Valter
ROS Software Maintainer: Alexey Maistrenko valtertherobot@gmail.com 
The Valter is a mobile wheeled-based manipulation platform with anthropomorphic torso.
Valter was conceived as experimental platform for provisioning of various types of household services. As a matter of fact it is also a research and educational platform.
I see Valter mainly as an educational resource / platform for students.
Valter's autonomous behavior currently based on the following ROS packages:
rtabmap_ros, rgbd_slam, moveit!, move_base, dwa_local_planner, ORK find_object_2d, object_recognition, openni_kinect, openni_launch and more...
Contents
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Valter
- Specification
- Basic Configuration
- Kinematic specification
- Installation
- ROSified Valter
- Vision sub-system overview
- RGBD sensors (Kinect) overview
- Capabilities overview (automated, non autonomous)
- Development and assembling history overview
- Just for fun (Valter's social activity)
- Valter in Virtual Laboratory
Specification
Components graph
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Features list
Feature |
Value |
Height |
1.85 m |
Weight |
~ 110 kg |
Case material |
Duralumin |
On-board computing means |
RPi3 array, AT921SAM7S based controllers |
Communication |
Wi-Fi IEEE_802.11, Bluetooth 4.1, IR, Ethernet (for debug) |
Power |
12V car battry, 5V |
Vision system |
2 Kinect, stereo head camera system, navigation camera, back-view camera, manipulator camera, charger camera |
Odometry motion sensors |
Wheel encoders, compass, Kinect |
Obstacle avoidance back-up system |
IR Sharp proximity sensors array (GP2Y0A41SK0F), ultrasonic range finders array, IR bumper array (used also for IR control) |
Microphones |
1 high-gain mic for speech recognition, array of microphones for sound direction detection |
Charger |
Motorized / adjustable charger module for wall outlets |
Sensing |
over 30 force-measurement sensors |
Arm lift up payload |
6 kg (joints are in max torque applied position) |
Lower manipulator paylod |
1 kg (fully expanded) |
Basic Configuration
- Solidworks project
Kinematic specification
Joint |
DOF \ Description |
Platform |
Unconstrained holonomic 2-wheeled |
Torso |
Yaw, Tilt |
L&R Shoulder |
Yaw |
Upper Arm L&R |
Pitch |
Elbow L&R |
Pitch, Yaw |
Forearm L&R |
Roll |
Wrist L&R |
Yaw, Pitch |
Palm (gripper) L&R |
6 fingers on each palm, 12 force sensors on each palm |
Lower Manipulator (Third arm) |
4 DOF, parallel gripper, 2 force sensors |
Installation
Currently Valters' on-board sensor electronics and electromechanics are managed by custom Qt5 app which exposes TCP-IP gateways for intercommunication with ROS. This is exactly what is planned to translate entirely into native ROS interfaces (controllers).
ROSified Valter
Navigation and Object Manipulation (RTAB-Map ROS, Moveit!, ORK, object_recognition, etc.)
RTAB-Map (ROS) RGBD SLAM
Valter under Moveit!
Vision sub-system overview
RGBD sensors (Kinect) overview
Capabilities overview (automated, non autonomous)
That's what, at least, I would like to implement with ROS
Development and assembling history overview
Just for fun (Valter's social activity)
Walter tells fairy tale and swings my younger son
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Valter - is good fellow
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