High Torque Robotics Mini π is a bipedal robot powered by an Orange Pi 5 SBC

High Torque Robotics’ Mini π is a 54cm high bipedal robot that can walk and dance with two legs and leverages the Orange Pi 5 SBC’s features such as the 6 TOPS AI accelerator in the Rockchip RK3588S processor.

The robot offers 12 degrees of freedom (DOF) and can run, jump, and even flip thanks to its twelve join motors that were developed by the company. The Mini π is designed for locomotion algorithm research and education and supports ZMP (zero moment point), MPC (Model Predictive Control), reinforcement learning locomotion control algorithms, and ROS SLAM navigation features.

Mini π bipedal robot highlights:

• SBC – Orange Pi 5 RK3588S single board computer
• Controller – Custom-design “high-performance underlying controller” using 4x CAN FD communication
• DOF – 6 DoF per leg, or 12 in total
• Joint motors
  • 8x HTDM-5047-36-NE with gear ratio: 36, 16Nm peak torque
  • 4x HTDM-4438-32-NW with gear ratio: 32, 6Nm peak torque
• Movement speed – 1.5m/s
• Jump height – Up to 2 cm
• Payload – Up to 5kg
• Sensor – “High-performance IMU”
• Operating Voltage – 24V
• Standing height – 542 mm
• Weight – 7kg with battery

The robot is also said to come with a test stand and a portable trolley case, and the company provides and ROS 2 SDK. I was disappointed by the lack of documentation about the robot. I only found out about it when Orange Pi reposted it on X and found the Hackster.io project page with a few more details notably the use of an Orange Pi 5 SBC and a control board with four CAN FD interfaces.  The Hackster.io page has more information about the joint motors as well.

High Torque Robotics says the robot is open-source, but that just means the motion algorithms are open-source with the code available on GitHub and not the full robot itself. Applications seem limited although you could also add a robotic arm on top since it can support up to 5kg payloads.

pic.twitter.com/6BnLbBUA4B

— High Torque Robotics (@HTrobotics) July 5, 2024

The Mini π bipedal robot is available now in three versions:

• $7,600 for “Basic Configuration of Motion Control”
• $8,711 for “Basic Configuration of Motion Control Board copy” (I have no idea what that means).
• $11,950 for “Perception Version Configuration (Orin + Main Control + IMU)”, which I suppose replaces the Orange Pi 5 with an NVIDIA Jetson Orin developer kit in the bipedal robot.

Hopefully, they’ll improve on the website and documentation… The company is also working on a small (68.5 cm high) humanoid robot using its joint motors.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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