Robots Hacks

2439 Articles

A Robotic Turtle Platform To Buy Or Build

August 9, 2011 by 5 Comments

This electric turtle bot instructable describes a fairly simple turtle-style robot meant to be laser cut out of acrylic (although other materials such as aluminum, MDF, or polycarbonate should work just as well). This frame is also optionally for sale, which should appeal to those that would like a mechanical robotics platform to play with, but don’t have access to machine tools. The build instructions include a detailed bill of materials which should come in handy.

As displayed in the video after the break, the robot uses a sonar sensor to navigate. This sensor is set up on a servo in order to scan the terrain, and, depending on how it’s programmed, hopefully avoid obstacles. As of when the video was taken, the little robot appears to sense an obstacle then scan with the servo left and right to see what the best way to turn is.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA_kIY3MvTE&w=470&h=349%5D

If this little turtle robot doesn’t have enough power for your taste, check out this autonomous ATV sentry.

Robots Tends Your Lawn While You Veg Out On The Couch

August 5, 2011 by 3 Comments

nuntius_the_garden_avenger

Most people can agree that picking weeds is not a whole lot of fun. [Dave] was not a big fan of sitting out in the heat toiling over his lawn, so he did the only rational thing and built a robot to do it for him.

Nuntius, the Garden Avenger, is a remote controlled robot that [Dave] can use to pick weeds from the comfort of his couch. The robot is controlled by a Propeller microcontroller, taking its commands wirelessly via a pair of XBee modules. Nuntius’ controller is pretty intuitive, consisting of a 5-axis arm complete with a gripper that [Dave] can articulate in any number of directions. His motions cause the robot’s arm to move in sync, and driving Nuntius is as easy as holding down a button and moving the controls in the desired direction.

[Dave] can monitor what Nuntius is doing via a wireless camera he has installed on the robot’s arm, allowing him to sit back and relax indoors while the robot handles the hard work.

Keep reading to see a short video demo of Nuntius in action.

[via Make]

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Basic Animatronics Tutorial: PIC Based Servo Eyebrows

August 5, 2011 by 7 Comments

[Chris] writes in to let us know about his latest animatronics tutorial, this time on robotic eyebrows! The tutorial takes us through the process of using a fairly simple PIC  circuit to display various facial expressions. Since a wide array of facial expressions have unique and well understood eyebrow positions this simple hack can make even the most bland looking mask come to life . Animatronics is a subject near and dear to our hearts, but the simple actuation of servos can go much further than cardboard faces. This easy to follow tutorial can help you on your way to controlling all sorts of servo stuff like vent flaps or um…  fish, if you’d like. The software is not very deeply explained but it is commented and available for download from [Chris]’s site.

From here [Chris] plans to expand the project with more tutorials that can help further animate the face. We are particularly interested in the one and two eye systems he mentions, as well as more complicated eyebrow mechanics. Also check out [Chris]’s other servo based robotics tutorials like the Sharpie Spotifier and the Wooden Menace.

There is also a video of the eyebrows in action after the break.

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Robots Listen Only To The Leader When Building A Roving Quadcopter Landing Pad

August 2, 2011 by 22 Comments

Swarm robotics is really starting to produce some interesting results. This image is from the video embedded after the break that show a group of five robots creating a landing platform for a quadrotor helicopter. The four that actually make up the platform are not in contact with each other, but instead following commands from the leader. We’re impressed by the helicopter’s ability to target and land on the moving platform. Takeoff appears to be another issue, as the platform bots stop moving until the quadcopter is airborne again.

These robots are part of a Graduate project at Georgia Tech. [Ted Macdonald] has been working along with others to implement an organizational algorithm that guides the swarm. The method requires that the robots have an overview of the location of all others in the swarm. This is done with high-speed cameras like we’ve seen in other robotic control projects. But that doesn’t discourage us. If you already have a flying robot as part of the swarm, you might as well add a few more to serve as the eyes in the sky.

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Robotic Gardener Takes Its Cue From Bomb Disposal Bots

August 1, 2011 by 4 Comments

[Dave] posted some pictures and videos of his ‘Nuntius’ robot on the Propeller forums. From the pictures it’s an impressive build, but to really appreciate [Dave]’s skill, check out the Youtube demo.

The controller is a Propeller protoboard with bits of angle aluminum fastened together. Pots are positioned at the joints of the remote’s arm so the robot’s arm can mirror the shape of the remote. We usually see Armatron bots controlled via computer, or in the rare case of human control, a mouse. [Dave]’s build just might be one of the first remote manipulator builds we’ve seen on Hack A Day.

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Fonera-based Quadcopter Can Be Controlled From A Web Browser

August 1, 2011 by 11 Comments

fonera_html_controlled_quadcopter

[Tiakson] just wrapped up the construction of a quadcopter which piqued our interest due to the unexpected mix of hardware he used.

A good portion of the copter is made up of the essential bits we have come to expect from a quad rotor system. Instead of using an Xbee or hobby wireless controller however, [Tiakson] opted to use an old Fonera router running OpenWRT to control the system. He wrote special software that allows him to direct the quadcopter using an HTML 5 interface, adding a few kernel tweaks along the way that enabled him to emulate I2C ports over GPIO pins.

The Fonera takes in data from Wii nunchuck and Motion+ sensors, relaying commands to the on-board PIC 16F976 microcontroller. The PIC is used to manage the electronic speed controller modules using PWM, which the Fonera could not handle on its own.

This is a great use for a old router, and the cost is obviously far cheaper than buying off the shelf wireless control modules. We would love to hear how much extra weight the Fonera adds, as well as if there is any controller lag introduced by the web-based interface.

Continue reading to see a quick demo video of the quadcopter in action.

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