Society of Robots - Robot Forum
Mechanics and Construction => Mechanics and Construction => Topic started by: krich on January 15, 2008, 01:59:24 AM
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Now that we've completed our first robotics project, I'm doing research on another robotics project that my daughter came up with. She wants to build a robotic rat for Halloween. That gives me 9 months of build time. Something that will scurry around under foot as trick or treaters walk up the driveway. My first reaction was "no way I'm putting a several hundred dollar robot out there with a bunch of kids". Well, the challenge of building such a thing has gotten the best of me and I've agreed to "look into it". Plus, the challenges I would be forced to solve will be useful in other areas.
The way I figure, is this thing has got to be FAST, or I have no doubt that it WILL get stomped on by the first teen who walks up to the door. If I can't make it fast, nothing else matters. I know I'll have to smooth the motor acceleration to limit wheel slippage and gear strippage and sensor speed will be an issue, but why worry about that when I haven't even found the motors yet?
So, motors first. I'm new to all this, so I read up on the Statics and Dynamics tutorials. Looking at the RMF calculator, I've begun to realize that this is much harder than I thought. I need this thing to go at least 3ft/s (~2mph), preferably in the 6-8ft/s range and with at least acceleration to full speed in 4 seconds, pref 2. I'm running into a problem where I need a bigger motor, creating more battery and motor weight, requiring a bigger motor, etc, etc. The small 6V motors I want to use are deficient in the RMF calculations by a factor of 10. Not even close. The 7.2V motors look alright, but I'm starting to worry about peak Amps, battery life and weight.
Here's a sample of what I am getting:
Mass: ~2lb, Velocity: 6ft/s, Acceleration: 3ft/s/s, Efficiency: 75%, Incline: 5deg, Wheel D: 3 in, Wheels: 2
That gives me an RMF of 7.37 @ 458RPMs. I'd rather just use gearhead motors since the gear reduction is already done. So, I'm looking for something about 450RPMs. I found this motor at Trossen 36:1, 24mm Planetary Gearmotor, RS-370 (http://www.trossenrobotics.com/store/p/5131-36-1-24mm-Planetary-Gearmotor-RS-370.aspx). That gives me a RMF of 7.92 @ 444RPMs. Does this sound about right?
That thing has a stall current of almost 10A. That rules out all of the H-Bridge ICs I was thinking of using (L293, L298, SN754410, LMD18201). Any suggestions?
Ken.
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well you would want it to go fast enough so the children cant catch it...why dont you put it on two motors with two little wheels underneath it then make a shell..i think moving feet would be very hard to make it go fast...
RAT
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Yep, 2 powered wheels, 3" diameter (or so). No way I'm building a walker that goes 8 ft/s. I wish I was that good, but I'm not.
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lol ive done things like this before i just put sensors in the eye holes and used the differential drive system.... worked quite well (scared the crap out of mum and friends) i tested it at my mothers dinner party ;D lol
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To make it fast just use larger wheel diameters
to control the motors use high powered MOSFETS w/ heatsinks or maybe buy a commercially made H bridge ( not IC)
question: What you want is a fast R/C car basically , in a rat disguise , rite? So just get a really fast R/C car , maybe a gas one??? And cover it with wood on the electronics or metal on the electronics ( so it shouldn't break if you step on it) , then put a rat disguise over the whole thing
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I just found this:
Sabertooth 2x5 Dual Regenerative Motor Controller (http://www.dimensionengineering.com/Sabertooth2X5.htm)
Some things it does that are perfect for what I need to do:
- Regenerative - while braking it uses the back current from the motor to charge the battery, more battery life
- Analog, R/C, Serial, Serial Packet interfaces - spit an analog value out of your MCU analog port to control speed/direction, no PWM hassles
- Exponential Response - response to inputs are exponential, use with 'bots that have high acceleration or top speeds.
- Ultrasonic switching - you can't hear it whine.
- Over-current protection - when a punk stomps on it and jams a wheel to stall point, it'll simply shut down rather than explode. (bonus!)
- Cheap - $60 plus $2.50 shipping. I can't beat that with my soldering skills.
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I can't see anything wrong with it. At all.
Ken.
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lol that looks cool but wont it be too big for a rat?
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To large? Its less than 2 inches square and weighs less than an ounce. Either way, I'm not going for a normal sized rat, I'm going for an R.U.S.
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for the motors use the motors from old cd players there small and go fast
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but they have no torque, id go with a 380 or 540 sized motor, probobly380 or youl draw too much power. then get a gear reduction unit. my current one is 10.84:1 and with a 30000 rpm motor (basic 540 size) I am getting up to 25mph
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25MPH? :o
Now that's what I'm talking about!
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krich what you are looking for is a gas r/c car , they go really fricken fast!
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naa go with nitro..now that id have!!
~smash
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nitro would eb harder to use.
get a profesional grade electric RC