I was just looking at the new Ping bracket on the Parallax homepage. Nice piece of hardware, but what I'd really like to know, is what's that robot that the Ping bracket is attached to? A hint of things to come?
I was just looking at the new Ping bracket on the Parallax homepage. Nice piece of hardware, but what I'd really like to know, is what's that robot that the Ping bracket is attached to? A hint of things to come?
Thanks
Paul Garcia
Cool, looks like a prop powered big brother to the BoeBot. Are those gear motors?
So I know many of you are probably curious about the robot used in the PING))) Protector Stand pictures…I believe Old Bit Collector managed to snag a picture of this robot off my desk during his last visit. I’ll throw you some crumbs, but I am not going to offer an estimated release date. I will say we’re getting close, but we’re dependant on a number of factors in order to meet a release date and therefore can’t be more specific.
Some of you may remember around the time the Motor Mount and Wheel Kit was released when asked what happened to my robot based on that kit I mentioned that I hadn’t worked on it as I was working on another robot platform. I attached a picture of a LynxMotion platform that I was connecting all kinds of sensors to. That link is below.
The reason for testing this platform was to evaluate a mid-size platform (something between the BOE-Bot and the MMWK). This new platform would drive geared DC motors rather than servos and be much faster. We wanted to use the Propeller but also not require additional boards and accessories such as the HB-25 which was used in initial testing. This would help keep the cost down. A rough draft of the chassis was sketched up and we came up with the Alpha prototype you see below.
Once this unit was built we were able to evaluate the potential problems and address those. We worked on optimizing sensor mounting locations and placement of the hardware. We also decided on making a custom control board which will have an on-board 3.3V/5V switching supply as well as 2-channel H-Bridge. 24 I/O lines would be brought out through level converters allowing 3.3V or 5V sensors and accessories on the I/O pins. The following picture is one of three Beta prototypes. The one below is the one I was working on which has several items attached that are/were not part of the overall design. As I was testing code I wanted to protect the PING))) sensors, so I mounted some rack cabinet handles as bumpers to prevent crushing a PING))) if the code has a bug and the robot should run into a wall at high speed. Make no mistake…this robot moves fast. You can see the Alpha prototype off to the right in this picture.
The picture above used the Propeller Proto Board for testing, however the final robot will have its own custom control board as you have seen in the photo in the previous post. For size comparison I have included a few pictures below with the chassis open and another Parallax Robot inside it. Hopefully this will give you a better perspective on size and whet your appetite a bit.
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Post Edited (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 4/3/2009 6:11:35 PM GMT
One of the things I really like about the Scribbler is its tires: they're just O-rings that can be replaced from a good hardware store or McMaster-Carr. Moreover, a narrow tread like this makes wheel odometry with an encoder much more accurate. In the background of one of your photos, there are some large wheels that look like they could accept O-rings for tires. Is this being considered? Or are O-rings just too thin for such a large bot?
Phil, the wheels in the back are from BaneBots. They sell these in many axel patterns/sizes and they're easily replaced if need be. A snap-ring holds them onto the aluminum hub mounted to the motor shaft. The wheels on the StingRay will be slightly larger but otherwise similar. The motors will have the ability to have a high-resolution optical encoder attached as the shaft from the motor itself extends out from the back.
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So the name will be StingRay? Cool [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Any idea on the price range?
Will you have boards/instructions/options for interfacing with other Parallax microcontrollers?
The breadboard is there for adding your own circuits and stuff, and the mounting holes allow for three such breadboard plates making the Stingray compatible with the Propeller Education Kit as well, though you would not have the H-Bridge included on the controller. But it does open options up for experimentation leaving plenty of room. There is also a lot of room inside as well. No release date, price or anything, but you can bet it will be a good deal. As for additional boards for other micros…you could use another microcontroller. The prototypes were tested with both a BASIC Stamp and the Propeller Proto Board. The SX Proto Board will also mount on the same hole pattern. The history was to show you how much thought went into the design. Many decisions had to be made about the metal, tail wheel, motors, wheels, power source, control board, etc. When this is released it will be the result of much thought, planning and effort to provide our customers with a very nice platform for personal robotics. Take care.
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What sort of chips are built onto the control board? I assume that there's a pair of H-Bridges, the switching regulator and the Propeller. What else is onboard? What sensors are supported (compass, encoders, GPS, Ping, accelerometer,...)?
Also, what is the default setup for batteries? Are you going to use (provide or sell) RC car batteries? Will there be seperate power supplies for motors and electronics?
The H-Bridge IC is a dual-channel so there is only one. Likewise, the switching supply provides both 3.3V and 5V outputs with VG (voltage good) indication. The 24 I/O pins brought out to servo headers pass through level translators so they are 5V compatible. If for some reason you need access to the 3.3V pins directly you can disable a group of 8 I/O pins at the servo headers and access them directly from an unpopulated set of pads on the board where you could solder a SIP socket or header into.
