Humanoid Bipedal Fabrication

Have you ever wondered what kinds of two-legged creatures exist?

Humans come to mind first, followed by primates and birds with their jumps and waddles. Bipedal movement allows creatures to travel across varied terrain while their upper bodies perform other tasks. This makes bipedal robots potentially useful in environments built for humans. Recreating this locomotion in a machine, however, requires solving a difficult problem: balance. A bipedal robot must remain upright while moving across uneven ground.

VT Humanoid, a robotics club founded in spring 2026, is tackling this challenge through several specialized teams. The club also aims to make its design affordable and manufacturable for hobbyists, rather than limiting bipedal robotics to select research labs.

The actuators subteam develops the joints that move the robot. Because motors are typically the most expensive components, the team plans to use lower-torque alternatives supported by gearboxes. These gearboxes help keep the robot lightweight and supplement the motors’ lower torque to lift each link.

The structures team is building the robot’s mechanical backbone. Its members must preserve structural integrity while minimizing the weight of each joint and leaving enough space for the electronics team to route wiring throughout the robot.

The electronics team acts as the robot’s nervous system, translating information about the changing environment into signals the software can use. Its members decode what the robot needs to know to remain standing and how its sensors should communicate that information by working with the software team.

The software team develops the control system that keeps the robot upright and coordinates its next movement. It determines what signals the computer should send to the motors and adapts to changes in the environment with sensor data. Using Isaac Sim, a robotics simulation software platform developed by NVIDIA, the team recreates scenarios thousands of times in parallel, developing models capable of responding to different conditions.

Although each subteam has a distinct responsibility, the club’s success depends on collaboration. Club president Ashwin Pulla explains that “getting 40–50 people on the same wavelength is harder than designing and building the robot.” Encouraging members to share discoveries and respond to ideas helps create an inclusive team environment, especially for members who may be less comfortable speaking up. Even small actions, such as sharing an interesting breakthrough or responding thoughtfully to an idea, can help members become more engaged.

This collaboration is essential because the robot’s systems are interdependent. A lighter frame may require different motors, while new sensors may require changes to the software. Constant testing and iteration give members experience with the integration challenges faced in professional engineering, where no subsystem operates independently, in a realistic team setting while developing communication skills.

“Work on something interesting and people will come.” By lowering the barrier to bipedal robotics, VT Humanoid hopes to expand innovation beyond a few research labs. Accessible research could eventually help automate repetitive, mind-numbing tasks in environments designed for humans. Virginia Tech Students interested in contributing in any capacity can join the operations team and help extend the project’s reach.