So, I couldn't resist any longer. I ordered one of these plus all the other stuff to go on it (motor/wheels, controllers, pings, casters).
Now I just have to wait on some of the items that are out of stock and so on...
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Check out the Propeller Wiki·and contribute if you can.
@Bocephus, There's about an eight-inch rocker. The caster allows some adjustment to allow it to be lower than the larger wheels on the 12V Motor Mount and Wheel Kit. Some rocker is necessary in this design else it will rotate as it crosses transitions between carpet and wood, tile, etc.
@Roy, the marketing team is building a full kit right now. If you find that the full kit costs less then the cost of the individual parts you bought please let me know and I'll make sure you obtain an appropriate refund (or the rest of the hardware you want - whatever you desire).
Looks like we've put together a kit for everything you need to build up the Robot Base Kit, including all the Ping))) sensors and stands. This is a huge collection of our best hardware. Every single part in here is made with much care and the best materials, machines and people we could locate. No expense is spared in production on these products - all made in Rocklin!
You'll need to choose your processor (BASIC Stamp, Propeller, AVR - doesn't matter to us) and wire up the robot. We're including all the critical components except the processor (and some wires, connectors, power switch).
Our marketing crew will post this for sale tomorrow. The price is $849 and the savings - not sure - at least $150 or more.
You are the greatest Parallax proponent. Too kind to us! Your support is our fuel!
I overlooked the SLA battery - user must provide that part too.
I'm building two of these right now. I've been part of the e-mail exchange between the S2 team and they're trading files for speech synthesis and speech recognition as we proceed to finalize the electronics. Makes me wonder if I could get two of these robots to talk to one another. RF is neat, but it would be really strange to have one robot tell another what to do. We'll see!
I recognize that this kit is expensive, but it's also got a significant amount of savings.
By the way, the Ping))) now uses an external clock source which will provide more stability over a variety of temperatures. We have yet to characterize this for the datasheet, but we'll get to it. Prior to the versions we are shipping today it was using the SX internal oscillator. With ten of them on a robot it's going to take a bit of thought to manage all of these effectively to avoid signal conflict and still obtain really quick readings.
Desslok: Since you're into making your own robot bases, I also have one to offer: my plywood Retrobot. Sure, you can download Ken's fancy schmancy DXF file for free. But if you want to build a real working man's robot, and you want to challenge your own woodworking skills, I suggest you download my latest version 8.12 blueprints attached here. Also free!·[noparse]:)[/noparse]
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
erco said...
Roy: Thanks for reminding me, v8.12 wasn't dimensioned properly. Here's v8.13 for the craftsmen among us.
Erco, I took your template to·to a local depot of home supplies·and after waiting about 30 minutes by the saw, I was able to flag someone down to make the cuts for me to save time.· I have attached a scaled drawing how it turned out.
I'm slowly building Ken's version as funds become available. So far, I have the wooden CNC base, 2 HB-25s, and the Motor & Wheel kit should arrive next week. I bought one of Andre LaMothe's Chameleon boards to provide the smarts for the bot, and found a good deal ($15/ea) for a pair of XBee Pro 100 mW RF modules to help with the teleoperative side of things.
It would be really cool (hint, hint) if Parallax would sell some additional matching deck (and standoff) kits so those of us with real estate-challenged robots could add more vertical height. Somewhere around 4' high, perhaps, if not too top heavy. I'd like to see the same diameter decks as the Base (18"), but perhaps thinner Birch Ply--without the motor cut-outs and perhaps a 1-1/2 inch diameter center pass-through instead. Say either 6, 8, or 12 inches between levels? I'm thinking I could then wrap the exterior in something like Sintra or Carbon Fiber sheeting, which would allow me to cut windows when needed to allow for sensors or access hatches and the like, and have a real professional looking platform for my exploration.
I know how fast I'm going to fill up the somewhat less that 254 square inches of the main deck as my Stingray's is already squeezed for space after 6 Pings, video cam w/pan & tilt, RF receiver, X-band radar and 4x20 serial LCD, extra batteries, & etc. You know the old joke:
Q: What's the definition of an elephant?
A: A mouse built to government specs.
@wyzard28 - great idea! You should be able to do this pretty easily if you alread have a base for a pattern of even if not. Are you thinking just round· - with out the wheel wells also? If it is just a 18" diameter circle with a hole in the middle the most unskilled wood worker could do this. Get a 18" square peice of plywood. Just use a small hole in the center to pivot a jig saw around. The you could come back and enlarge the center pass through. Rounding the edges could be done by sanding or better yet a router. If this is still too much - you could easily have a local cabinet shop do this. For them it would be a piece of cake.
As far as the height - 4' might be a bit too high to be stable - you could add platforms a little at a time·to see. I think 2' to·2' - 6" (30")·might be about right.
Good luck and post some pics when you get it going.
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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
Hi I am thinking about purchasing this kit. I was wondering how much weight could it theoretically carry?
I know it is recommended to use a 12v battery and those can be pretty heavy, but I would also like to attach an RFID reader to it and I was wondering what would be the weight capacity on those motors?
also, how is rotational movement controlled, I could only see 2 motors so Im not sure how those extra 2 wheels are controlled. Thanks!
Comments
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·"If you build it, they will come."
