THOR-OP humanoid robot for DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials 2013

This paper describes the hardware design and motion control algorithms that have been used by Team THOR in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials 2013 competition. The robotic hardware we use, the THOR-OP robot, consists of standardized and general purpose actuators and structural components, which greatly reduce the build and reconfiguration time and allows for quick field repair capability. Our software framework is also composed of fully modular function modules. This modular structure helps us to keep up easily with hardware changes and to have multiple control options to suit various situations. We validated our approach at the DRC Trials where we fared well against other robots many times more expensive and acquired the finalist status.