Bobble-Bot uses the standard inverted pendulum problem to teach modern robotic control using a Raspberry Pi, RT-Linux, and ROS.
We’re really impressed by the polish and design effort put into this project, and it’s no surprise that it’s a finalist in the 2019 Hackaday Prize. Bobble-Bot is a top heavy bot sitting on two BLDC motors. The brains of the operation is a Raspberry Pi running real-time Linux and ROS. This allows the robot to respond in a predictable manner to its inputs, and also allows for more control over thread priority than a regular kernel. In the past we’ve seen these inverted pendulum bots mostly being run on micro-controllers for just this reason, so it’s cool to see it make the jump to Linux.
Mechanically the bot can be printed on any consumer grade printer and assembled. We really appreciate the small details like making sure one screw size could be used to assemble the entire bot, eliminating the need for multiple tools.
They also have a simulator, and the bot’s software was built inside of that. It was a big moment when the real-world behavior finally matched the simulated performance. In fact, if you’re interested in the Bobble-Bot, you can try it out in simulation before committing to building the whole thing.
This project seems like a fun build for any hacker. We would have loved to have a project as polished and up-to-date as this one when we were learning controls in university. Video introducing it after the break.
I’m not trying to bash it or anything, but it sure looks cobbled together, I suppose that’s necessary for quick kits and learning the basics.
Can always put a pretty outer shell on it if you want it to look like a finished Toy. The design looks pretty well thought out to me. Though on the assumption its going to go wrong at some point I’d definitely have crash cage or a case over the more delicate and valuable electronics. But they might have chosen this route as it doesn’t hide important elements too much – so if you want to add something to it you should be able to (your skills with design, fabrication and programming being up to the task).
It is cool but hardly free of microcontroller in addition to Pi. Nice work. Play with simulator when i get time to build. Not likely right now.
Would like to buy a kit. Is that possible?
Not at this time. For now, follow the project page: https://hackaday.io/project/164992-bobble-bot. We will announce the launch there.
A question from Argentina that program you use to, to make the animation and simulation of the robot, thank you very much.
http://gazebosim.org/