Poppy, the Open Source 3-D Printed Robot, Will Soon Make Its Classroom Debut

An innovative new 3-D printed humanoid robot is set to debut in classrooms and research labs.

Poppy was developed by Inria Flower’s team and France and was developed because, according to creator Dr Pierre-Yves Oudeyer,”we needed to create a platform allowing fast experimentation of new robot morphologies. This led to the Poppy platform.”

Poppy is meant to be fully customizable and user friendly to be easily adapted for a wide range of uses. The humanoid robot is also capable of interfacing with other platforms, including smart clothing, musical instruments and other electronic devices.

Dr. Oudeyer said this adaptability and ease of use was always what his team had in mind when they developed Poppy.

“Both hardware and software are open source,” he said. “There is not one single Poppy humanoid robot but as many as there are users. This makes it very attractive as it has grown from a purely technological tool to a real social platform.”

While the possibilities for Poppy in research labs are endless, Dr. Oudeyer said that Poppy’s easy-to-use platform will also serve as an important learning tool to bring both 3-D printing and hands-on science into the classroom.

“The advances offered by 3-D printing have already revolutionised design and industry. However, only very little has been done to explore the benefits of 3-D printing and its interaction with computer science in classrooms,” Poppy’s creator said.

“With our Poppy platform, we are now offering schools and teachers an adequate tool to cultivate the creativity of students studying in fields such as mechanics, computer sciences, electronics and 3-D printing.”

Photo Credit: Screenshot via Indianeers