Prop powered Penguin

curt66140 · 2011-03-07 19:48

Just finished a brain transplant on one of my Penguins, I've wanted to use a Prop for a while now and finally got around to building the hardware. I've been working with my Prop powered Toddler for a while now so figured it was time to do the Penguin. I cut up a proto board for the prop parts and built the rest of the circuit on perf board for now. This is just a simple proof of concept to get everything worked out then I am planning on doing a real board set so I can add more sensors and toys to it. I have the hardware talking and everything works, now I'm working on the software to get her to waddle around. I should be able to modify the Toddler code for starters. Having a blast modifying Parallax robots to use the Prop, I just got a Hexcrawler off Ebay and that is next in line for an update. I'll post more as I get things working.

Humanoido · 2011-03-08 10:50

Curt66140, outstanding job! You beat everyone by being first with a working Propeller Penguin! Congratulations! Do you plan to program it with FemtoBasic or Spin? I like the robot stands you built too. Very neat job..

curt66140 · 2011-03-08 21:48

Thanks Humanoido, I'm programming it in spin, I enjoy working with metal as much as I enjoy electronics so I use metal alot also plastic, wood, you name it I've worked with it and enjoy it.
Curt

Humanoido · 2011-03-09 03:39

curt66140 wrote: »

Thanks Humanoido, I'm programming it in spin, I enjoy working with metal as much as I enjoy electronics so I use metal alot also plastic, wood, you name it I've worked with it and enjoy it. Curt

Curt, few people are as talented, able to merge multiple disciplines of mechanics, electronics and undoubtedly programming to the degree that you exhibit here. What is your next direction for the Prop Powered Penguin?

doggiedoc · 2011-03-09 04:08

Humanoido wrote: »

I like the robot stands you built too. Very neat job..

Yes very cool!

doggiedoc · 2011-03-09 04:10

curt66140 wrote: »

I just got a Hexcrawler off Ebay and that is next in line for an update. I'll post more as I get things working.

One of the things I did after I got my Stingray was transplant the control board to my HexCrawler. I think I have a youtube video of it posted. I'll look for it.
Great work by the way! Keep it up!!!

Paul

EDIT: here is a couple of videos

schill · 2011-03-09 07:23

Looks nice. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out.

I knew I should have posted pictures of my prop-based penguin and you beat me to it

. Yours is even the same color (time to break out the red kit, I guess). I haven't actually gotten very far. Mine has the prop on board and it can move the servos but I haven't even programmed it to walk. No problems encountered - just not any time to work on it.

curt66140 · 2011-03-09 08:45

PropPenguin is waddling around under her own power and guidence!!! The code I wrote for the Toddler worked great. Thanks for all the kind words guys. Paul I can't see videos here at work but I will sure watch them tonight when I get home, the HexCrawler is my next project. Time now to add more stuff to the Penguin, I'll post a video as soon as I get a chance and figure out how. schill good luck with yours, I guess great minds work alike even to color. Humanoido, yes I have way too many hobbies and I've always built things. I've been a photographer, camera repair technician,electronics engineer working on military robots, built showcars for 15 years, build and fly model airplanes, model cars, robotics, you name it.

Humanoido · 2011-03-09 08:48

I had the other problem resurface with my Prop Penguin. It's always the same story.. I made the gross mistake of setting the Penguin with the Prop Brain too close to the Propeller-Powered-Giant-Brain, and next thing you know, the Big Brain ate it!!! One more prop for the Big Brain, one less for Penguin. Currently, it's a Penguin without a Brain. The next journey this Penguin goes on is a trip to Oz to see the Wizard and ask for a brain. (Do they watch the Wizard of Oz over there in the UK??)

Humanoido · 2011-03-09 08:52

curt66140 wrote: »

PropPenguin is waddling around under her own power and guidence!!!

Curt, this is totally amazing. Another congratulations is in effect! Camera repair tech?? Uh, my SONY camera is shaking, literally vibrating, intermittently...

curt66140 · 2011-03-09 20:57

Hey Humanoido, thanks, I don't know about amazing but its fun, I tuned the gait some more and am working on the object avoidance , pretty primitive as I'm only using the ping for right now but it's coming along. I haven't been inside a camera since 93 when I quit to go back to school and got my engineering degree but a couple of questions, is your Sony an SLR or a point and shoot? About the only thing that could cause vibration in a modern camera would be the focus motor or the lens cover if that is automatic. There aren't many moving parts in a camera anymore. It could also be a gear missing a tooth.
Paul, I finally was able to view your videos, those are great! I'm going to use a protoboard on mine or I may use this as an excuse to get a Propeller Platform.
Curt

Humanoido · 2011-03-10 00:44

Curt: Here's a link to the camera, a Sony Cybershot dsc-t10.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/T10/T10A.HTM
I thought the image stabilization gyro had gone crazy.
The lens is fixed but auto focus and the cover is manual slide.
Maybe it's the focus motor gone awry.

The Ping is a lot better for distance or total darkness vision compared
to IR, at least farther than a couple feet. It's rather accurate out to
9 feet. Here's a seeing eye dog program for Penguin with the ultrasonics
image converted to audible sound.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?103759-Penguin-Robot-Seeing-Eye-Dog
penguin_seeing_eye_dog.bpx

Prop powered Penguin

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