life after $50 robot

[pomprocker]

So i've done the $50 robot with all the upgrades, made a really cool chassis, and am familar with coding.

Now what?

I seem to be at a loss for what to do next.

I would like to add robot arms and robot vision to it, but that seems to be way above my abilities?

Its like i'm ready for more, but still require spoon-fed tutorials.

[airman00]

pick a dream robot and tell us wat it is. We will tell you how to do it .

[bukowski]

Do like im doing - -
pick something that would be a cool project upgrade for the $50 bot board, and document it so you can share! Mine may or may not have something to do with something that balances with no other sensors than something that resembles two rangefinders. 

[Webbot]

Another good way to advance your own electronics knowledge is to add extra inputs and outputs and to try and figure out how to do this.

eg you could add some microswitches at the front of the robot in case it runs into a chair leg, or a microphone to detect sound (make a sound follower/avoider).

Easy outputs are things like buzzers to notify you of something (eg in conjunction with a voltage/current sensor to say the battery is getting low). Hmmm- then how do you get the robot microphone to ignore the noizes from its own buzzer? Over to you to tell us how you did it!

It may be more to do with electronics rather than robotics but I used what I've learned just recently. We live in the middle of nowhere and have a problem with Crows/Rooks knocking on the windows at 7am every morning (apparently a common problem if you look on the web). The birds are very territorial and in the morning, when it is light outside but dark in the house, the windows act as mirrors so they see themselves as another 'threatening' bird - so smack the window! Hmmm - microphone with background noise canceling, linked up to a bright light, and wheels maybe to move the light back and forward - that should scare them off and break their habit.

This may make you think 'so what - it still has elementary controls' but the extra experience helps to round out knowledge for the future. The leap from the $50 robot to arms, vision etc is very big and so intermediate steps are always useful - especially if you have to design and build them yourself.

If you want to make an arm then we did one at University back in 1982 that could pick up a lead weight or an uncooked egg without breaking it. It didn't have elbows, shoulders etc it could just close a jaw and go up and down. But whoah did we learn a lot !! But you do need the right machine tools to make your parts which pushes up the total price.

Bit of a rambling reply, sorry  !!

[AndrewM]

Now what?

Build $50 robot
Something
Profit

----

Pick the thing that was either the most difficult, most troublesome, or just most annoying about the $50 robot and redo it better.  For instance, if you thought it was a bother to design a good solid chassis, so instead went with the chopstick & duct tape method, go back and design the best chassis you can imagine.

[bens]

go back and design the best chassis you can imagine.

Cardboard and hot glue?  Man, I really gotta work on my imagination.

[benji]

i think you should now do a robot with a capability ,,like precise motion,,mapping,,legged robot,,or vision

[Admin]

So i've done the $50 robot with all the upgrades, made a really cool chassis, and am familar with coding.

Now what?

make a video and show the rest of us


There are many more upgrades you can do. Try sonar. Add arms to it. Swap to DC motors for the wheels. Have it find it's way through a maze. Making your imagination come true is what robotics is all about

[pomprocker]

I would love to add arms to it, but reading your tutorial on arms and I find myself at a loss. There needs to be a better segway into that advanced topic.


Also, I did buy a Ping Ultrasonic sensor (because I found it at a local store and didn't have to pay for shipping)


I haven't had time to play with it, but I do plan on adding it. It seems from reading your tutorial on sonar, its not just a simple swap out with the servo scanning sharp IR.

[ALZ]

Making an arm is not hard. Just think outside the box a little. See my robot's arm at:
http://robotics.scienceontheweb.net/

I would love to add arms to it, but reading your tutorial on arms and I find myself at a loss. There needs to be a better segway into that advanced topic.


Also, I did buy a Ping Ultrasonic sensor (because I found it at a local store and didn't have to pay for shipping)


I haven't had time to play with it, but I do plan on adding it. It seems from reading your tutorial on sonar, its not just a simple swap out with the servo scanning sharp IR.

[pomprocker]

I guess what I want to be able to do is have the knowledge to engineer a robotic arm that works with a specific chassis I am using. To know how it would affect the balance and all that mathematical stuff.