Author Topic: Community project? (Read 2203 times)

jakx12 · « **on:** May 28, 2009, 06:04:26 AM »

Ok so this has been posted on sor before: http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=2765.0

I was just thinking about what would be a good way to get everyone involved and have a robot built. So i came up with the idea of building a colony of like swarm bots. Basically we can pre-determine size etc and they can communicate via ir. Perhaps they could have a specific task like move things etc.
Its just an idea

jakx12

SmAsH · « **Reply #1 on:** May 28, 2009, 06:07:19 AM »

by "a colony" how many do you mean? 10? 100? 1000?
communicating over ir can get a bit confusing because of ambient light and telling who they are communicating to...
what do you think they would do?

Ro-Bot-X · « **Reply #2 on:** May 28, 2009, 06:33:12 AM »

Quote from: SmAsH on May 28, 2009, 06:07:19 AM

communicating over ir can get a bit confusing because of ambient light and telling who they are communicating to...

You're wrong. Is your TV remote working when the room is full of sun? Yes it does. There is no interference from lighting conditions. Using a regular 38kHz sensor and a IR LED is all they need to communicate. They can be connected to the UART and you can "tap in" to see on the PC what they're talking...

Some time ago I wanted to build a robot ant farm, totally self sustained. 2 teams of 3-5 robots in an enclosed environment. The robots will go to the charging station (at the back of their base) and charge from the solar panels, then roam around picking up small cubes of foam and bring them to the base to build up the protection wall. The cubes would be in the center of the environment with a flag on top. The goal is to get the flag to their base and guard it against the adversary team. The teams would use different IR frequences, like 32kHz and 56kHz so they don't interfere too much with each other, but they would both speak the same 40kHz language if needed.

SmAsH · « **Reply #3 on:** May 28, 2009, 06:37:25 AM »

my bad, always getting uv and ir confused!
i can understand why you would want to do that, it would be so awesome to have competing teams...
and you could watch from above!

Asellith · « **Reply #4 on:** May 28, 2009, 06:56:14 AM »

A robotics ant farm? Thats a really cool idea. Now if you could make a queen ant that could reproduce the worker ants from nothing but solar power and scrap material introduced into the environment then that would be really cool

hehe or maybe a hacking robot that could capture other robots and convert them from the other team.

jakx12 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 28, 2009, 08:57:52 AM »

yh that would be awesome. Perhaps there could be some sort of thing were people who live close to eachother work together and do something like that...or we could do the swarm thing, send them all to someone watch them work etc and then get them sent back?

SmAsH · « **Reply #6 on:** May 28, 2009, 03:36:19 PM »

Quote from: Asellith on May 28, 2009, 06:56:14 AM

A robotics ant farm? Thats a really cool idea. Now if you could make a queen ant that could reproduce the worker ants from nothing but solar power and scrap material introduced into the environment then that would be really cool hehe or maybe a hacking robot that could capture other robots and convert them from the other team.

being able to convert enemies would be awesome to the max!

Ro-Bot-X · « **Reply #7 on:** May 28, 2009, 04:55:39 PM »

Quote from: SmAsH on May 28, 2009, 03:36:19 PM

being able to convert enemies would be awesome to the max!

But what are they gonna do after all robots are converted to the other team?

Ok, here's another thought I had: the ants bring the cubes to the base, the queen builds up the wall. Any robot that aproches the queen is asked a password, if the robot doesn't answer, the queen zaps it with a power command and converts that robot to it's own team.

Now the robots should be built exactly the same. They would have a bicolor LED that would turn eighter Green or Red, depending what queen belongs to. Depending on what color is selected, it will leasten to the proper IR message numbers. The robots should have a claw that can grab and lift a bit a cube so it's not dragging. The queen would be just a bit taller and capable of lifting the cubes to build 2 or 3 cubes tall wall. All robots should have some sensors to detect obstacles and cubes. All robots should be manufactured using cheap components so each doesn't go over $30.

jakx12 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 28, 2009, 05:02:33 PM »

brilliant idea, sadly thought the micro-controller i use and the mother board equates to about 60$

. So ill think of another way to build mine if it ever gets done

Ro-Bot-X · « **Reply #9 on:** May 28, 2009, 05:08:12 PM »

The most expensive parts are the motors. If cheap servos are used (around $5 each), a mega8 or 168 and the rest of the parts don't go over $20. So I think is doable. I'll do some research and come up with a solution if needed.

jakx12 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 28, 2009, 05:15:52 PM »

or perhaps there may not need to be a set cost etc as different people use different systems. So perhaps the universal variable could be they have to be 'this size', need to be able to understand 'these' ir wavelengths, and be able to complete 'these' tasks.

But like how will get them to be all together as im like from the uk, lots of people are from all over the world.

SmAsH · « **Reply #11 on:** May 29, 2009, 02:13:16 AM »

if they're that small shipping shouldn't be too bad...
does the uk have import charges?

jakx12 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 29, 2009, 03:20:39 AM »

im not sure, i think so.

SmAsH · « **Reply #13 on:** May 29, 2009, 03:57:40 AM »

i thought the uk had them as there have been a few people in here complaining about it...
that must suck... in australia we have none

jakx12 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 29, 2009, 05:37:05 AM »

lucky

. But would that mean that we like send them to you, perhaps with money in the package so you can send them back eventually. Im only saying this if anything actually happens.

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