Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Mechanics and Construction => Mechanics and Construction => Topic started by: awally88 on September 11, 2007, 07:13:00 AM

Title: Quality of iRobot
Post by: awally88 on September 11, 2007, 07:13:00 AM

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone has comments on the iRobot www.irobot.com (http://www.irobot.com).

Admin, I've heard you mentioning it a few times (generally in frustration) but I was wondering if it has grown on you or if its still just a pretty little hunk of white plastic. I saw the mapping video which was done with it and thought it looked really cool!

Has anyone else had any experience with this? Good/bad? Any feedback would be nice!

Thanks,
Awally88

Title: Re: Quality of iRobot
Post by: Admin on September 11, 2007, 08:23:44 AM

Its basically the $50 robot with a robot vacuum chassis :P
It uses the same microcontroller . . .

One nice thing I like about it is that it handles encoders for you. Encoders are pretty hard to get right, so it was nice that I didnt have to worry too much about them . . . It also has a built in programmer so you dont need to buy one of those. But the encoders mechanically were badly designed. They geared the encoders up to give a much higher resolution, but used a stretchable rubber belt which caused errors during acceleration/deceleration . . . I hope as I get better at robot mapping that I could rely less on the encoders . . .

If you really like mapping, you can just put encoders on the $50 robot and use almost exactly the same code I wrote for the Create. But you'd need to write encoder code . . .
http://www.nubotics.com/products/ww01/index.html

Usually when I grumble about a product, it is because of lack of good customer support/documentation, or a product with obvious flaws . . . :P

On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 is best), I'd give the Create a 3.5 :P

Title: Re: Quality of iRobot
Post by: Rebelgium on September 11, 2007, 11:53:42 AM

I was just thinking of posting a topic just like this one :)
So thanks for the reply admin, and I liked your newest video too.

Title: Re: Quality of iRobot
Post by: awally88 on September 11, 2007, 10:04:43 PM

Did you buy the optional expansion kit things that came with it admin? or do you think they are just a waste of money?  I'm thinking about getting one of these after i build a few of my own robots.

thanks,
Awally88

Title: Re: Quality of iRobot
Post by: Admin on September 12, 2007, 04:54:14 AM

I didnt pay for any of it, got it for free . . . as a mechE I would otherwise build my own custom chassis :P

I got the command module and batteries with it (if I remember right, those are extras).

I think if you got a beacon with it that would be fun. If you wear the beacon, the Create will follow you . . .