It has onboard batteries, computers, and can operate without external wires for control or power. The body design of therapod-dinosaurs is a very good one to copy for an agile two legged robot, and the tail can help with balance and turning. 30 mins. of operation per charge. One TMS320c30 DSP for main processor. Each controller operates with a current control inner loop, a voltage control loop around that, and a force feedback control loop around the outside.
All feeback control occurs in analog hardware.
We use a PC running windows as the remote host. This is a plan view of a Sinornithoides, or Troodon dinosaur based on recent archeological work. Below are a series of images showing the robot sitting, sitting up, and standing. All of these operations took place under fully autonomous mode, using internal batteries for power, and a hand held IR remote to send the command to stand. 1996 - Robot hardware done except for high current drivers for powering the motors.