The Penguin has quite a few features and is very slick, but you are right about being more limited as to expansion.
I have the Toddler and really enjoy being able to expand the basic unit. It is much of the same reason the the BOEbot is so successful. I've even switched over to an SX48board for the microprocessor with higher speed to allow more multitasking.
Nonetheless, I think that you can find a lot of ways to easily build your own Toddler type or larger walker if you want.· Stepper motors could easily be adapted to larger units and if the battery packs were kept in the feet, it would have excellent balance.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
It's sunny and warm here. It is always sunny and warm here.... (unless a typhoon blows through).
Tropically, G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
SLRM: That would make it the "Toppler" instead of the Toddler. FWIW, Toddler creator Ken Gracey has commented within these hallowed halls that the Toddler design doesn't scale up well, ergo the smaller Penguin is its logical successor.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
So the toddler was discontinued because the design didn't work on larger versions? Doesn't seem to logical since you can't scale up the physical model. I think the guys at Parallax just wanted to make something new...
The Toddler design has been scaled up
to the size of a human woman and down
to the size of a tiny Penguin. No one said
you cannot scale up the physical model.
It's just more easy in some ways and cost
effective to build a smaller one, although
there are reverse arguments too.
The lack of a full breadboard
on Penguin Robot is not due to its weight
ratio and space premium. It's because it
already has the things you would breadboard
on Toddler, built into the motherboard, and
some extras. If that's not enough, there's
an AUX5 expansion port included. If you
still must have a breadboard on Penguin,
it's possible to do it. I hope this will be
featured in one of the issues of
Penguin Tech Magazine. But not until some
other Penguin projects are finished first.
humanoido
Post Edited (humanoido) : 8/13/2008 2:20:12 PM GMT
basicstampede
Posts: 214
Comments
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Dan Taylor
Also there were some refurbished ones one Parallax's E-Bay section about 2 or 3 weeks ago - so you might keep an eye out there.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
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
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Dan Taylor
I have the Toddler and really enjoy being able to expand the basic unit. It is much of the same reason the the BOEbot is so successful. I've even switched over to an SX48board for the microprocessor with higher speed to allow more multitasking.
Nonetheless, I think that you can find a lot of ways to easily build your own Toddler type or larger walker if you want.· Stepper motors could easily be adapted to larger units and if the battery packs were kept in the feet, it would have excellent balance.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
It's sunny and warm here. It is always sunny and warm here.... (unless a typhoon blows through).
Tropically, G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
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
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
·"If you build it, they will come."
to the size of a human woman and down
to the size of a tiny Penguin. No one said
you cannot scale up the physical model.
It's just more easy in some ways and cost
effective to build a smaller one, although
there are reverse arguments too.
The lack of a full breadboard
on Penguin Robot is not due to its weight
ratio and space premium. It's because it
already has the things you would breadboard
on Toddler, built into the motherboard, and
some extras. If that's not enough, there's
an AUX5 expansion port included. If you
still must have a breadboard on Penguin,
it's possible to do it. I hope this will be
featured in one of the issues of
Penguin Tech Magazine. But not until some
other Penguin projects are finished first.
humanoido
Post Edited (humanoido) : 8/13/2008 2:20:12 PM GMT