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How to build POPI

12-DoF four-legged robot dog · Advanced

POPI is a BSD-3 quadruped from IMT Mines d'Alès students: TiMOTION linear knees, CATIA CAD, a costed €5,052 BOM and a ROS/TOWR control stack.

Start the buildProject files
Difficulty
Advanced

Many actuators, custom wiring and real tuning work.

Build time
1–3 months

Our estimate, part-time

Parts cost
€5,052

€5,052 total from the team's costed workbook

Degrees of freedom
12

BSD-3-Clause

What is POPI?

Ten mechatronics students at IMT Mines d'Alès designed and built POPI from scratch over six months. It's an unusual quadruped because its knees use TiMOTION linear actuators rather than rotary motors.

The repo is a full documentation package: CATIA CAD and 2D drawings, power and sensor schematics, a costed BOM, an actuator datasheet, a user manual and a ROS/C++ stack built on the TOWR trajectory optimiser.

The team later announced Walko, a fully 3D-printed successor.

POPI specifications

DoF
12 (4 knee, 4 hip roll, 4 hip pitch)
Knees
TiMOTION MA2 linear actuators
Compute
Raspberry Pi 3B+ and 2× BeagleBone
Power
24 V 40 A supplies

Figures as published by the project. See Sources below.

Bill of materials

PartQtyNotes
Actuator set (4× TiMOTION MA2, shoulder motors, reducers)—
Electronics and wiring (Cytron drivers, sensors, supplies)—
Raspberry Pi 3B+ and 2× BeagleBone—
Aluminium plate, tube and fasteners—
Where's the full bill of materials?

The full BOM, with exact quantities and vendors, lives in the project's own files. Prices change often, so treat €5,052 as a ballpark from the project. Start at the project repository.

Tools you'll need

  • Machine shop (aluminium)
  • CATIA viewer
  • Soldering iron
  • ROS PC

Step-by-step build overview

Electronics & wiring overview

Per-leg wiring diagrams cover Cytron drivers, encoder wheels and current sensors, all fed from 24 V supplies.

Battery packpower sourceLaptop / PChigh-level controlencoderssensingRaspberry Pireal-time controllerMotor driverdrivers / busMotors12 joints / motors
PowerData / commandsSensor feedbackOverview only. Follow the project's own schematic for pinouts and voltages.

Software

Gazebo

ROS/C++ with the TOWR optimiser (BSD-3-Clause).

Tips from the bench

  • ☕ Read the user manual before powering up, because the linear actuators are strong.

POPI FAQ

What does POPI cost?

The team's BOM totals €5,052.

Sources

Written by Bots n' Beans from the project's own documentation. Check the sources for the latest revision before you buy parts.

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