Penguin Marathon

Humanoido

I was inspired by this thread Robot Marathon in Japan and thinking about doing a Penguin Marathon on top of a desk, with a "floor track" bordered by either a black stripe or a paper wall. I would write a special program to minimize the stress on the servo motors and follow the wall circle. I wonder how many miles Penguin can do? If we exchange batteries and servos, it could perhaps go for months, even years. But changing a servo is a little daunting and I'd rather preserve the servos as best as possible, hence the special code. We can also determine the length of time to encircle the "table-top" room to cover a mile, based on rxt=d formula. The to get distance walked, the variables are set by Penguin - speed of walking, time doing the walking, plus stride length. We already have walking and running Penguin programs available. Any thoughts?

dw101s

I saw the Robot Marathon project too. I was a bit bummed out that they stopped to change batteries. I was wondering if it would be possible to add "wings" to the penguin in the form of solar panels as a way to recharge the batteries while the marathon is going, similar to the NASA Mars Rovers that will essentially run forever as long as they get enough sunlight to keep the batteries charged.

doggiedoc

As far as solar charging : I would think they would have to be in direct sun light and stop to charge. But I like the idea!! The wings could rotate to track the sun to maximize charge potential.

Humanoido

I think there's an application here using Penguin's compass and the addition of RTC to create a solar tracking miniature solar panel. For penguins wings, it could be charging all the time, like a trickle charger. A small algorithm or mechanical linkage would keep the wings at elevation no matter how Penguin waddled.

Humanoido

Penguin Marathon Tip

Reduce cyclic numeration on Penguin tilt programming to go longer on smooth surfaces. Batteries will last longer per overall walking cycle. Penguin will still go the same distance but more efficiently. This program is just opposite Shag Walker. This program could be easily modified into a Marathon program.

Shag Walker
penguin_shag_walker.bpx
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?97528-PENGUIN-ROBOT-Code-Request-Shag-Walker!
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?97573-PENGUIN-ROBOT-Shag-Walker-the-Code!

Note: calibrates with the Penguin Suite.

Remember "SHAG WALKER" instructs Penguin to lift its feet up much higher than the smooth surface gait, so as not to snag the feet in the carpet.

Shag Walker is also available here in a zip file with other walking programs:
www.p-robot.com/index.php/navigation-and-movements.html

dw101s

I wonder if it would be easier to have 2 or 3 Qti sensors attached to the Penguin (could probably rig some sort of shaft with the Qti at the end, kind of like the Penguin having a push broom to sweep the floor) so the Penguin would only have to follow a line which would mean that you do not have to worry about tracking the penguin's location. The whole marathon would come down to battery usage. As we mentioned before the battery life could be extended with the use of solar panels in a trickle charger set up. Also, if the Penguin stayed on the line the whole time you would only need to track the number of laps it made in order to determine the mileage.

Humanoido

I just remembered Penguin already has an odometer program that can keep trace of the number of servo cycles. It was written and mixed in with the Penguin Superhero suite of programs for aerobics. This can be applied to the number of steps to get an approximate distance.