Rapid Co-Design of Electro-Mechanical Specifications for Robotic Systems

Recent advances in design, fabrication, and programming technologies enable the rapid digital manufacturing of functional robotic systems. Novices can quickly fabricate mechanical frames thanks to 3D printers and cut-and-fold techniques and quickly program the control behavior of a robot using modern software environments. However, there is still not a systematic way to design custom printed circuit boards (PCB). In this work, we propose a hierarchical approach that allows casual users to quickly and easily create PCBs. A drag-and-drop graphical interface allows users to intuitively assemble PCBs from a library of predesigned, parameterized components, and a script-based infrastructure automatically composes all of the electronic systems based on user inputs. The final output is a fabrication-ready electronic design. Within this framework, we also propose a verification analysis that allows the user to quickly check that the developed design conforms to electrical constraints like voltage, current, and power limitations. Finally, we validate the proposed co-design environment with experimental results through the realization of a teleoperated segway robot.