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Offline Builder1Topic starter

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Autonomus Bot
« on: July 01, 2008, 04:54:40 PM »
Hi Everyone,
I'm new to robot building, in fact this would be my first attempt at building one. I am aware that there is a tutorial for this, but according to what I  can gather from reading about it, the tutorial does not show you how to build an autonomous robot. Suppose I want to build a robot that can go through a maze or a series of mazes. Would I be able to build such a robot with the knowledge gained through building a robot in the tutorial? I would like to also know how to hook up sensors to the robot and use signals that they produce in a program to help the robot navigate. Please help point me in the right directions, thank you in advance for your help.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2008, 06:37:49 PM by Builder1 »

Offline polar bear6

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2008, 05:07:04 PM »
lol good luck trying to make a maze solver in your first try, if you succeed in that i will cut of my balls and mail them too you.
make the 50$ first lol, its a good start, and yea im pretty sure it has sensors.

Offline BANE

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2008, 06:44:11 PM »
Quote
if you succeed in that i will cut of my balls and mail them too you.
make the 50$ first lol,

*choke, choke*

Builder1, make a maze solver and post it on you-tube, wait a day or two, then google BME Pain Olympics to watch him do it!   :D :D............... :o

No, please don't google that and first just build the $50 bot for now.

 

Offline Builder1Topic starter

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2008, 06:51:32 PM »
Hi Everyone,
I'm new to robot building, in fact this will be my first attempt at building one. I am aware that there is a tutorial for this, but according to what I  can gather from reading about it, the tutorial does not show you how to build an autonomous robot. Suppose I want to build a robot that can go through a maze or a series of mazes. Would I be able to build such a robot with the knowledge gained through building a robot in the tutorial? I would like to also know how to hook up sensors to the robot and use signals that they produce in a program to help the robot navigate. Please help point me in the right directions, thank you in advance for your help.

Offline BANE

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2008, 06:52:52 PM »

Offline Builder1Topic starter

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2008, 07:01:16 PM »
Hi Bane,
Thanx for the video. Do you know what sensor or sensors the maze solver uses for navigation? Also is there a book or web materials on how to hook up the hardware involved in making this robot? Thanks again for responding to my post.

Offline BANE

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2008, 07:13:43 PM »
If this is your first time ever dealing with robots and your wanting to build and program something that advanced then you need to learn things step by step.

And just to let you know......... I never built the $50 robot because i felt it was to simple and went ahead and bought this one.
http://www.lynxmotion.com/Product.aspx?productID=270&CategoryID=84  And a whole bunch of servos and sensors running about ~ $300.  Which was a little more than what i expected but i've been using this for the past year and a half.  But anyway, regardless of what you robot build, its a good idea to have the machanics layed out first.  I don't you about you, but i hate dealing with crapy parts and stuff (this includes cardboard and wood :D). 

Can you discribe what your going to build or are you like me and try to figure out what you have to work with and go from there ;)?

Bane

Offline BANE

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2008, 07:17:56 PM »
Oh, and to answer your original question.  Their probably using short range IR sensors and all the books that i have tried to study have been boring; to be honest, the best help you can probably help is right here ;).

Bane
« Last Edit: July 01, 2008, 07:18:40 PM by BANE »

Offline airman00

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2008, 07:22:10 PM »
learn how to use sensors with a mircoocontroller, how to drive motors ( or servos), and how to wire the sensors to the microcontroller. Then use logic to make an algorithm to solve a maze. It will be very difficult , mind you. But if you are dedicated , then go for it!
Check out the Roboduino, Arduino-compatible board!


Link: http://curiousinventor.com/kits/roboduino

www.Narobo.com

Offline Builder1Topic starter

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2008, 07:45:25 PM »
Thank you All for replying,
I have one more question before I start my project. I've noticed that most if not all of the robots I've seen on you tube used small electric motor/servo which really limits their applications. Are there larger servos that I can buy to put in a larger robot? What I am saying is if I am building a robot to patrol my property I would need a relatively large motor/servo in order to have the robot traverse different terrains that it may come across. I guess what I really want is a robot that can navigate out doors patrolling a piece of ground then return to base to report what it finds. Thanks for your opinions and advice, you've all been very helpful.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2008, 07:46:34 PM by Builder1 »

Offline BANE

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2008, 08:01:00 PM »
Quote
I would need a relatively large motor/servo in order to have the robot traverse different terrains that it may come across. I guess what I really want is a robot that can navigate out doors patrolling a piece of ground then return to base to report what it finds.
Having a robot drive on that kind of ground means you wouldn't be able to navigate and relie on the rotations of the servos or wheel encoders for your robots location.  Your going to have to quite a sophisticated bot to do what you just discribed.  Just a suggestion of a platform, hack a robot lawn mower, that way you know that it can handle the tarrian and can find it base.  Also, when you say "report what it finds" do you mean like whether it has seen someone?  If so, you could hook up a RF transmittion system or bluetooth to communitcate with your PC or house alarm. 

