ROBOTIS-OP3 Review

I was able to get a first hand look at the OP3 during ROSCon 2017 and IROS 2017 in Vancouver B.C.

So the first question I asked was why a new robot? What has wrong with the OP1 and OP2? I got some great answers from the robot engineers at Robotis. The number one and most important  improvement was to allow the robot to use ROS (Robot Operating System). This drove almost all of the improvements and upgrades to the OP platform. The other main improvement was to upgraded the robot to use the new Dynamical X-series of servos. I can already anticipate the question that everyone will be asking. Why does this robot cost 11,000.00 US? Hopefully I can answer that question by the end of this blog post.

Where to buy the robot if you are in the US.

Where to buy the robot if you are outside of the US.

More information about the robot:

Questions answered by ROBOTIS engineers at ROSCon 2017 and IROS 2017. 

"This is a open sourced hardware and software project."

Link to github page.

Link to Robotis homepage.

'This robot uses the new Dynamixel X series which has 160% torque of the
previous" The robot uses the XM-430. You can upgrade the robot to the XH-430 for better performance but you will have to pay extra for the servo upgrade. There is also the possibility of building your own with the XL-430 servos. Which is something I am thinking about.  

The Robot "has a NUC which has an atom intel i3 core processor and s 6 times strong CPU
computing power." This is so the robot can run ROS. 

"Plus, it uses an USB camera called Logitech C920, so it can get more better

image." You can do visual SLAM with this camera. 

"On the other hand, OP3 runs based on the ROS, so they can develop

by modifying some of the codes, since this ROS system is a structure of very independent
nodes." The other OP version could not run ROS. 

 "Previous one uses ethernet port to be connected, now it runs with Hotspot. Users can connect

their laptop to the OP3 wirelessly by ssh, vnc, samba or another tools."

"All relatives are in 'home/robotis/catkin_ws/src' folder. Here we have the source for controlin

ROBOTIS-OP3 folder, and the demonstration source code in ROBOTIS-OP3- Demo folder, and
you can get more details by accessing to github or WIKI page. From the WIKI, you can see the
description of the codes, so you can make your code."
"We are thinking about an advancement of walking algorithm, or SLAM, navigation using
Camera, and there are more applications that can be thought by hardware addons."

ROBOTIS-OP3 WIKI page. 

"OP3 is designated for doing not only the soccer play, but also researches in motion control,

walking algorithm. Since all the sources are opened, you can change the shape and source, and
whatever you want as you want "

Servo upgrade to Dynamixel X series of servos.

It does not come with covers. You have to 3D print them. Below is a picture of the covers I printed out using the new HP Fusion Jet printer through Shapeways.

Covers on the robot.

Robot with default covers printed by a Stratasys 3D printer. There was a lot of post processing on these parts. They where sanded smooth and painted. 

Un-boxing of the 3D printed parts from Shapeways.

What is a HP Fusion Jet 3D printer and what makes it new and revolutionary.





Videos of the robot inaction below. I think this robot is worth 11,000.00 UD but what do you as the customer think. Is this new and improved version of the ROBOTIS-OP worth the cost?