Author Topic: Meet Remi (Read 22116 times)

Sam_Charette · « **on:** March 11, 2007, 02:21:53 PM »

Ok, so I've finally took some pictures and a video of the robot I built and mentioned in the Woot topic, so here they are. Say hello to Remi!

He's a simple little thing, with the body of a removable hard drive enclosure, that, when tethered to his controller there, scoots around the floor. The wiring for him is pretty simple, as shown here:

It's just the two motors hooked up to an RJ45 jack that then goes to the controller. The batteries are on the base, of course, as the box for the controller was barely big enough for the switches and electronics for it.

Here's the bottom of him. As you can see he's not really set up right for the whole center of gravity thing, and as such when he moves his motors don't always have the torque to get him going. I did what I could, as he's powered by 8 AA batteries, and I wanted to keep the drilling to a minimum, and still be able to close the top.

Here's a closeup on the wheel. You'll notice some green stuff on it where the motor connects. This is actually a modelling putty that is pretty easy to work with and gets pretty hard after it sits a while. I didn't have the luxury of having motors and wheels that really fit each other, nor did I have anything that would connect the two better, so I used this stuff. The wheels aren't 100% aligned as a result, but they work fine. For the purposes of playing around, it's perfect.

And finally, a picture of Remi hooked up. Notice the working and very not-fried LED there. Thanks to this place, I was able to stop my murderous LED killing rampage and put one on there in a way to keep it safe

For those of you who want a small, but unfortunately hi-rez video, you can get it here. It's about 24 megs, and not very long at all.

So that's him. My first robot. My girlfriend helped me out with some of the things, like in making a makeshift battery clip which works like a charm (until we put the caster on to replace the wooden dowel, as now one of the screws is in the battery area). It seems as though she's interested in helping me out with this stuff, which is great. One more thing that we can do together

Woot!

trigger · « **Reply #1 on:** March 11, 2007, 04:46:15 PM »

Contrats! But the links are all broken for some reason.

JesseWelling · « **Reply #2 on:** March 11, 2007, 05:06:14 PM »

same here.....

Somchaya · « **Reply #3 on:** March 11, 2007, 05:31:02 PM »

Oh.. instead of http://robots.rowldwidesam.net/remi/remi1.JPG it's http://robots.worldwidesam.net/remi/remi1.JPG and the same for the other links =)

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #4 on:** March 11, 2007, 05:39:29 PM »

DUH!

I was wondering why none of the image links were showing anything, so I just made them URLs. I guess I was too tired to check the URL properly.

All fixed now.

ed1380 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 11, 2007, 06:48:40 PM »

Congrats.
i'm hoping to make make my first robot soon too.
is it posible to take a picture of inside the controler?
You're lucky finding a GF who likes stuff like this.
The link to the video doesn't work.

trigger · « **Reply #6 on:** March 11, 2007, 06:48:50 PM »

I like the chassis. It's pretty creative.

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #7 on:** March 12, 2007, 05:42:59 AM »

Ugh, I can't believe I messed up all my links

Ok, the video should work now.

As for the controller, sure. I'll try to do that tonight. I didn't do it at first because, well, I did a poor job on it, but I will do it anyway.

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #8 on:** March 12, 2007, 08:54:10 PM »

Ok, here they are. The first is a basic view of the controller. It's very simple, as you can see. It's just two DPDT auto-center switches to control the left and right sides, an RJ45 jack, an LED and a LED-saving resistor

This next one just shows from the other side, where the RJ45 jack is.

And finally my wiring. I'm not happy with it at all, but it works. And don't try to use the wire colours as instructions. In my trial and error, they moved around a lot, and don't really represent what they are

ed1380 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 13, 2007, 05:44:54 AM »

so the power from the batteries goes through the cat5 cable to the controller where the switches controll it, and from there to the motors

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #10 on:** March 13, 2007, 05:53:07 AM »

Yup. Not terribly efficient, I'm sure, as not only is it going such a long way, but the batteries weigh down Remi too. Unfortunately, there just wasn't any room in the controller for them.

ed1380 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 13, 2007, 03:17:20 PM »

I thought it was an awesome idea

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #12 on:** March 13, 2007, 05:19:25 PM »

Well it certainly worked out for what I had available

sotu · « **Reply #13 on:** April 05, 2007, 09:13:45 AM »

Soon im posting pictures of my first robot on web, all tho its not wireless.

ed1380 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 05, 2007, 12:56:31 PM »

Quote from: sotu on April 05, 2007, 09:13:45 AM

Soon im posting pictures of my first robot on web, all tho its not wireless.

The reason I gave you the link to this arcticle is so that you can look at the way Sam did it, and maybe ask him

sotu · « **Reply #15 on:** April 05, 2007, 01:46:16 PM »

allright..

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #16 on:** April 05, 2007, 03:00:36 PM »

There's nothing wrong with it not being wireless. Just remember, there's always room in version 2

sotu · « **Reply #17 on:** April 06, 2007, 03:13:23 AM »

1 Question: The card u have plugged the battery and reciever to does it mather where u plug the wires or can u plug them wherever on the card as long as they fit?