What your trying to do is really advanced and your going to need a big budget! ;)  I would strongly recommend hacking a robot lawn mower or something, maybe a off-road RC.

Bane

Offline airman00

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2008, 08:05:24 PM »
ahem wheelchair motors


my butler robot chives can patrol

and lucky for you the tutorial is almost finished ( its on the member tutorial page)
Check out the Roboduino, Arduino-compatible board!


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Offline BANE

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2008, 08:16:13 PM »
You gota post some movies of that airman00 then your done :D.

PS; poor laptop!  It looks a little worse than mine :D

Bane

Offline airman00

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2008, 08:56:04 PM »
You gota post some movies of that airman00 then your done :D.

PS; poor laptop!  It looks a little worse than mine :D

Bane

well I am basically done , I'm just optimizing code that I wrote a year ago and adding new stuff. This weekend there will definitely be video up! Check out the tutorial it has everything in it besides software and videos. A video I hope to take it me controlling Chives through my iPod touch, just gotta get someone to stand there and record me ......

suprisingly the laptop has not been damaged yet and runs very quickly ( I optimized Vista so that it takes very little resources)
Check out the Roboduino, Arduino-compatible board!


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Offline Builder1Topic starter

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2008, 09:15:36 PM »
Hi there Airman00,
Thank you so much for your suggestion. How much does the wheel chair motor cost and also what sensor or sensors are you using to help your bot navigate? I take it that you are running the programs on a laptop. Is there an alternative to a laptop? I can't wait to see your bot do what it was designed to do. I will definitely check out your tut when you're done.

Offline ALZ

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #15 on: July 02, 2008, 02:01:23 AM »
Just a little note Builder1. If you buy the wheelchair motors only buy the motors that come with wheels.  It is very hard to find 2nd hand wheels that fit the motor later.

http://robotics.scienceontheweb.net

Offline bens

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2008, 02:21:32 AM »
Hi Bane,
Thanx for the video. Do you know what sensor or sensors the maze solver uses for navigation? Also is there a book or web materials on how to hook up the hardware involved in making this robot? Thanks again for responding to my post.
The robot in that maze-solving video was my entry for a local robotics competition and my first stab at a maze solver.  It uses five QTR reflectance sensors, which can be purchased individually or as 8-sensor arrays that are ideal for line-following applications (the arrays can be optionally broken into a 6-sensor array and a 2-sensor array).

The robot itself is a Pololu 3pi robot that will go on sale in July.  It takes care of the mechanics and all of the key electronics for you, so all you need to worry about is programming the integrated ATmega168 microcontroller, making it a friendly introduction to embedded robotics programming for novices.  Sample maze-solving and line-following code will be available, as well as libraries for controlling/interacting with all of the onboard hardware (e.g. buzzer, LCD, pushbuttons, LEDs, motor drivers, and reflectance sensors).  It has a few free I/O lines, so you can add extra sensors/electronics as you get more comfortable with robotics, and there are provisions for adding a master controller board (e.g. Axon, Basic Stamp, Arduino, Orangutan, etc.) and custom electronics to a second level that controls the base via asynchronous serial (we intend to ship the base with a program that lets it act as a serially controlled slave).  There's a little more information about it in this thread, if you're interested:

http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=983

- Ben

Offline airman00

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2008, 09:50:42 AM »
Hi there Airman00,
Thank you so much for your suggestion. How much does the wheel chair motor cost and also what sensor or sensors are you using to help your bot navigate? I take it that you are running the programs on a laptop. Is there an alternative to a laptop? I can't wait to see your bot do what it was designed to do. I will definitely check out your tut when you're done.


motors cost from $50-100 used on ebay . Sonar sensors are good for navigation outdoors , Sharp IR sensors ( make sure it is Sharp brand) are acceptable outdoors if there isnt a lot of sun , and if you feel ambitious use computer vision. Microcontrollers are alternatives to laptops. I use laptop b/c I plan to put on mini projector on later and I want my robot to display movies on any wall.( i need a big hard drive , RAM , etc.) Also laptops provide me a ton of I/O , so I never have to worry about that
Check out the Roboduino, Arduino-compatible board!


Link: http://curiousinventor.com/kits/roboduino

www.Narobo.com

Offline airman00

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Re: Autonomus Bot
« Reply #18 on: July 02, 2008, 09:52:29 AM »
This might help you out:http://erobots.blogspot.com/2007/09/using-wheelchair-motors.html
Check out the Roboduino, Arduino-compatible board!


Link: http://curiousinventor.com/kits/roboduino

www.Narobo.com

 


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