Nadia Humanoid Project
IHMC developed a next generation humanoid robot called Nadia along with collaborators Boardwalk Robotics, Morfey Ltd, and H4 Labs. Nadia was designed to have have a high power-to-weight ratio and large range of motion through the use of innovative mechanisms and composite materials. Nadia was also being used to develop autonomous and semi-autonomous behaviors to allow the robot to function in urban environments and structures. The robot’s namesake is famed gymnast Nadia Comăneci, as a nod to the ultimate design goal — achieving human-range-of-motion. The development of Nadia was funded through several sources, including the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Army Research Laboratory (ARL), NASA Johnson Space Center, and TARDEC.
The Nadia project was intended to develop highly mobile ground robots that can function in indoor environments where stairs, ladders, and debris would require a robot to have the same range of motion as a human. While this has any number of applications, it can be particularly useful in firefighting, disaster response, and other scenarios that might be dangerous for humans such as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD).
Smart Actuators
Nadia was powered by a combination of electric and hydraulic actuators. It used Moog’s Integrated Smart Actuators (ISAs), originally developed in collaboration with the Instituto Italiano de Technologia (IIT)’s Dynamic Legged Systems Lab for the HyQ quadruped, custom electric actuators in the pelvis, and commercial off-the-shelf actuators for the arms.
Range of Motion
Nadia was designed to be flexible. Across its 29 joints, it had some of the highest ranges of motion of any humanoid robot to date when it was built. This gave it the ability to reach places that are impossible to achieve with traditional robots, enabling an extreme level of mobility.