  In this work, the novel, open-source humanoid robot, PANDORA, is presented
where a majority of the structural elements are manufactured using 3D-printed
compliant materials. As opposed to contemporary approaches that incorporate the
elastic element into the actuator mechanisms, PANDORA is designed to be
compliant under load, or in other words, structurally elastic. This design
approach lowers manufacturing cost and time, design complexity, and assembly
time while introducing controls challenges in state estimation, joint and
whole-body control. This work features an in-depth description on the
mechanical and electrical subsystems including details regarding additive
manufacturing benefits and drawbacks, usage and placement of sensors, and
networking between devices. In addition, the design of structural elastic
components and their effects on overall performance from an estimation and
control perspective are discussed. Finally, results are presented which
demonstrate the robot completing a robust balancing objective in the presence
of disturbances and stepping behaviors.
