Author Topic: Newbie need advises on building simple robot  (Read 2777 times)

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Offline ZiggyTopic starter

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Newbie need advises on building simple robot
« on: May 13, 2014, 01:06:04 AM »
I want to build a simple and small robot with dimension less than 20x20x20cm that can play table tennis. My idea is that using 3 servo motors, 2 servo for the wheels that can rotate independently ( able to steer left and right ) and 1 servo motor to rotate the pad(racket) to shoot the ball back.  But i have no idea where to start with the electronic components.. Is there any microcontroller+ servo + controller that come in a set in the market ? Could anyone suggest me a better and simpler way of building it ? Thanks
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Offline venturemfg

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Re: Newbie need advises on building simple robot
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2014, 05:55:31 AM »
You can find a lots of the combination. You require a proper control while connecting servo motor directly from the Arduino. Also use Arduino servo library while implementing the software.
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Offline jwatte

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Re: Newbie need advises on building simple robot
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2014, 10:14:16 AM »
I see two main challenges with that:

1) Sufficient torque to actually control a racket. Torque is weight times distance from rotation to center of gravity, make sure you run the math on this!

2) Sufficient CPU power to run image detection to find the ball coming in. A microcontroller isn't going to cut it unassisted. A single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black might. You'd also need a webcam or camera of some sort.
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Offline ZiggyTopic starter

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Re: Newbie need advises on building simple robot
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2014, 08:59:54 PM »
Quote from: venturemfg on May 13, 2014, 05:55:31 AM
You can find a lots of the combination. You require a proper control while connecting servo motor directly from the Arduino. Also use Arduino servo library while implementing the software.

Should i buy Arduino microcontroller, and then connect the servo motor to it, then programme it? my friends have a arduino guidebook and i guess it could help me in programming by just entering the code provided.

How about the controller? My robot must be flexible, it can move in 4 direction + rotating the small racket.
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Offline ZiggyTopic starter

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Re: Newbie need advises on building simple robot
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2014, 09:02:11 PM »
Quote from: jwatte on May 13, 2014, 10:14:16 AM
I see two main challenges with that:

1) Sufficient torque to actually control a racket. Torque is weight times distance from rotation to center of gravity, make sure you run the math on this!

2) Sufficient CPU power to run image detection to find the ball coming in. A microcontroller isn't going to cut it unassisted. A single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black might. You'd also need a webcam or camera of some sort.

1) Thanks for the reminder :)

2)I dont think im attaching a camera on it, because it costs more, and too complicated to build it for me. MY robot design is just moving in 4 direction and rotate the small racket to bounce the ball. This will be my first robot :)
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Offline jwatte

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Re: Newbie need advises on building simple robot
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2014, 12:50:59 PM »
How would it know where to move the racket to hit the ball?

Anyway, you will need one two-channel motor controller, and two motors, and two main wheels, plus some kind of caster wheel, for the simplest kind of moving robot. (It's possible to modify basic RC servos to be "continuous rotation" but I wouldn't personally recommend it -- the $50 robot does this, though.)
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