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Sloth Robot — Parallax Forums

Sloth Robot

ercoerco Posts: 20,257
in Robotics
Looks like a neat 4-servo kit, too bad they don't sell it without Arduino.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZH8LZS

711-M6aVKfL._SL1500_.jpg

Appears to be an open source Cubee:

Comments

  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    The "Arduino" they use is their own clone, and probably only adds $4 to the price anyway. You could get the full kit and put whatever processor you wanted on it, and not lose a great deal.

    Being STEM in all, having a complete ready-to-go kit is important. So I can understand their bundling everything together. It's a nice looking robot, even with the absolutely gargantuan caps on their servo board. I mean, they're HUGE!
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    I had to find a video to see it walking. That is hilarious.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    GordonMcComb wrote: »
    The "Arduino" they use is their own clone, and probably only adds $4 to the price anyway. You could get the full kit and put whatever processor you wanted on it, and not lose a great deal.

    True, but why buy the cow kit when you can get the milk finished item for free less?

    $35 Cubee https://www.gearbest.com/rc-robot/pp_1257078.html?wid=1433363

  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    Apples and Snickers. One is a toy and the other is a kit one can (hopefully) learn from. If you just want to play, then of course get the cheaper ready-made.

    I'm told some people still knit sweaters, even though they can buy them for $20 at Walmart.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    Touché.

    Suddenly I have an urge to eat apples and Snickers in my dingy blue cardigan.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2018-05-13 15:51
    I once proposed a book, "The Great American Snickers Diet," a tongue-in-cheek cookbook centered around Snickers and Milky Way bars that was more about the problems of poor nutrition in cheap food than a recipe book. Mars wouldn't give me rights to use their trademarks in connection with it. Can't imagine why...

    Back to sloths. I'm usually not interested in these simplistic waddling platforms as a teaching tool for robots (hard to hang more stuff off it), but this one has a particular attraction to it. I might get one to tinker.
  • GenetixGenetix Posts: 1,754
    It kinda reminds me of Wall-E without the box body.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    edited 2018-05-14 02:33
    It does look like fun! And looking online, Amazon's $60 price is the cheapest.



    Do NOT be distracted by "Joy to the World" at 3:16.

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    edited 2018-05-14 02:54
    "Sunfounder" makes this Sloth kit. Surfing around Youtube I found a video on another Sunfounder product, a RasPi video car. The Chinese guy is unusually funny. Worth watching the first minute IMO.

    "Sit down and take your socks off."

    "Thank God you don't need a Linux VM anymore."

    "It didn't work. Bummer."

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    Another 4-servo robot, "Gutsy". A worthy effort, but I think Sloth would take him in a cage match.

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    Get this Sloth-Bot kit for $42 if you order directly from https://www.sunfounder.com/diy-4-dof-robot-kit.html . When you create an account, they email you a 30% discount code. Free ship, plus they take Paypal. You know I ordered one.

    Gordon? Can you hear me now? Whit? Jon? Anybody else?

    You must be logged in for your coupon code to work, BTW.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    It was mentioned on another forum that there's a whole website to 3D print and build your own robot just like this:

    https://www.ottodiy.com/

    Looks worth checking out!
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    I like the carrier shield for the Arduino Nano. Makes connecting stuff easy. I just wish they didn't ONLY do a walking robot. I scanned the Web page and doesn't look like they have an alternative to the bipedal. Granted, it's static balance, but there's still a limit to what you can hang off a walking robot without running into issues.

    A rolling robot isn't as "cool" to start but you can do more customizing with it. It seems to me their printed parts model would allow easy conversion to other styles of robots that would allow a whole new set of robotics experimentation.

    In all, though, it's a nice platform and their Web site is well done.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    @"Ken Gracey" : I can't help but think that Parallax could sell a bunch of these using the FLIP module. You could sell a complete kit, and/or a kit without the 3D printed parts. A wim-wim!

    Wim with Jim! Obscure "Cheers" reference.
  • Mark_TMark_T Posts: 1,981
    A slothbot that can't climb trees is very disappointing... I found this tree-climber though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUZzhRXEfm4
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    Like!
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