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #18 on:** April 06, 2007, 08:25:04 AM »

Anywhere you like. I put the card together myself, so if you need it to fit differently, then you can put it together any way you like.

sotu · « **Reply #19 on:** April 06, 2007, 11:15:44 AM »

But om not really following here, in the robot controller wired or wireless? couse in one of the photos its wired and in another its wireless..! And is the card a normal electronic card used in many things like example robots but with not all the wires all over?

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #20 on:** April 06, 2007, 11:34:13 AM »

The controller must be connected to the robot in order for it to work. It is connected via a cat5 cable. The only reason why it wasn't connected in the first one is because there is no on/off switch, and I didn't want to drain the batteries while I was taking pictures

The card is just a regular breadboard that you can get from radio shack. I made all of the connections myself.

sotu · « **Reply #21 on:** April 06, 2007, 02:57:17 PM »

Ahh so im not the only robotic here not making wireless robots..

But the green thing who holds the wheel and the rotating pin together is that like gum looking/likely stuff? and its easy to shape? I have something looking like that but when i tryed to put it on the pin and then put on the wheel the rotating pin shaped the "Gum" if i can call it that. And in a while it the "Gum" was so thin the wheel slipped right off it. How do u make it so hard it hold the wheel on long? I have glued it on and now its stuck (Thats positive tho...

)

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #22 on:** April 06, 2007, 03:03:35 PM »

The stuff I used is a modelling clay from Games Workshop. It comes in two strips, one yellow and one blue. You squish them together like puddy, and they turn green. At that point, if left for an evening, the green stuff turns pretty hard. It's not totally solid, as you can still dent it and such, but it's hard enough to keep the wheels on.

Glue is often better, though. If you your motor and wheels are a snug enough fit, you'll get better results with the glue every time.

Hal9000 · « **Reply #23 on:** April 07, 2007, 04:25:36 AM »

Quote from: sotu on April 06, 2007, 02:57:17 PM

Ahh so im not the only robotic here not making wireless robots.. But the green thing who holds the wheel and the rotating pin together is that like gum looking/likely stuff? and its easy to shape? I have something looking like that but when i tryed to put it on the pin and then put on the wheel the rotating pin shaped the "Gum" if i can call it that. And in a while it the "Gum" was so thin the wheel slipped right off it. How do u make it so hard it hold the wheel on long? I have glued it on and now its stuck (Thats positive tho...)

No no, the robot is always wired.

sotu · « **Reply #24 on:** April 07, 2007, 08:34:37 AM »

I think between the control and the robot reciever. But if that's what u had in mind to i gess im not sucha noob here anyway..

Hal9000 · « **Reply #25 on:** April 07, 2007, 11:20:13 AM »

I dont think there is such a noob thing with robotics. It doesnt really matter, as long as your making robots.

People are good at different things etc etc.

Very possibly, robotics is the new graffiti........who knows?

sotu · « **Reply #26 on:** April 07, 2007, 11:25:59 AM »

Yeah but when i got here i dident really feel like home if u know what i mean? Everybody sounded so pro when they postet notes!

Hal9000 · « **Reply #27 on:** April 07, 2007, 11:54:42 AM »

There's quite a mix, which is good......................unless people ask stuff like what is the difefrence between a servo and a motor, without typing it in google first.

gamefreak · « **Reply #28 on:** April 08, 2007, 11:11:33 AM »

is this technically a robot? a robot has the ability to sense its enviroment and react with it, your creation seems to be more like a remote control car

according to wikipedia, a robot must have these:
Can sense its environment.
Can manipulate things in its environment.
Has some degree of intelligence, or ability to make choices based on the environment, or automatic control / preprogrammed sequence.
Is programmable.
Can move with one or more axes of rotation or translation.
Can make dexterous coordinated movements.

Sam_Charette · « **Reply #29 on:** April 08, 2007, 12:31:58 PM »

There are really two camps for defining what a robot is.

On the one hand, there is the camp that believes that a robot is something that has at least some autonomy, and reacts to the environment as you say.

On the other, there is the camp that has a broader definition of what a robot is to include things like Remi. This is why you get shows like "Robot Wars", "Battle Bots", etc. Even Grant Imahara from Mythbusters calls his remote controled monster a robot.

The former is the more technical (and technically accurate) definition, whereas the latter is the more accepted definition. It's sort of like how everyone pronounces Gigabyte with a hard G, when in actuality it's a soft G. Though it may be technically wrong, it is the accepted pronunciation of the word.

As for Wikipedia, I've never seen it to have much credibility due to how it operates. I prefer dictionary definitions, even though they sometimes differ too.

That said, the American Heritage Dictionary defines robot as the following:

Quote

1. A mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks on command or by being programmed in advance.
2. A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.
3. A person who works mechanically without original thought, especially one who responds automatically to the commands of others.

#2 is the applicable definition here. This robot, like any robot you'd see in those popular robot battle TV shows, is a robot by that definition.

Personally, it's barely a robot to me, but it's close enough that it's easier to call it a robot than to explain it as something else. To fuss over wether it is or not seems rather pedantic to me.

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Author Topic: Meet Remi (Read 22116 times)