Rapid prototyping toolchain for humanoid robotics applications

This paper introduces a rapid development toolchain for the design and dynamic simulation of robotic and/or mechatronic applications. The toolchain provides a fast and seamless workflow from developing a mechanical system in Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to automatically generating full dynamic simulations with real time 3D visualization. Subsequent design changes in CAD are reflected to the dynamic simulation blocks by simply updating the kinematic and dynamic parameters with minimal user input. The toolchain is demonstrated on the development of a 14 degree of freedom bipedal robot, validating its usefulness for designing complex robotic systems.