Motion Capture Exoskeleton, Johnny 5 Style

Some time ago, the RobotShop team decided to build a telepresence system. Usually, these kinds of systems are sadly limited to a web-cam and a screen on wheels, and are simply a glorified videophone. This is not the case at RobotShop since we love robots and are all for crazy projects. This is why, a full motion controlled system was put together in order to provide a truly immersive experience to the user. This is very similar to the Justin control haptic suit by DLR featured in the past days, but a few tens of millions of dollars cheaper. The team did this mainly inspired by one of the coolest robots of all Hollywood history: Johnny 5 (from the Short Circuit movie). The Lynxmotion Johnny 5 robotic platform was used, and a motion-capture exoskeleton was put together using mainly potentiometers and wooden sticks. The video below shows further details about the project, its motivations and the end result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-5-ymKTiMU For the reader's convenience, we have transcribed the list of materials used during the construction featured at the end of the video: