robot

993 Articles

Little Flash Charges In 40 Seconds Thanks To Super Capacitors

November 21, 2019 by 10 Comments

We’ve all committed the sin of making a little arduino robot and running it off AA batteries. Little Flash is better than that and runs off three 350 F capacitors.

In fact, that’s the entire mission of the robot. [Mike Rigsby] wants people to know there’s a better way. What’s really cool is that 10 A for 40 seconds lets the robot run for over 25 minutes!

The robot itself is really simple. The case is 3D printed with an eye towards simplicity. The brains are an Arduino nano and the primary input is a bump sensor. The robot runs around randomly, but avoids getting stuck with the classic reverse-and-turn on collision.

It’s cool to see how far these capacitors have come. We remember people wondering about these high priced specialty parts when they first dropped on the hobby scene, but they’re becoming more and more prevalent compared to other solutions such as coin-cells and solder tab lithium batteries for PCB power solutions.

The HackadayPrize2019 is Sponsored by:

Sensing, Connected, Utility Transport Taxi For Level Environments

November 9, 2019 by 3 Comments

If that sounds like a mouthful, just call it SCUTTLE – the open-source mobile robot designed at Texas A&M University. SCUTTLE is a low cost (under $350) robot designed for teaching Aggies at the Multidisciplinary Engineering Technology (MXET) program, where it is used for in-lab lessons and semester projects for the MXET 300 – Mobile Robotics undergraduate course. Since it is designed for academic purposes, the robot is very well documented, making it easy to replicate when you follow the instructions. In fact, the team is looking for others to build SCUTTLE’s and give them feedback in order to improve its design.

Available on the SCUTTLE website are a large collection of videos to walk you through fabrication, electronics setup, robot assembly, programming, and robot operation. They are designed to help students build and operate the mobile robot within one semester. Most of the mechanical and electronics parts needed for the robot are off-the-shelf and easy to procure and the rest of the custom parts can be easily 3D printed. Its modular design allows you the freedom to try different options, features and upgrades. SCUTTLE is powerful enough to carry a payload up to 9 kg (20 pounds) allowing additional hardware to be added. To keep cost low and construction easy, the robot uses a simple, two wheel drive system, using a pair of geared motors. This forces the robot to literally scuttle in a “non-holonomic” fashion to move from origin to destination in a sequence of left / right turns and forward moves, so motion planning is interestingly tricky.

The SCUTTLE robot is programmed using Python3 running under Linux and has been tested working on either a BeagleBone Blue or a Raspberry Pi. The SCUTTLE software guide is a good place to get acquainted with the system architecture.

The standard configuration uses ultrasonic sensors for collision avoidance, a standard USB camera for vision, and encoders coupled to the wheel drive pulleys for determining position with respect to the starting origin. An optional USB LiDAR can be added for area mapping. The additional payload capability allows adding on extra sensors, actuators or battery packs.

To complement information on the website, additional resources are posted on GitHub, GrabCAD and YouTube. Building a SCUTTLE robot ought to be a great group project at maker spaces wanting to get hackers started with Robotics. We have covered many Educational Robot projects in the past, but the SCUTTLE really shines with its ability to carry a pretty decent payload at a low cost.

Continue reading “Sensing, Connected, Utility Transport Taxi For Level Environments” →

Bobble-Bot Teaches Modern Real-Time Robot Control

November 7, 2019 by 7 Comments

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.

The HackadayPrize2019 is Sponsored by:

SmallKat: An Adorable And Dynamic Robot

November 3, 2019 by 11 Comments

SmallKat is a cute little robot with a lot of capability designed around teaching and experimenting with dynamic robot control. It’s a shame we haven’t covered SmallKat yet, as it’s both a finalist in the 2019 Hackaday Prize and was one of the Bootstrap Winners this year.

Many hobby robots move by repeating a pre-programmed sequence of movements. Most hexapods for example follow this line of thought. However, robots like Spot and the MiniCheetah show a different world where robots determine the locations of their limbs by their current state, the measured state of their environment, and some imagined future. These robots are capable of so much more than their predecessors.

However, even a cost-effective version of these robots climb into the tens of thousands of dollars at a steep curve. SmallKat will help there: based around hobby servos and an ESP32 the hardware stays affordable. Data can be streamed to a much larger computer for experimentation which saves on some of the weight that supporting a larger device like a Pi would add.

This device will let students experiment with all kinds of dynamic models and even machine learning-based movements without breaking the bank. There’s even a nice software studio for experimentation to aid in the learning process.  Video of it shuffling around after the break.

Continue reading “SmallKat: An Adorable And Dynamic Robot” →

These Maple Pod Inspired Drones Silently Carry Payloads

November 2, 2019 by 15 Comments

Researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) recently released a video showing their nature-inspired drone that is capable of breaking out into five separate smaller drones. The drones each have auto-rotating wings that slow their rate of descent, similar to seed pods from a maple tree. Due to their design, the drones are only made to be used for a one-way trip, with the five components each carrying a separate payload. The drones are designed to detach within a specified distance from their destination, allow the collective body to safely spiral downwards towards land.

In their paper published on the same subject, the researchers discuss how they optimized the balsa wood wings with servos, a LiPo battery, and a receiver attached to a 3D-printed body. Four are equipped with just these components, while the fifth also holds a 3-axis magnetometer, a Teensy 3.5 board, a GPS module, and a Pixracer controller.

They experimented with several motion capture setups and free-flight drop tests to verify their simulations on the models for the drones. Apart from simply detaching, they are also designed to cater to different mission profiles based on the environment they are dropped in.

We’ll admit that the implementation and design of the drones does seem fairly dystopian, especially when you wonder what could possibly be the payloads these drones are designed to carry. But in terms of nature-inspired robotics, the maple seed pod idea is pretty interesting.

Continue reading “These Maple Pod Inspired Drones Silently Carry Payloads” →

BEAM Dragonfly Causes A Flap

October 31, 2019 by 11 Comments

Normal people throw away stuff when it breaks. But not people like us. Or, apparently, [NanoRobotGeek]. A cheap robotic dragonfly died, and he cannibalized it for robot parts. But he kept the gearbox hoping to build a new dragonfly and, using some brass rod, he did just that.

The dragonfly’s circuitry uses a solar panel for power and a couple of flashing LEDs. This is a BEAM robot, so not a microcontroller in sight. You can see a brief video of how the dragonfly moves.

Continue reading “BEAM Dragonfly Causes A Flap” →

Faux Cow Munches Faux Grass On A Faux Roomba

October 24, 2019 by 13 Comments

Out in the countryside, having a cow or to two wouldn’t be a big deal. You can have a cattle shed full of them, and no one will bat an eyelid. But what if you’re living in the big city and have no need of pet dogs or cats, but a pet cow. It wouldn’t be easy getting it to ride in the elevator, and you’d have a high chance of being very, very unpopular in the neighbourhood. [Dane & Nicole], aka [8 Bits and a Byte] were undaunted though, and built the Moomba – the Cow Roomba to keep them company in their small city apartment.

The main platform is built from a few pieces of lumber and since it needs to look like a Roomba, cut in a circular shape. Locomotion comes from two DC geared motors, and a third swivel free wheel, all attached directly to the wooden frame. The motors get their 12V juice from eight “AA” batteries. The free range bovine also needs some smarts to allow it to roam at will. For this, it uses a Raspberry Pi powered by a power bank. The Pi drives a 2-channel relay board which controls the voltage applied to the two motors. Unfortunately, this prevents the Moomba from backing out if it gets stuck at a dead end. For anyone else trying to build this it should be easy enough to fix with an electronic speed controller or even by adding a second 2-channel relay board which can reverse the voltage applied to the motors. The Moomba needs to “Moo” when it feels like, so the Raspberry Pi streams a prerecorded mp3 audio clip to a pair of USB speakers.

If you see the video after the break, you’ll notice that making the Moomba sentient is a simple matter of doing “ctrl+C” and “ctrl+V” and you’re good to go. The python code is straight forward, doing one of four actions – move forward, turn left, turn right or play audio. The code picks a random number from 0 to 3, and then performs the action associated with that number. Finally, as an added bonus, the Moomba gets a lush carpet of artificial green grass and it’s free to roam the range.

At first sight, many may quip “where’s the hack” ? But simple, easy to execute projects like these are ideal for getting younglings started down the path to hacking, with adult supervision. The final result may appear frivolous, but it’ll excite young minds as they learn from watching.

Continue reading “Faux Cow Munches Faux Grass On A Faux Roomba” →