Any sensors that could connect to the Propeller typically will be supported. There are plans in the works for IR, PING))), Line Following, thermal tracking, GPS navigation, etc. You could use any combination of the above or all if you wanted to. The Stingray is meant to provide a powerful, yet open platform for intermediate to advanced robotics experimentation. There are many options we looked at during the design which aren’t necessarily shipping with the kit (to keep the price low) but are viable upgrade options which some customers may choose to experiment with. The Stingray provides a platform to support many options simply not available to such products as the BOE-Bot. It also provides the computing power and mobility to realize GPS navigation.
Batteries are not included so the customer may choose their option. By default you could use AA batteries (alkaline or rechargeable), but some (including myself) may choose to use an R/C battery pack. The motors and electronics on the control board are powered by the same source, however for those advanced in robotics you may choose to create your own custom control board or use something like the Propeller Proto Board. The included control board was designed to meet the most common needs for the robot including future upgrades and add-on accessories. Take care.
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Could you by chance provide some informaiton on the "trike" wheels? They are simular to the Omni-Wheels, but look like the rollers might be more easily adapted to mecanum wheels.
So it's not like the Propeller Control Board with built in sensors? I guess my question is really "What are the 8 dedicated I/Os used for?" I'd assume four are for the regular EEPROM and prop-plug, and two are for driving the H-Bridge. Are the other two for the voltage good of the 3.3 and 5v supplies? Thanks for your help in this.
If you look in the first picture, my guess is the chip at the top left of the picture is the h-bridge. It looks like the powerso package of the l298. Which makes sense for the motors in the other pictures (looks similar to the GHM-16 from lynxmotion). If its the l298 it could be either 2 or 3 pins for each motor - pwm, and 2 direction. 1 direction could be the inverse of the other if you dont want brake/coast control. l298 can also output current sense for each motor.
One question I have is whether there are plans for selling just the chassis - no controller, motors, wheels. I would be interested in that but add my own motors, etc. It looks a nice chassis for prototyping.
@John – They are omni-wheels, but not like any I have seen before. These are pretty nice but I have no further information. The front wheels are Banebots wheels with custom hubs.
@SRLM – The Propeller Control Board and the MSR1 Controller Board are different animals entirely. Yes they’re both Propeller driven, but each was designed to fit the needs of the robot it was built for. In this case we’re trying to be a little more open on what can be connected. As for the 8 dedicated I/O lines you are almost correct…4 are for the serial and EEPROM, however the H-Bridge uses 4 as well. The remaining 24 pass through the level shifters in groups of 8, so each group of 8 I/O pins can be 3.3V or 5V, but at the servo connector they are inherently 5V. To access them as 3.3V you must connect to the pads provided. Take care.
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I haven't used those but I have used these http://omniwheel.com/omniwheel/omniwheel.htm. They come in single layers but are molded so they interlock together at 45 degrees. I am guessing its the same here, they are single layer wheels but they interlock to as many deep as you want.
Timmoore said...
I haven't used those but I have used these http://omniwheel.com/omniwheel/omniwheel.htm. They come in single layers but are molded so they interlock together at 45 degrees. I am guessing its the same here, they are single layer wheels but they interlock to as many deep as you want.
Comments
Dave
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Dave Andreae
Parallax Tech Support·
Thanks for bringing that to our attention. It does look interesting!
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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
Cool, looks like a prop powered big brother to the BoeBot. Are those gear motors?
I like all the available space inside.
Rich H
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Respectfully,
Joshua Donelson
www.parallax.com
When do we get to know the details? It must've been in the works for a while now. I remember seeing some 3d models in one of the YouTube videos.
About the name, it makes sense and all but the first thing that pops into my head when I hear "sting ray" is Steve Irwin.
Rich H
Atlanta, GA
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Parallax Forums - If you're ready to learn, we're ready to help.
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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
Unfortunately, there aren’t any more details that we can release until the release of the robot. We all are anxiously waiting for that release.
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Respectfully,
Joshua Donelson
www.parallax.com
So I know many of you are probably curious about the robot used in the PING))) Protector Stand pictures…I believe Old Bit Collector managed to snag a picture of this robot off my desk during his last visit. I’ll throw you some crumbs, but I am not going to offer an estimated release date. I will say we’re getting close, but we’re dependant on a number of factors in order to meet a release date and therefore can’t be more specific.
