Robotics – Humanoid

🎯 What you’ll learn

• What makes a robot humanoid
• Famous humanoid robots
• What they can and can’t do

🎬 Animated demo

A humanoid robot waves, turns its head and takes a step.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Humanoid robot fact file
• Design sketch of your robot helper

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Hinge and rotating joints
• Counting degrees of freedom
• Human vs robot joints

🎬 Animated demo

Unlock joints one by one and see how much more the arm can move.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Cardboard joint model
• Count your own arm’s joints

🎯 What you’ll learn

• How servos hold an angle
• Speed and strength (torque)
• Controlling many servos

🎬 Animated demo

Drag the servo to any angle and watch it move there and hold.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Servo pointer
• Two-servo waving hand

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Base, shoulder, elbow and wrist
• Reach and lifting weight
• Smooth arm movements

🎬 Animated demo

A robot arm reaches out, picks up and places a block.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• 3-servo robot arm
• Pick-and-place game

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Two-finger and claw grippers
• Gripping soft vs hard things
• Tendon-driven hands

🎬 Animated demo

Watch a gripper close gently on an egg and firmly on a block.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Straw-and-string robot hand
• Servo claw

🎯 What you’ll learn

• How walking works
• Step sequences
• Two legs vs four legs

🎬 Animated demo

See a robot shift weight and take slow, careful steps.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Walking robot leg model
• Four-legged crawler

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Centre of gravity
• Why robots fall
• Staying upright with sensors

🎬 Animated demo

Tilt the robot and see its centre of gravity move over its feet.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Balancing toy experiment
• Tilt-alarm robot

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Eyes, eyebrows and mouths
• LED and screen faces
• Showing emotions

🎬 Animated demo

Tap moods and watch the robot face change expressions.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• LED-matrix robot face
• Servo eyebrows

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Distance and touch sensing
• Cameras as eyes
• Sensing tilt and falls

🎬 Animated demo

The robot turns its head towards a hand that comes close.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Head that follows your hand
• Touch-to-greet robot

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Voice commands from a phone
• Hand gestures with a camera
• Safe command design

🎬 Animated demo

Say “wave” and the robot waves back.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Voice-controlled arm
• Gesture-controlled robot

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Sequences of poses
• Timing moves to music
• Loops for repeated moves

🎬 Animated demo

A robot performs a short dance, pose by pose.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Robot dance routine
• Robot greeting show

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Plan the robot’s job
• Build, program and test
• Show it to the world

🎬 Animated demo

All parts join into a mini humanoid that greets you.

🛠️ Project & application ideas

• Welcome robot for school
• Robot helper arm (final project)