Abstract
In this project a simulation for a mini-humanoid robot, RAIDER (acronym in Spanish that stands for “Anthropomorphic Robot for Investigation and Development on Real Environments”), has been performed based on open-source robotics software tools, namely the Gazebo simulator and the ROS middleware. First, a virtual model representing the visual and dynamic robot properties has been built in URDF format to be compatible with ROS, checking its physical accuracy afterwards in Gazebo. The simulated model comprises not only the different mechanical parts of the robot and its many degrees of freedom, but also includes some of the sensors that help the real robot interact with its surroundings such as a camera, ultrasonic and infrared sensors. In addition, as Raider was originally conceived having in mind the participation in CEABOT, a Spanish competition for mini-humanoid robots, an environment corresponding to the obstacle avoidance race within this contest has been modelled partially as well.
Secondly, in order to manipulate Raider, the ros_control package along with a slightly modified version of its default plugin counterpart in Gazebo were employed. Once done, this allowed sending commands of movement to the robot joints so that links could reach goal positions with a specific desired velocity. Lastly, because apart from other powerful computing features, since the 2015a version MATLAB provides a native support interface for ROS through the Robotics System Toolbox, and because Simulink offers a more graphical and intuitive way of programming, control of all joints has been tested using this platform, which in the end has made possible the implementation of a walking gait prior to the definition of locomotion functions quite similar to the ones used on the real hardware.