Design of humanoid with insert-molded cover towards the variety of exterior design of robots

In the age of PR (personal robot), the demand for various and complicated exterior designs has become greater. This paper focuses on improving the designability of the exterior of robots. A main cause of discouraging the designability is that the exterior and mechanism designs are not independent. We try to lower the mutuality between them by proposing a fabricating method of humanoid covers with insert molding. This method prevents weight excess and shrinkage of the movable ranges caused by attaching the cover and allows complicated shape of the cover, but has three major problems to be solved. Firstly, the restoring joint torque caused by the deformation of the cover should be estimated. Secondly, the cables should be arranged inside the cover so as not to be tensioned too much. Thirdly, an appropriate way of heat radiation is needed. In this paper, design methods of a humanoid with insert-molded cover such as the equations to estimate the restoring torque, the cable arrangement and the way of heat radiation are described. Finally, the prototype now being designed is mentioned.