Ted's First Steps
Here he is in his first foray. The video's not great, choreography wise, just something I put together early on with my Boe Bot. I do apologize for the lame placement of the 6V battery pack... more work needed.
http://bit.ly/humCaz
http://bit.ly/humCaz
Comments
Strictly timing here or is there object detection?
Eh... with all the pictures, the original thread was getting a bit long. No other reason. :-)
So, what about my other question? :-|
Oh, sorry! No, not yet. I think I'm going to try the whiskers from the Boe Bot. A crawly thing with antennae seems appropriate.
Feeling a bit under the weather at the moment. Fighting an infection and I think the anti-biotics losing! :blank:
That is a nice machine, looks like it could easily make the "Tile to Carpet bump" transistion, without flipping over.
Get Well Soon.
Regards
Tommy
Hope you feel better soon.
Lol. Yup, ya got it! Just like Bob was from BOe Bot.
I have to have names for most of my techy stuff. (And all the teddy bears! :-> )
@
Ted's first iteration worked okay, but it had some quirks I needed to iron out.The most problematic was the 6V battery pack hanging off the back of the chassis, limiting the climbing ability. Next was track tension... just a bit too loose, causing Ted to throw a track occasionally. Some changes were needed!
The logic board moved to the back, over the servos and the 6V pack went to the front. Weight balance is now pretty acceptable. To increase track tension, I added a short section of material to the front of the platform that let me move the idler wheel axle forward 2 holes (.24"). The track is much more taut... probably a bit too much so. More twiddling needed.
Another problem to be remedied is, the extra track tension has pulled down the unsupported front section of the platform. I'm thinking a small aluminum channel, down the centerline from the servos to the front might eliminate the bending and let me reduce the track tension a bit.
Off to the hardware store.
Amanda
http://www.budgetrobotics.com/manuals/
Basically anything that lets you move the motors along the length of the chassis will work. Maybe cutting slots between some of the pre-drilled holes of the plastic base?
Excellent! Perhaps with star washers to prevent slipping!
Cool.... Many thanks!
Amanda
Curious about Ted's capabilities, I gave him a small task. Push my Propeller education kit and few books down the hallway.
http://bit.ly/eeJgKl
Thanks Whit!
The things he's pushing weigh in at a tad over 5 pounds.
I laid out a kind of junk drawer junk yard in the hall... magic markers & sharpies, bot parts, Tamiya motors & frames, pens, rc car parts, wooden box, defunct xm radio... to see how he could clamber over rough terrain. Not too bad... the biggest obstacle is the exposed axles underneath.
The white specks are the residue from some polyfoam blocks I put in his path. He likes to grab a corner of those and "chew" on them. :blank:
Film later.
Amanda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poY_TW4wwvM
Argh... misunderstood your question! I was kinda distracted with other issues. But... the motions in the video were strictly timing. A program I wrote for my Boe Bot and it worked way differently with Bob. Wheels and tracks seldom give the same results. (Just lucky on the way it ran!)
Amanda
I don't see Ted having any "Tile to Carpet" issues. unless it happens to be a flight of stairs.
Lol! I'm kind of surprised at Ted's power, but the smaller diameter of the drive sprockets compared to the Boe Bot's wheels should provide more power.
My Boe Bot (Bob) and Ted both fear stairs. I'm looking at some kind of rollbars for both of them, but mostly for Ted. He gets into the most awkward situations.
@
You're off to a great start. Now you must teach Ted to navigate through life... and the real world!
Keep up the good work! :]
@erco Yes... time for Ted to quit playing "monster truck". (But I =do= get a kick out of it!!!)
@ Jessica Thank you. I've wanted to build a tracked robot for a long time. The first attempt was using the electronics from an r/c truck. That was a big #fail. Then I looked at the track kit for the Boe Bot and thought I could adapt parts like that to my tank-lett.
Started working out subroutines for turns and such and, of course the tracks have different traction on different surfaces! Gonna have to go to sensor based navigation. In the process of soldering up a plug-in IR module for the small breadboard. Possibly using a fixed Ping... though that didn't work out real well on Bob.
Speaking of Bob... I've caught his little Ping sensor glaring at Ted a couple of times. There may be some 'bot jealousy going on here!
Anyway, back to the drawing board.
Amanda
For several reasons, Ted has been on the back burner for a while. Partly because I just got my Prop' Mulitcore Starter Kit, partly because I was using his Homework board to study waveforms on the 'scope and... mostly 'cuz of a flareup of my CLS (Chronic Laziness Syndrome! :-> )
So... originally the tracks had too much tension and caused the platform to bend down in the front. I wanted to add stiffening to the platform and an extra hole to adjust the position of the idler wheel axle.
These show the aluminum braces on each side of the chassis. Each is bolted in four places to stiffen the platform. The extra metal beyond the platform will allow a bit of space for future gadgets.
With the chassis torn apart, I moved the road wheels forward just a bit to better balance the load. Track tension is just about where it was on the, now defunct, Tamiya tracked chassis. A bit less stress on the servos, I suspect. (For the critical eye... yeah, I'm missing a mounting screw for the logic board. Darned if I could figure out where that extra screw, nut and spacer came from... till I looked at the photo! <sigh>)
Lastly, I threw together a plug-in IR module. (I've found the breadboard connections on BOB to be a little unreliable.) Yes it's ugly... don't yell!
Anyhow, that's where Ted is for now.
Amanda
Looks like You have been very busy.
-Tommy
I've managed to add a few features to Ted. Most obvious is the Wisecom, wireless, color video camera. It has IR for vision in complete darkness. It keeps decent focus down to about 8 inches. Though without ambient light, the video is a little muddy.
Beside the camera is a laser module for... well... I just wanted to have one!
The unit came from a broken laser level. The long hood is to keep folks from looking into the light. (I want to program another remote button to toggle the laser on and off.)
Then I added navigation via a generic teevee remote control. The red mast at the rear elevates the IR receiver for better all-round reception. I used a receiver from the shack and the specs say it has a 46 foot range. I've gotten about 20 feet away so far, but that's all line of sight I can get in my apartment.
It's fun to drive, but things look a little strange at 3 inches off the floor! I need to modify the code so I don't have to keep holding down the buttons. My remote shots off after 30 seconds to save power. (Gee thanks!)
I can sit at my desk and drive around the apartment using only the video feed from the 'bot, but the contortions needed to keep the remote pointed in the general direction gets a bit difficult. :blank:
Somewhere I have a set IR remote extenders that let you use your remote from a different room. Thus far I've only found half the setup <grumble>!!!!
Where does one get these Wisecom cameras?
-- Gordon
I got this a couple of years ago at Fry's in Concord, CA. It was one of those infamous "restocked" items, but I've had no problems with it. Not sure of the range except I managed decent reception at about 60 feet through a couple of stucco walls doing a demo of video security at a nursing home.