My 'first' robot experience...

[bsodmike]

Hi all,

A while back I posted a little about a project I was working on and the build/test of the prototype has been concluded.

Unfortunately, the time I had available to work on the robot got cut down from 4 weeks to a week due to catching a nasty case of Labrynthitis (check on WebMD for the gory details) and therefore the build was quite rushed although I got everything sorted in time. To start off, I had to build a 'mini-lab' in my room (Uni accommodation):



...and I even built my own little power supplies rather than shelling out for a bench PSU. The reason is that these are usually heavy and I would be flying back home in a week or so after completion. I designed a Motor Driver and got it fabricated to specifications,





..then wired into the robot,





The first test of a single motor was conducted (YouTube Video):



All three motors were tested as well (YouTube Video). The core 'electronics' were to be housed in a project box and I tested that as well,



The PWM output from the microcontroller was further fined tuned as a ramp test, and the project box was drilled to accommodate more wiring,



This is a peek inside the project box,



Along with another video clip covering an overview of the robot.

The final prototype,



And two video clips running the demonstration code:

• Clip 1
• Clip 2

I had to skip a lot of the integration I was intending to perform due to time constraints as completing the report took precedence especially the write up on my mathematical model. The demonstration was an open-loop implementation of the Inverse Kinematics of the robot's geometry.

The final prototype would include an EPIA (Mini-ITX) mainboard on top running Linux for complete AI implementation, with feedback and closed-loop PI control over the wheel velocities and a few more bells n' whistles

Best,
Mike

[kidzer]

Sweet!

Now, you've gotta' admit - thats cooler than long posts about watches

That kinda' stuff is very cool, I wish I had an aptitude for maths etc, so I could do it - but I don't really, so I'll have to make do with gawking at other folks cool inventions!

(The best I've done is build a power supply (the PCB layout was given to us already though!), and built a very basic Underwater ROV with an umbilical to a very basic control box!)

[Stringent]

Next up Robot Wars?

[stevie lee]

all it needs now is a duster and a hoover, maybe a mop and you'll never need do any cleaning ever again.

i am assuming thats what its for..

or are you going to put that flick knife you reviewed onto it and use it as a guard-bot for your watch collection?

[TheAnimus]

nice work, love the attention to detail, brading the wires etc. I was always far too lazy, i once got a nice comment because I'd only used yellow wire to wind up this post grad who was doing the marking (first year projects ftw!).

are those USB sie's stuck on the side there? It looks like a PIC18 series? Any reason why you didn't use the new USB stack (i've only played with the old one, and was seriously underwhelmed).

I miss all this fun stuff

[bsodmike]

Stevie lee: Hah!!

Animus: Those are as you pointed out USB to serial interfaces and link up to the serial interface on the PIC18s. Using USB <-> serial is just simple cause the Mini-ITX has two in-built USB ports and I don't have to mess with USB stacks.

Used the PIC18 as it has a really nice power control PWM module, and on this particular PIC it has control over 4 independent channels (which can run as 8 in complementary mode). The QEI interface on this chip is also handy for interfacing with quadrature encoder output, another item on the eventual todo list if I take it further.

What I really want to make though is a slave bot. Think of it as your own personal butler...mmm!

[TheAnimus]

What I really want to make though is a slave bot. Think of it as your own personal butler...mmm!

Given that men are on average more gadget freeks, its odd how woman already have them!

[bsodmike]

Given that men are on average more gadget freeks, its odd how woman already have them!

Good point! So much for plotting to take over the world with robots; women seem to be having more success there ;-)

hehe...