RoboHappy
Home Robot Projects In ARC
Hey Roboteers - how are your projects going?
Does anyone have a current project designed for use at home - something you actually use in your daily life? I'm always interested in home robots. Lately there seem to be a lot of commercial/industrial robots being shared, and I’m curious if anyone here has built something they really use at home, ideally running ARC.
Are your home projects using EZB hardware, or are they devices connected directly to the PC (USB cameras, joysticks, serial devices, etc.)? Are you relying mainly on ARC Robot Skills or on custom scripting (JavaScript/Python) for the automation?
I’m still working on a project I hope to share soon - I’m redesigning an older robot I posted here a while back. I see some of the projects people have posted, but I’d love to see more. I’m sure even DJ has more robots roaming around his home doing some real-world cool stuff
Funny enough, i don't have many robots rolling around but i use ARC for a million other things. I have my blinds and outdoor blinds around the gazebo connected to servos so i can use my voice to open and close them. I have my SmartLife devices controlled by ARC via a smartlife skill i created so i can use AI to talk to my house rather than the stupid amazon alexa. I also have my hvac connected to the same ARC instance via an esp32 wifi so it controls the two furnaces separately. I recently got a heat pump installed (2 weeks ago) and i'm looking at figuring out how to connect that next.
What else hmmmmm
Oh i have esp32 on my batteries for the boat and boat lift and one of my seadoos with wifi. they report the battery voltage and temperature so i can keep an eye on their levels.
I think that's about it. Oh wait no, i have my security cameras connected to a different ARC instance that records motion. That computer runs in my heated storage shed and it has 4 wifi cameras connected. I have pushover configured for that for notification.
Actually i use pushover for both ARC instances that send my phone updates.
Very cool DJ ! ARC really does some great uses
Who else does some cool things with ARC and your robot ?
Something tells me we won't get much of a response. The idea of forums and online discussions is a thing of the past. People just ask AI now and get their answers. The day of sharing and chatting amongst each other has been replaced haha. That's kinda too bad cause i miss the social, but i also understand it. You can see how many people look at some threads, and makes you wonder why so many ppl read the forum and don't respond. Oh well, at least they're using ARC! Or if they do post, it's a question about something and they never come back lol - see a lot of that from japan lately it seems
That really sucks. I know times change and people move on but like @DJ I miss the social interaction and helping and getting help from real people.
@DJ, Every time I open my front room blinds I think of your voice activated ARC controlled blinds. You posted that project years ago and it's still stuck in my head. Thanks, LOL.
@RoboHappy, I only have one robot but it's all I can handle. The ARC upgrades, my project and animation rewrites have kept me busy. Not to mention the actual physical robot upgrade rebuilds and maintenance. There always seems to be something I want to update. LOL. One real time useful thing my robot currently does is send a request to OpenWeatherMap.com and retrieve a weather report. He then (using recorded sound clips from a voice actor from the 60's) lets me know the current temperature, humidity and wind speed. He gives me new reports every half hour (that adjustable or can be turned off completely) or I can use voice recognition to ask, Also I can just push a button on the front of the robot to get the report. For my next upgrade I'm going to try to get him to give me a forecast and hopefully even weather warnings of approaching bad weather. I'm hoping ARC's new built in Script AI Assistant can help me with writing those scripts. Fun stuff and it keeps my mind sharp.
Also, My robot self monitors and fixes some of his own things. For example, the connections between the computer and the EZB's. I know this is not household assistance stuff like you asked for but it's important to keeping my robot online. He has an onboard computer that is attached to 3 EZBs through USB to TTL connections. An ARC Script monitors those connections and if one or more drops out (which it does once in a while) ARC will automatically reconnect. My Robot's ARC project is also running PushOver. If any of that happens I'll get a notification on my cell phone about the event. If the reconnection fails PushOver will notify me of that also.
@Dave, Very very cool. That is your B9 robot correct? that's been a cool project you've been working on, and it is doing something, I do like hearing about it anytime.
@Dj I get what you are saying. One can only hope there are more responses here. I mean come on people, I know we like to post our robotic projects here so I would be fun to hear more about what you're doing with it.
I am also a member of the Connecticut Robotic Society. We meet every other month. It's a small gathering but like others I enjoy bringing my robots to show off, and have showcased and promoted all my EZ-Robots and how they work with ARC.
This kinda touches a topic that’s personal. So I have to talk about it lightly without affecting the companies business outcomes. But, essentially a company like ours grows with a board and shareholders and stakeholders that direct the business. Essentially it’s a constant tweak to "dial in revenue" even if thats over anything else. I mean that businesses want to over the least amount of effort for the most amount of revenue - and thats a fight all companies experience - and mostly lose at. Because the passion that started the company was about solving a problem the founder recognized people have.
Thing is, sometimes it’s not recognized as a problem until it’s too late for customers to realize they understand the problem That’s called being innovative and blah blah.
So the reason I mention this is because we’re in a constant internal battle about solving problems vs producing revenue.
While I say ppl read but don’t post it’s because ppl get their solution via other means. I don’t mean ppl skip ARC more ppl than ever use arc. They just have a different way of going about it - which isn’t forums and discussions.
Synthiam/ARC has been essential to my progress. Without it, I doubt I’d be anywhere close to where I am today, and I probably would have given up long ago. The support from DJ, the ARC team, Dave Schulpius, and the community has kept me motivated and moving forward. ARC has been well worth the cost-one of my smartest investments.
Hey @dbeard, thanks for the kudos. I understand what you're saying. I feel the same way. When I started out building this robot about 15 years ago I just wanted to make a static B9 that just stood there, blinked lights and maybe spoke a few lines of sound clips. Then I found Synthiam (then named EZ Robot) and was blow away with how simple DJ's brain child made robot animation. Then there were people, experts and beginners alike, that helped me learn how to do things like how to get a servo or DC motor to move back and forth.
In fact, you reached out to me years ago with assistance and spent your valuable time giving me scripts and sound clips that gave my robot one of his best animations, the weather reporting I mentioned in an above post. Thanks Brother! Like you said, the people reaching out to help makes the difference. @DJ 's personal involvement and hands on assistance in this community forum over the years proves that. I'm not sure where all this new impersonal and solitary information gathering to solve problems and get inspiration will take us as a society but it worries me. I do admit though that getting needed answers to complex issues and direction almost instantly is really nice.