Robot Hardware Design in the DESIRE Project

Abstract

The difficulties one faces when developing a service robot increase exponentially with the number of different modules and functions to be included. In the DESIRE project a new service robot was to be built as a means for advancing and demonstrating the convergence of service robotics technologies. It also had to meet the often contradicting requirements and demands of all thirteen partners and their heterogeneous software modules and functions which they committed to this project.

In this article we will discuss the development process of the hardware of the DESIRE technology platform. Starting with the listing and description of the different components and requirements we will describe the development process of the platform’s frame and internal structure as well as the design of the outer cover.

We expect this chapter to be used as inspiration and guideline for other engineers in upcoming projects with similar settings concerning system complexity and team composition. We are confident that the experience of the robot development process gathered within a large joint research project will help others to identify potential pitfalls and challenges for a robot’s hardware design beforehand and thus reduce the effort, time and resources needed for future service robot development.