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Omni Wheeled Boe-Bot? — Parallax Forums

Omni Wheeled Boe-Bot?

robotyrorobotyro Posts: 7
edited 2008-01-28 14:27 in Robotics
Hey, I'm trying to start a project with my boe-bot and need some help.· What I'm thinking of doing is taking the Board of Education off of my boe-bot and making either a new·trigonal or square chassi for it (most likely square) and hooking up for omni wheels to it so it can strafe.·
Here is my problem-
···· 1 - I don't now if the bs2 can handle the program for omni wheels in autonomous mode with at least four ir sensors for distance detection and anything else I try to do
···· 2 - I don't know if the regular 4 AA battery pack can handle the four servos and the board

Can someone give me some feed back on my project...

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Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2008-01-20 17:51
    4 servos is getting to be a bit much for an unassisted Stamp to handle (along with sensors, etc.) since they require periodic (every 20ms) control pulses. You could use two servoPALs to take that load off the Stamp without changing much else. You could use the 4AA battery pack, but you'd be better off adding a 5th AA battery holder and using NiMH rechargables. You can get 2300-2500mAh cells now and those would hold up for a couple of hours before needing recharging. A servo can draw up to 1A under heavy load, but normally they draw just 100mA to 250mA each under light load. If you're going to build a large enough chassis, plan for larger batteries. With the larger sizes (C or D), make sure you're getting more capacity. A lot of the C or D size rechargable batteries sold are just AA cells in an "empty" larger package and only have 800 to 1000mAh capacity.
  • robotyrorobotyro Posts: 7
    edited 2008-01-20 18:13
    I looked over the servopal and think that I should be able to program them to work with omni wheels, and the additional battery pack should be enough.

    Thanks for the imput.

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    Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein
  • WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
    edited 2008-01-21 20:27
    Mike and Robotyro,

    Would a PWMPAL help in this instance - It is not a lot more than the ServoPal (cheaper if you need two).
    I'm not sure this would work - just wondering.

    What kind (brand or source)·of wheels are you thinking of using?

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    Whit+


    "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

    Post Edited (Whit) : 1/21/2008 8:32:25 PM GMT
  • robotyrorobotyro Posts: 7
    edited 2008-01-22 01:16
    I was thinking of using transwheels, but have pertty much abandoned the project because it will end up costing me about $125 for the wheels, servos, and ServoPALs. So, unless I (or anyone else) can think of a cheaper way to work this project then I don't think I'll end up completing it.

    If I only used three omni wheels in a triangular pattern would servoPALs be necessary or recommended?· I did not want to do all the vector sums, but if it can make my project feasible·I'll do the math.

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    Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein

    Post Edited (robotyro) : 1/22/2008 2:27:40 AM GMT
  • Adam YakaboskiAdam Yakaboski Posts: 4
    edited 2008-01-23 21:08
    How much are the wheels?· I might be able to find cheaper wheels though I have no idea which ones you are using.· The price range of the transwheels vary a lot.
  • robotyrorobotyro Posts: 7
    edited 2008-01-23 22:03
    The wheels I found don't cost too much, only about $5.50 per wheel.· Here is the link http://www.robotobjects.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=304
    The expensive part of the project is the servopals, which I still want to know if they would be necessary with three servos, and the servos themselves.

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    Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein
  • DiablodeMorteDiablodeMorte Posts: 238
    edited 2008-01-24 02:10
    Those wheels claim to have the rollers at 90degrees of the wheel rotation.. I thought omni wheels had offset roller wheels to allow for a kinda "screw" affect when two where ran in opposite directions on the same side of the bot.
  • WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
    edited 2008-01-24 02:38
    DiablodeMorte,

    I really think you need a double wheel like this http://www.robotobjects.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=306·($10.77 times three = $32.31).

    See this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTPnX1vDymw

    This is a WowWee bot with Omni Wheels. A picture (moving) is worth a thousand words.

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    Whit+


    "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

    Post Edited (Whit) : 1/24/2008 2:56:34 AM GMT
  • DiablodeMorteDiablodeMorte Posts: 238
    edited 2008-01-24 03:07
    Ahh.. I misunderstood. I get it, very nice.
  • FranklinFranklin Posts: 4,747
    edited 2008-01-24 03:24
    You're thinking of mechanums see this www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPmC4KPvOfg

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  • David H.David H. Posts: 78
    edited 2008-01-24 18:19
    I was just cleaning the ball from my old mouse, and was wondering how difficult it would be to use that idea, and have a drive ball, and run it off 2 servos? Just thinking out loud.
    Good luck with your project.

