Tropical regards,      G. Herzog [ 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

Post Edited (Capt. Quirk) : 3/22/2007 7:44:53 AM GMT

Hey all,

Below is my second prototype of this project. The electronics are not yet installed, but you can see where they sit in the front of the robot. I've made several improvements to the original design. These improvements include a clutch-free system, a better layout (batteries are under engine), lower center of gravity, integrated Ping sensors (six of them), halogen lights, smaller wheels (these are from summer roller skiis and Razor scooters) and a superior caster design which should be wobble-free at high speed. I also switched to the Robin Subaru engine, which is a better performer IMO compared to the Honda mini 4-stroke engines.

There is still lots of room for improvement, but I'm happy with the results since it's a significant step forward from my last iteration. This particular version was put together as a trade show demonstration for next week's Embedded Systems Conference. A Propeller chip will display the sensor values on a monitor. It's a neat demo - a small robot image is drawn by the Propeller in the middle of the XGA display. Distance to objects are shown with bar graphs placed where each Ping is located on the robot.

I haven't run it on fuel yet, but once I do you'll see videos on this link.

Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 3/27/2007 4:47:03 AM GMT

Image Attachment : Hybrid Front.jpg   209KB (image/pjpeg) This image has been viewed 6949 time(s).

Image Attachment : Hybrid Back.jpg   216KB (image/pjpeg) This image has been viewed 6982 time(s).

Image Attachment : Hybrid Engine Connection.jpg   194KB (image/pjpeg) This image has been viewed 6856 time(s).

  Hi Ken,

    Looking very slick....will be a great trade show item!

    Now, just put a set foot rests and handlebars on it and go hunting Segways!

  Cheers,

 Tom

   A quick look at Make! shows a short report on the Embedded Systems Conference.

   There among LCD displays is Ken's over-sized Boe-Bot!!

   Check it out.

 Regards,

Hey all,

I posted a short video of the second prototype of this project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXPhkvJw6BQ

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.

 Ken Gracey

You do not seem to have a hole lot to do if you have time to do this ............................

I'd like to sit in my office and watch this robot do laps around our office building

That would be fun to do and lot of work to get this robot do laps around our office building

All kidding aside this a GREAT PROJECT And a good video to watch

Keep up the good work and Thanks for sharing this Project

Thanks for any  that you may have and all of your time finding them

Hey Scott,

There are two engines that work well in this application. The Subaru Robin EH035 1.6 HP engine costs less than $200 and the Honda GX35 1.6 HP engine is about $230. But I've bought both of them off of eBay for less than a hundred bucks each. Indeed, these are EPA-mandated "weed-whacker" engines. They're 4-stroke engines - very quiet, lower emissions, reliable running ability, and easy to mount.

You can also find alternators from eBay, even new ones for about $100.

For motors, I have about ten (10) of these Groschopp 12V planetary gear motors 150 RPM which I'll sell for $40 each. But, again, back to eBay where I found them. There are some great 12V geared motors on eBay.

Parallax is planning a motor/wheel/mount for 12V mid-sized robots that will be $100 per side. These should be out pretty soon, no later than July. But I have to tell you that although the cost seems high, for 8x the cost of a servo and molded wheel you'll get a lot more robot to play with!

I bet you could put something together for less than $300 total if you tried. Seems like a lot of money, and it is, but it's nothing compared to an R/C airplane considering the ongoing return on investment after you "crash" it. I could always be talked out of a few HB-25s for free if somebody wanted to make a similar robot. . .

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.