Duane, thanks for the motor tips. I hadn't circled back to the Ali express listing yet. (That'she like reading documentation!) I'll be ordering a DHB-10 today.
Erco, I dug through the box again and saw no electronics. The nodemcu isn'the such a big deal but it looks like there's a carrier board in the pictures that has some useful stuff on it. Yes, are far as the batteries are concerned, 'note' means 'not'...at least in my package.
Whit, still a nice kit. I've built a couple wheels and bolted the chassis together. It's a good sized 'bot to be driving through a figure 8!!
If you use a L298N, you might want to use a 12V battery to make up for the voltage drop across the L298N.
If you end up using a DHB-10, you'll probably need to swap the encoder power lines. The DHB-10 expects the pins to be ordered as they are on Parallax's motors.
I'm still deciding which one to get. Rick's looks great in gold and I think has the biggest footprint. It looks to me like the bogies are rigidly fixed in place:
The other one I like is the one I referenced at http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/comment/1375920/#Comment_1375920. It only comes in silver (my second choice) and I think it's taller and has a smaller footprint (less stable for rough terrain). But I like the shape better and two of three bogies on each side are spring-loaded, per this still from that video:
Not that I see myself ever running this thing anywhere except flat floors indoors.
Yes, my bogies are fixed! My only complaint (too strong of a word, really) so far. I think with this size and possible weight, some suspension of the bogies would be a nice feature. Time will tell. Hopefully, 'the build' happens tonight!
Another treaded chassis work-in-progress, with multiple tread configurations for a rakish look. Based on the Tamiya 70100 Tracked Vehicle Chassis Kit plus the twin motor gearbox.
Neat idea erco! Could the side pieces (arc) be symmetrical (front to back as well)? This would allow for some other tread configuration and might allow for easy roll over (at least in a forward and backward direction).
Nice idea but not really. That "curve" is just where the top axle needs to go for a fixed length of tread. But if you want to change the tread length, you could do whatever you want. That Tamiya track is modular, with several swappable short and long sections, but not infinitely variable.
Nice idea but not really. That "curve" is just where the top axle needs to go for a fixed length of tread. But if you want to change the tread length, you could do whatever you want. That Tamiya track is modular, with several swappable short and long sections, but not infinitely variable.
Best bet for anti-rollover might be to make the cuts shown in red so the treads touch on all sides to run in any orientation. Most stable on the long side, based on a low CG.
OK Rick, since your credit card is all warmed up, please buy one of these jumpers and let me know how it works. Looks neat for$25 but I can't find any video.
I placed my order for two of these "Bounce Cars" on May 13. Tuesday (June 7) I received an email letting me know these had just been shipped. Kind of odd.
I think they're being a bit optimistic with their shipping estimate "Estimated delivery Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - Thursday, Jun 9, 2016".
Today is the last day of their estimate so it should arrive today right?
Did any of you order these jumping bots? Have you received them yet?
I was initially a bit disappointed in the bot's jumping ability but I had started using the bot on carpet. The carpet absorbs too much of the jump energy to get much height but once I moved to the vinyl floor in the kitchen the jump behavior was much better.
This bot is much better than I had expected. Not only does it jump but it also balances!
One right shoulder button on the remote makes the robot go into its jump mode but the left shoulder button makes the robot balance with its tail in the air. The remote still works with the bot balancing. Very cool!
I'm glad I purchased two of these. I plan to leave one in its original state and hack the other one. I'm not sure what sort of things I'll want to change/add but I think this bot has a lot of potential.
@Rick: How's your vehicle running? Fully Propellers and autonomous yet? Where's that figure 8? Too many questions? Feeling overwhelmed? Huh? Well are ya?
I made a quick video of the robot in action. It's presently uploading to YouTube. I'm guessing it will take a couple hours for the high resolution file to finish uploading.
I'll post a link here once it's available on YouTube.
I forgot to mention my thoughts about the remote in the video. I'm not thrilled with the remote control. There are two "joysticks" but this are both single axis levers. The robot would have been much more intuitive to drive if they had used a single joystick. As it is now, the right stick controls the steering and the left stick controls the forward and back speed. Both sticks provide good proportional control.
When the bot is in balancing mode, it doesn't stay still on its own. It kind of drifts forward and back a bit. The bot is certainly capable of balancing in one place but this requires a bit of user input to cancel the slight drifting motion the robot exhibits when left to its own devices.
I hope to figure out a good position to mount a camera to allow me to do some "tear down" type videos. I think it would be interesting to see the inside of the robot and I think it would be more fun for others to watch the bot being taken apart rather than just posting photos of the disassembled bot (my usual mode of operation).
Here's the video of the balancing/jumping bot in action.
IMO, the balancing feature of robot is at least as cool as the jumping feature.
