Mechatron, Industrial Looking Security Bot

This little beast is named Mechatron. Built by a father/daughter team called Beatty Robotics, the goal was to build something “retro-futuristic, tough, and industrial”. We think they definitely pulled off some of their goals here. Weighing in at nearly 50 pounds, Mechatron is still very agile, as you can see in the video below. He can fire his gun, which uses brass or plastic bullets, at a rate of nearly 1,000 rounds per minute while traveling in any direction thanks to the use of the mechanum wheels. 8 range finding sonar sensors, a laser and a turret that rotates 360 degrees will make sure you don’t elude Mechatron’s watchful eye… and shooting. While we were initially debating how they could make the Mechatron look more reto-futuristic, we all agreed that the lights in the video helped a lot. Maybe a curvy body piece could help too, depending on what era they were hoping to achieve.

[via buildlounge]

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/28464141%5D

27 thoughts on “Mechatron, Industrial Looking Security Bot

  1. This is so, cool! I really want one to guard my appartment while I’m gone… would definitely be super-effective against robbers!

    Now, one little concern: if you live in an appartment, your downstairs neighbours will hate you for having this roam on the wooden floor… it make a hell of a noise!

  2. Ok, the sonar sensors and omni wheels are impressive. So are the maneuvering patterns, like strafing in a circle. If they slave this thing to a remote “brain” they could really get into some interesting AI experiments. Or Swarm logic if they build anymore.

  3. Bad. Ass. Two things I really like about this. The fact that it is a father/daughter team is really cool because we definitely need more women in engineering. Second, those wheels are really cool and already got me thinking…

    1. We use them on carpet day in and day out without issues. Now for a particle surface I would believe that the strafe functionality of the wheels would be null. The way the strafing works is by rotating the front wheels the opposing direction of the rear wheels. A particle surface would just get pushed out of the way (like a car stuck in sand) and would dig down.

      Now if you redesigned the wheels with a hard material with diagonal groves instead of rollers then you could in theory travel in the particle or even a moderately deformable surface (like a high pile carpet) with less dig and more slide.

      @All who don’t know the wheels are Mecanum design. With proper controls you can move in 3 degrees of freedom on a surface (Forward/Backward Rotate and Left/Right). They are great for mobility but no so much for pushing power. If you try to push something the rollers will .. well roll reducing your max forward force to that of the friction of the individual rollers on their carrier. That being said you could adjust the friction of each of the rollers but then you loose power strafing.

  4. “reto-futuristic”? fins on the rear fenders, especially the 58-59-60-61 Chevy variety front because most forget about those,front bumper with “boobies”, nose cone in the center of the grill. 57 Chevy hood ornaments. I guess any auto styling element from 1950-1961 could be put to use. A 59 Caddy in it’s entirety would be far out, but so much work.

  5. I have used mecannum wheels on a ~200lb chassis outdoors and with enough torque you can strafe on nearly any surface.
    We used andymark wheels (looks like that might be what this robot has as well): http://www.andymark.com/category-s/98.htm

    Strafing on grass drew 150A 26V though.

    I hope to make my own wheels using sealed bearings instead of bushings. They get gummed up very quickly as soon as you go outside.

  6. Have they tried to defeat this yet?

    I mean, by things like putting a backpack between the muzzle and the target. Or tossing a heavy thing on top from an elevated position. Or holding up a sheet to show up as neutral to the sonar. Or by having two assailants with shields of sheet metal, plywood, etc. and things for overturning the robot from a position of advantage.

    It surely sounds impressive… for a prototype.

  7. I was hoping for something like the ED 290 in Robocop. Or at least something that looks intimidating like the bots from robot combat league. I guess something that big doesnt work for home security. But come on, looks like you could kick this thing on its side and render it useless

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