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    David


    There are 10 types of people in this world,...
    Those that understand binary numbers, and those that don't!!!
  • robotyrorobotyro Posts: 7
    edited 2008-01-24 19:22
    You would need mecanum wheels to run it off of two wheels and have the bot straff. As far as I know you can't get mecanum wheels for anything about the size of a boebot(2-3 inch wheels), but if anyone knows a place I would like the link.
    With omni wheels you need at least three wheels and four would be easier to program -less vector sums to do.

    But can anyone answer my question - if I only use three servos would servoPALs be necessary?

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    Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2008-01-24 21:25
    Robotyro -

    Could you define what you mean by "mecanum wheels"? I know of many sources for wheels and tires for various sized robotic platforms. Perhaps I could help if I knew what they were.

    Could you speak just a bit more about programming the omni wheels, inre your comment about "vector sums"? If you know of a tutuorial, that would be great as well.

    Whether you can drive three R/C servos is more a matter of what else you're doing in the program than anything else. Each R/C servo places a software load on the Stamp, since it is a single threaded processor. If you have no other time constraints within your program, I'd guess you could drive three R/C servos without too much trouble. A co-processor would certainly offload a lot of the work, and permit you more time for other duties with the Stamp.

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

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    There is no pleasure in having nothing to do;
    the fun is in having lots to do, and not doing it!
  • robotyrorobotyro Posts: 7
    edited 2008-01-24 21:48
    Mecanum wheels typically have a large wheel and smaller wheels around the large one. They differ from omni wheels because the smaller wheels are angled not perpendicular to the large wheel. The video link to youtube posted by Franklin above is mechanum and the link I posted to robotobjects is omni. Due to the wheel design mecanum wheels can be ran in the normal style 4-wheels or 2 but omni wheels need to be placed perpendicular to each other. For information on omni go here - http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_omni_wheel.shtml and for info on mecanum go here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel . The mecanum wheels I would need have to be small, but due to the more complex design I don't think they make them that size.

    This site - http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_omni_wheel.shtml - also has the info on the vector stuff that come with omni wheels. In short you need to send different pulse values to the wheels in order for them to turn and strafe. This is not too hard with four wheels, but with three you need to do send odd pulses even to get the bot to move forward.

    If I add IR for distance detection would that over-load the BS2?

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    Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2008-01-24 22:16
    Robotyro -

    It's not overloading the processor so much as it's having ample time to do what you need to do in your program. You will have to provide PULSOUT output pulses at regular intervals to the R/C servos for them to maintain thier positions. Ordinarily you would put pauses in there as well, but other instructions (doing other things) work as well as pauses (PAUSE statement) as far as "time wasting" is concerned, except you're not wasting time as you would with a PAUSE statement.

    To answer your "load" question more directly, you need to view your R/C servo timings (on paper) and how long it takes to send out your I/R pulse, and receive an "answer" (again on paper). Then you have nearly enough data to answer your own question.

    In general terms, I suspect you may be okay if you use a PBASIC Stamp that's faster than the BS-2 (BS-2sx and on up), but that's just a gut feeling based on my past programming efforts in this area. Once you have decided on which PBASIC Stamp you are at least planning to use, then you know its speed characteristics as well, and that's the last piece of input you will need for your "paper" timing chart.

    If you come up short time-wise, look at the next faster PBASIC Stamp! I suppose you could jump right to a PBASIC Stamp BS-2px and skip the timing nonsense, but I don't like to use any larger processor than is necessary. Call me a purist if you wish smile.gif

    I hope that's not too overly complicated an explaination.

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    There is no pleasure in having nothing to do;
    the fun is in having lots to do, and not doing it!
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2008-01-24 22:20
    Robotyro -

    Here is a 2" Omni wheel (link below). It's not quite a mecanum wheel, but that's the best I've found so far:
    http://www.imagesco.com/catalog/robot/wheels.html

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates



    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    There is no pleasure in having nothing to do;
    the fun is in having lots to do, and not doing it!
  • robotyrorobotyro Posts: 7
    edited 2008-01-24 23:49
    Thank you for your help. tongue.gif

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    Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2008-01-28 14:27
    The mecanum wheels shouldn't be that difficult to make yourself.
    They may not look as nice, but...

    You'll need some hard sheeting(plywood made for RC-hobbyists should be good),
    Cut two pieces that are roundish, say 6 or 8-sided.
    Drill holes in the corners, and in the center.
    Mount the two pieces with a spacer between them(an inch should be enough), and make certain that you rotate one of the pieces in relation to the other.

    When threading a thin metal rod(pianowire?) from one side to another, it should make at pretty sharp angle...

    Now comes the difficult part.
    You need to cut, carve or cast rollers to mount on those thin axles.

    Also, consider slipping a small plastic bead on each end of the wire to buffer the roller, and possibly notch the plywood sides so that the roller has more room.

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