Author Topic: $50 robot sort of  (Read 6779 times)

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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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$50 robot sort of
« on: July 15, 2009, 11:45:36 AM »
I decided to test my new board with my old $50 robot frame in the spirit of SOR.  It worked pretty well.

[youtube]h9S3PbvqyYg[/youtube]
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2009, 02:14:08 PM »
here is the same bot I just modified it with Sharp IR and sonar.

[youtube]pR6I-M-6Sac[/youtube]
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Offline SmAsH

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2009, 04:26:40 PM »
hah, nice!
just a question, how did you plug in your stuff? a shield? jumpers?
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2009, 05:29:44 PM »
here are some picks of the shield.  I used a single sided protoboard.  I soldered the board to board headers underneath.  I did this by placing the protoboart on a flat surface and then setting the headers in place.  This made a big enough gap for me to solder the header on.  I then soldered power bus headers on top of the board normally.  I essentially made a giant header board with power buses.  I also brought out the isp header because I program in avr studio almost exclusively now.
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Offline kpmcgurk

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2009, 07:09:23 AM »
looks great!!! this project gets better and better every time I look at it!
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Offline Tesla

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2009, 10:01:23 PM »
Cool.. why not just have a male connector on your board?

Tesla
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2009, 11:12:47 PM »
Quote from: Tesla on July 16, 2009, 10:01:23 PM
Cool.. why not just have a male connector on your board?

Tesla

Do you mean headers/power buses? That would be huge.  This board has 86 io pins I would have had to increase the size of the board about an inch in x and y.  The routing would have been much more complicated too.  My setup allows for more versatility because I can custom make a cheap shield for my application.
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Offline Tesla

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2009, 11:24:36 PM »
Sorry.. not worded good.. I mean connector headers like on the Axon.  Male instead of Female.  Is there an easy to solder socket that the mcu can plug into?  That might make assembling a little easier for you.

Tesla
« Last Edit: July 16, 2009, 11:34:07 PM by Tesla »
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2009, 11:36:30 PM »
there are schmartz (I think thats what their called) but they are also very large and expensive.  It would also be difficult to add a shield with the mcu that high.  You would need special connectors.  That kind of setup could boost the price $15 easy.
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2009, 11:46:32 PM »
The main problem here, like others have said Admin included, is that in order to release a product, like this one, you have to put a TON of money into it.  Its a huge gamble.  From what I've discovered I would have to be able and willing to drop thousands of dollars to even hope for a profit.  Manufacturing costs ~$25  per board in quantities of 50, and the parts to buil;d the board are ~$20. Then you add shipping and upfront business expenses and you realize that with 50 boards made you will not even profit if you sell them all.  I would have to make a ton of boards to keep costs down, and this would cost more money than I have.  So there really isn't much I can do at this point.  I wish there was.
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Offline Tesla

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2009, 11:56:31 PM »
This may be a stupid question.. why do you need a shield?  Does the mcu produce RF?

Tesla
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Offline SmAsH

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2009, 12:02:39 AM »
Quote from: Tesla on July 16, 2009, 11:56:31 PM
This may be a stupid question.. why do you need a shield?  Does the mcu produce RF?

Tesla
you don't know how hard i just laughed! a shield isn't what it sounds like, its like an add on for the board...
like a bluetooth shield would enable to board to use bluetooth...
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Offline Tesla

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2009, 12:10:11 AM »
ah gotcha.. glad I gave ya a good laugh.
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Offline SmAsH

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2009, 12:12:57 AM »
Quote from: Tesla on July 17, 2009, 12:10:11 AM
ah gotcha.. glad I gave ya a good laugh.
lol, thanks... google around for arduino shields to get an idea... most of the time they plug into the board.
like so
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Offline Joker94

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #14 on: July 21, 2009, 06:12:05 AM »
nice job intergrating your new board to your $50 chassi ;D

it looks like the castor on the back is getting stuck, not a good thing.It can doudle the stress on your robot and the servos and the batteries. that happened to me and i halfed my battery life ,Some oil fixed tht in a flash. And not to mention the mess that the rubber left on the floor.

but overall nice job ;D :o ;D
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Offline sonictjTopic starter

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Re: $50 robot sort of
« Reply #15 on: July 21, 2009, 10:18:05 AM »
Quote from: Joker94 on July 21, 2009, 06:12:05 AM
it looks like the castor on the back is getting stuck,

I think that the robot was just front heavy so the caster didn't always follow.  At this point though I've gone on to build a brand new chassis.  This one is like Admin's Taurus 2 but with three wheels instead of four.  I'll probably post pics soon.
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