A common interface for humanoid simulation and hardware

Humanoid robotics development often depends on simulation and prototypes for new walking algorithms. The advantages of simulation such as low cost and risk make repeated experiments and development more straightforward. However, real world implementation can require extensive porting to move from a simulation environment to a hardware platform. This tedious task can be a huge time sink that drastically slows development cycles. This paper describes a way to eliminate this bottleneck. By developing standardized protocols for motors and sensors, a software controller can communicate with both platforms using the same interface.