Some of you may remember around the time the Motor Mount and Wheel Kit was released when asked what happened to my robot based on that kit I mentioned that I hadn’t worked on it as I was working on another robot platform. I attached a picture of a LynxMotion platform that I was connecting all kinds of sensors to. That link is below.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=654636
The reason for testing this platform was to evaluate a mid-size platform (something between the BOE-Bot and the MMWK). This new platform would drive geared DC motors rather than servos and be much faster. We wanted to use the Propeller but also not require additional boards and accessories such as the HB-25 which was used in initial testing. This would help keep the cost down. A rough draft of the chassis was sketched up and we came up with the Alpha prototype you see below.
Once this unit was built we were able to evaluate the potential problems and address those. We worked on optimizing sensor mounting locations and placement of the hardware. We also decided on making a custom control board which will have an on-board 3.3V/5V switching supply as well as 2-channel H-Bridge. 24 I/O lines would be brought out through level converters allowing 3.3V or 5V sensors and accessories on the I/O pins. The following picture is one of three Beta prototypes. The one below is the one I was working on which has several items attached that are/were not part of the overall design. As I was testing code I wanted to protect the PING))) sensors, so I mounted some rack cabinet handles as bumpers to prevent crushing a PING))) if the code has a bug and the robot should run into a wall at high speed. Make no mistake…this robot moves fast. You can see the Alpha prototype off to the right in this picture.
The picture above used the Propeller Proto Board for testing, however the final robot will have its own custom control board as you have seen in the photo in the previous post. For size comparison I have included a few pictures below with the chassis open and another Parallax Robot inside it. Hopefully this will give you a better perspective on size and whet your appetite a bit.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
Post Edited (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 4/3/2009 6:11:35 PM GMT
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Respectfully,
Joshua Donelson
www.parallax.com
One of the things I really like about the Scribbler is its tires: they're just O-rings that can be replaced from a good hardware store or McMaster-Carr. Moreover, a narrow tread like this makes wheel odometry with an encoder much more accurate. In the background of one of your photos, there are some large wheels that look like they could accept O-rings for tires. Is this being considered? Or are O-rings just too thin for such a large bot?
-Phil
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
Any idea on the price range?
Will you have boards/instructions/options for interfacing with other Parallax microcontrollers?
Thanks for the great history and photos!
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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
Soooo, no release date yet... just so long as it's ready by the last weekend of June - then all is ok.
Rich H
Columbia, SC
I really like the breadboard space and the propeller board!!
Keep it up!
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Dan Taylor
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
Also, what is the default setup for batteries? Are you going to use (provide or sell) RC car batteries? Will there be seperate power supplies for motors and electronics?
Thanks.
The H-Bridge IC is a dual-channel so there is only one. Likewise, the switching supply provides both 3.3V and 5V outputs with VG (voltage good) indication. The 24 I/O pins brought out to servo headers pass through level translators so they are 5V compatible. If for some reason you need access to the 3.3V pins directly you can disable a group of 8 I/O pins at the servo headers and access them directly from an unpopulated set of pads on the board where you could solder a SIP socket or header into.
Any sensors that could connect to the Propeller typically will be supported. There are plans in the works for IR, PING))), Line Following, thermal tracking, GPS navigation, etc. You could use any combination of the above or all if you wanted to. The Stingray is meant to provide a powerful, yet open platform for intermediate to advanced robotics experimentation. There are many options we looked at during the design which aren’t necessarily shipping with the kit (to keep the price low) but are viable upgrade options which some customers may choose to experiment with. The Stingray provides a platform to support many options simply not available to such products as the BOE-Bot. It also provides the computing power and mobility to realize GPS navigation.
Batteries are not included so the customer may choose their option. By default you could use AA batteries (alkaline or rechargeable), but some (including myself) may choose to use an R/C battery pack. The motors and electronics on the control board are powered by the same source, however for those advanced in robotics you may choose to create your own custom control board or use something like the Propeller Proto Board. The included control board was designed to meet the most common needs for the robot including future upgrades and add-on accessories. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log
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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log
One question I have is whether there are plans for selling just the chassis - no controller, motors, wheels. I would be interested in that but add my own motors, etc. It looks a nice chassis for prototyping.
@SRLM – The Propeller Control Board and the MSR1 Controller Board are different animals entirely. Yes they’re both Propeller driven, but each was designed to fit the needs of the robot it was built for. In this case we’re trying to be a little more open on what can be connected. As for the 8 dedicated I/O lines you are almost correct…4 are for the serial and EEPROM, however the H-Bridge uses 4 as well. The remaining 24 pass through the level shifters in groups of 8, so each group of 8 I/O pins can be 3.3V or 5V, but at the servo connector they are inherently 5V. To access them as 3.3V you must connect to the pads provided. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Engineering
Back to the home brewing board.
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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log
Wrong kind of "Skew". See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel and this video: video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9167332378938259993 Andy Mark has some but they are $$$.
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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log