-Phil
Maybe Poor Cousin wants to be made on the CNC router, too. Feel free to send me a drawing anytime!
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 1/12/2010 4:38:42 AM GMT
How about an old power supply case and some 1"x1" L brackets from Home Depot?
Jim-
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Signature space for rent!
Send $1 to CannibalRobotics.com.
Post Edited (CannibalRobotics) : 1/12/2010 4:21:06 AM GMT
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·"If you build it, they will come."
I'm interested in a kit if there is a good discount compared to buying items separately.
Now I just have to wait on some of the items that are out of stock and so on...
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Check out the Propeller Wiki·and contribute if you can.
@Roy, the marketing team is building a full kit right now. If you find that the full kit costs less then the cost of the individual parts you bought please let me know and I'll make sure you obtain an appropriate refund (or the rest of the hardware you want - whatever you desire).
Thanks, Ken Gracey
Yes, these motors are used in electric car windows. What surprises most people about them is that they're very quiet, smooth, and powerful.
Ken Gracey
Anyway, nice base Ken
I am keen to see what Phil comes up with re the GPS. Since I miss these posts normally, Phil - I hope you post the GPS solutions on the prop thread.
When I get time, I would like to build a QuadCopter like Jason Dory, using a prop or two to control it. The GPS interface could be part of this.
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Links to other interesting threads:
· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)·
· Prop OS: SphinxOS·, PropDos , PropCmd··· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBlade Props: www.cluso.bluemagic.biz
Looks like we've put together a kit for everything you need to build up the Robot Base Kit, including all the Ping))) sensors and stands. This is a huge collection of our best hardware. Every single part in here is made with much care and the best materials, machines and people we could locate. No expense is spared in production on these products - all made in Rocklin!
You'll need to choose your processor (BASIC Stamp, Propeller, AVR - doesn't matter to us) and wire up the robot. We're including all the critical components except the processor (and some wires, connectors, power switch).
Our marketing crew will post this for sale tomorrow. The price is $849 and the savings - not sure - at least $150 or more.
I'll follow up.
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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.
Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 3/26/2010 2:03:13 AM GMT
The $150 savings can buy the SLA Battery, Propeller Robot Control Board, switch and wiring.
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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) : 3/26/2010 2:37:20 AM GMT
You are the greatest Parallax proponent. Too kind to us! Your support is our fuel!
I overlooked the SLA battery - user must provide that part too.
I'm building two of these right now. I've been part of the e-mail exchange between the S2 team and they're trading files for speech synthesis and speech recognition as we proceed to finalize the electronics. Makes me wonder if I could get two of these robots to talk to one another. RF is neat, but it would be really strange to have one robot tell another what to do. We'll see!
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.
Wow! Look at all the... pings!
There must be 57 pings up there!
Rich H
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The Simple Servo Tester, a kit from Gadget Gangster.
By the way, the Ping))) now uses an external clock source which will provide more stability over a variety of temperatures. We have yet to characterize this for the datasheet, but we'll get to it. Prior to the versions we are shipping today it was using the SX internal oscillator. With ten of them on a robot it's going to take a bit of thought to manage all of these effectively to avoid signal conflict and still obtain really quick readings.
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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.
The DXF of the robot base is available for download and it's yours under Creative Commons 3.0 - no restrictions.
If you have trouble with the DXF please contact me and I'll send you a full-size plot that you can work with.
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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.
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·"If you build it, they will come."
I doubt that I have the skills required in woodworking to manage making such an elaborate design. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
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Check out the Propeller Wiki·and contribute if you can.
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·"If you build it, they will come."
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Check out the Propeller Wiki·and contribute if you can.
Poor Cuzin's Retrobot must be produced on some kinda machine you aren't telling us about!
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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.
Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 3/29/2010 4:15:51 AM GMT
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·"If you build it, they will come."
It would be really cool (hint, hint) if Parallax would sell some additional matching deck (and standoff) kits so those of us with real estate-challenged robots could add more vertical height. Somewhere around 4' high, perhaps, if not too top heavy. I'd like to see the same diameter decks as the Base (18"), but perhaps thinner Birch Ply--without the motor cut-outs and perhaps a 1-1/2 inch diameter center pass-through instead. Say either 6, 8, or 12 inches between levels? I'm thinking I could then wrap the exterior in something like Sintra or Carbon Fiber sheeting, which would allow me to cut windows when needed to allow for sensors or access hatches and the like, and have a real professional looking platform for my exploration.
I know how fast I'm going to fill up the somewhat less that 254 square inches of the main deck as my Stingray's is already squeezed for space after 6 Pings, video cam w/pan & tilt, RF receiver, X-band radar and 4x20 serial LCD, extra batteries, & etc. You know the old joke:
Q: What's the definition of an elephant?
A: A mouse built to government specs.
So give me all the space you can, Ken!
As far as the height - 4' might be a bit too high to be stable - you could add platforms a little at a time·to see. I think 2' to·2' - 6" (30")·might be about right.
Good luck and post some pics when you get it going.
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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
I know it is recommended to use a 12v battery and those can be pretty heavy, but I would also like to attach an RFID reader to it and I was wondering what would be the weight capacity on those motors?
also, how is rotational movement controlled, I could only see 2 motors so Im not sure how those extra 2 wheels are controlled. Thanks!