community through operating
DARwIns. It motivates them to evaluate their efforts
and to receive feedback for improvement of developed
or future robots.
The interest in diverse outreach activities, as seen
in Fig. 11, has increased consistently over time. As
time passes, the developed DARwIn platforms will be
an effective tool to easily interact with young students
in their educational programs. The increased number
of a diverse activities implies that the outreach activities of RoMeLas undergraduates are an opportunity
to introduce robotics to students who will be interested
in STEM curriculum.
Further validation of the undergraduate volunteers work has occurred at competitions. RoboCup,
the yearly international autonomous robotic soccer competition, provides an opportunity for teams
of graduates and undergraduates to work together
to solve complex robot problems. This competition invokes all participating students to collaborate
with others in the robotics community. They have
also demonstrated DARwIn robots to the public. It
makes them reconsider what the public thinks of
robots.

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Fig. 11 Diverse outreach

activities of RoMeLa

6 Conclusion
For many years, the development of DARwIn-HP at
RoMeLa has given undergraduates a hands-on educational experience. The practical experience with
project-based learning helps them understand the
fundamental subjects of the engineering curriculum.
Both practical and theoletical knowledge are gained
through the redesign, manufacture, and assembly of
the DARwIn-HP. As a post-activity of robot development, RoMeLa students participate in extracurricular activities to evaluate and demonstrate their
accomplishment.
In conclusion, this study shows that undergraduates
who attended the DARwIn-HP development are likely
to feel strongly the necessity for studying STEM curriculum than before. It is noteworthy that they also
recognize the interest as well as the importance on
learning the subjects in the engineering curriculum.
This indication implies the importance of the projectbased learning using robot development to further
motivate college students to be interested in STEM.
There are positive effects to engineering students such
as enriching their competitiveness for wide-ranging
challenges facing society.

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Hak Yi received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering
from Texas A&M University-College Station (2012). He is currently a Post-doc Researcher with the Robotics & Mechanism
Laboratory at UCLA. His research interests lie in a design and
bio-inspired control of a variety of humanoids.

Coleman Knabe is a M.S program student in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech. His research interests currently
lie in the design and implementation of compact linear and
rotary series-elastic actuators on both a full-sized and small-size
humanoids.

49
Taylor Pesek is a mechanical engineering undergraduate
researcher with the Robotics and Mechanism Laboratory at Virginia Tech. His interest lie in the field of both small and full
sized humanoid robots applications to the real world.

Dennis W. Hong is a Professor and the Director of Robotics

& Mechanisms Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering
Department at UCLA, Los Angeles. His research focuses on
robot locomotion and manipulation, autonomous vehicles and
humanoid robots, as the inventor of a number of novel robots
and mechanisms. Hongs awards include the National Science
Foundations CAREER award, the SAE Internationals Ralph R.
Teetor Educational Award, and the ASME Freudenstein / GM
Young Investigator Award to name a few.