BTW, the box in the video was used to ship the robot but the box in the video was the inner box. There was also a larger outer box. Both boxes where wrapped in yellow tape. I ordered two of the bots and they both arrived the same day but in separate boxes.
Comments
Erco, I dug through the box again and saw no electronics. The nodemcu isn'the such a big deal but it looks like there's a carrier board in the pictures that has some useful stuff on it. Yes, are far as the batteries are concerned, 'note' means 'not'...at least in my package.
Whit, still a nice kit. I've built a couple wheels and bolted the chassis together. It's a good sized 'bot to be driving through a figure 8!!
A DHB-10 should work great but so would one of these MC33926 boards.
To be honest, a $3 L298N could also be used as a h-bridge. The cheap L298N boards aren't very efficient but they do work. Here's a link to my attempt to make a tutorial about using these cheap h-bridges.
If you use a L298N, you might want to use a 12V battery to make up for the voltage drop across the L298N.
If you end up using a DHB-10, you'll probably need to swap the encoder power lines. The DHB-10 expects the pins to be ordered as they are on Parallax's motors.
The other one I like is the one I referenced at http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/comment/1375920/#Comment_1375920. It only comes in silver (my second choice) and I think it's taller and has a smaller footprint (less stable for rough terrain). But I like the shape better and two of three bogies on each side are spring-loaded, per this still from that video:
Not that I see myself ever running this thing anywhere except flat floors indoors.
True, I already have LOTS of robot chassis, with and without threads. Just got two of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Light-Damping-balance-Tank-Robot-Chassis-Platform-DIY-suspension-tank-/282046421632
Here's another interesting fellow for $38: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/RC-tank-car-chassis-crawler-Smart-Intelligent-Barrowload-robot-car-wheel-track-Integrated-motor-tires-for/32603436330.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.19.Y9gor4&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_0,searchweb201602_3_10017_10021_507_10022_10020_10009_10008_10018_10019_101,searchweb201603_2&btsid=b511592d-882c-4d22-858b-215c3871053a
I like the guy with suspension!
I thought I was going to be able to hold out and not purchase yet another robot chassis but this one is in my price range. I'm in for one two.
This same seller has lots of tank chassis sets.
Gotcha!
I placed my order for two of these "Bounce Cars" on May 13. Tuesday (June 7) I received an email letting me know these had just been shipped. Kind of odd.
I think they're being a bit optimistic with their shipping estimate "Estimated delivery Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - Thursday, Jun 9, 2016".
Today is the last day of their estimate so it should arrive today right?
Did any of you order these jumping bots? Have you received them yet?
Sorry, honestly.
I was initially a bit disappointed in the bot's jumping ability but I had started using the bot on carpet. The carpet absorbs too much of the jump energy to get much height but once I moved to the vinyl floor in the kitchen the jump behavior was much better.
This bot is much better than I had expected. Not only does it jump but it also balances!
One right shoulder button on the remote makes the robot go into its jump mode but the left shoulder button makes the robot balance with its tail in the air. The remote still works with the bot balancing. Very cool!
I'm glad I purchased two of these. I plan to leave one in its original state and hack the other one. I'm not sure what sort of things I'll want to change/add but I think this bot has a lot of potential.
Thanks for another winning suggestion erco!
These have a very cheap feel to them. I'm hopeful they'll work okay. I'm hoping to add a missile launcher to the tank.
I'm hoping an inexpensive h-bridge like the SN754410 will work with these motors.
Nice succinct response. Wait, was this from Rick or Ben Affleck?
I made a quick video of the robot in action. It's presently uploading to YouTube. I'm guessing it will take a couple hours for the high resolution file to finish uploading.
I'll post a link here once it's available on YouTube.
I forgot to mention my thoughts about the remote in the video. I'm not thrilled with the remote control. There are two "joysticks" but this are both single axis levers. The robot would have been much more intuitive to drive if they had used a single joystick. As it is now, the right stick controls the steering and the left stick controls the forward and back speed. Both sticks provide good proportional control.
When the bot is in balancing mode, it doesn't stay still on its own. It kind of drifts forward and back a bit. The bot is certainly capable of balancing in one place but this requires a bit of user input to cancel the slight drifting motion the robot exhibits when left to its own devices.
I hope to figure out a good position to mount a camera to allow me to do some "tear down" type videos. I think it would be interesting to see the inside of the robot and I think it would be more fun for others to watch the bot being taken apart rather than just posting photos of the disassembled bot (my usual mode of operation).
IMO, the balancing feature of robot is at least as cool as the jumping feature.
BTW, the box in the video was used to ship the robot but the box in the video was the inner box. There was also a larger outer box. Both boxes where wrapped in yellow tape. I ordered two of the bots and they both arrived the same day but in separate boxes.