Hi All
Introducing the AIMEC:EZ1
We are in discussions with DJ to produce a special version of our AIMEC (Artificially Intelligent Mechanical Electronic Companion) robot for the EZ-B, this will be a very advanced robot that will be made available in kit form, which will probably be by the end of this year.
Some history, the first AMI (Applied Machine Intelligence) robot was the AIMEC:3 which is a "hyper-tech" toy and we were very close to licensing this design to a large US toy manufacturer, but the deal fell through. Our most advanced robot is the AIMEC:4 which is still in development, this robot has advanced voice recognition (Dragon 11), face recognition and eye tracking and object recognition the robot has an advanced Ai core and is capable of self learning. When we came across the fantastic EZ-B system that the genius DJ Sures produced we immediately thought that it would be really cool to make a EZ-B version and this is what we are currently developing the AIMEC:EZ1. This robot is the development platform for a ground breaking robotics kit that we plan to sell to the general public, for the first time a highly advanced robot will be available (in various versions) at a price that hobbyists would be able to afford.
I have been building robots for over 30 years and some of my designs are recorded on Cybernetic Zoo
http://cyberneticzoo.com/?p=2280
http://cyberneticzoo.com/?p=3984
On our team we have the brilliant model maker (and engineer) Steve Cole (Articole Studios) http://www.articolestudios.co.uk/ who is also a member of this forum @ukrobotman, with Alex Cole on 3D design and (the incredibly talented) Mike Hodgson on software development. I am doing mechanical, electronics and sensor designs and firmware development for support PIC microcontrollers that enhance the EZ-B boards operation over the I2C bus.
We are all looking forward to working closely with DJ and his team in the new future!
Tony
-- Conceptioneering Ltd - Inventors of the Award Winning Cube World To see Product Innovation - visit our website at www.conceptioneering.co.uk To see Robotic Innovation - visit our website at www.appliedmachineintelligence.co.uk
I was hoping for more feedback with the groups opinions on the noise issue, I do really appreciate everyone's thoughts/comments on my work.
My problem with the shoulder gearbox is cost, we am trying to make an affordable design (that hobbyists can afford) and this current 200cm.Kg servo design has a prime cost of approx £70 in contrast a Dynamixel MX-106T servo costs around $500.00 and has only half the torque. Dynamixels are great servos but a 5 DOF arm made from them is probably going to cost over $1500.00 for the arm alone.
@Rural I think I am going to re-design the shoulder servo to a screw/worm drive, here no holding current is required as the screw/worm thread locks the shaft into position when if reaches its desired position so the servo main drive is not on load and the controller does not need to keep "hunting" to hold position.
Toymaker, I am sure you will get more feedback after the 4th holiday; you are putting together a very desirable robot kit. My question is, you said about an idea of yours designing a screw driven high power servo, where the screw should hold position without drawing power or making any noise, and possible 8pin custom PIC as the servo contoller. Is that idea separate from the "Dynamix" expensive servos? If your screw driven servo idea is a possible, viable cost alternative to the high power servo used in your arm demonstration video, it is worth looking into. If it is not, then my opinion would be not to raise the price of arms too high. Less noise would be desirable, but I don't think it should be a show stopper. Having that large of an arm, capable of lifting a beverage, is amazing. Tony, I hope you understand my question. Thanks Steve S
Steve thanks for your interest in the project. I am now scrapping all the upper arm servos (shoulder, elbow vertical, elbow horizontal) and replacing them with new worm drive units that should have virtually no holding noise, the new design should not add to much to the prime cost.
@toymaker Please take a look at http://www.ipar.nl/assets/files/Leveranciersinformatie/1540_Kat_EM_en_LoRes%20elektromotoren.pdf
Page 53-55 I have used this in a robot arm very silent,built in gearbox but it will require some type of feedback circuit for position control
edit this unit actually has a potentiometer
@Bravia, So. .. which model of motor did you use? and Where can we buy it? Thanks,
@Moviemaker its a few years old now try search using " Bosch VMC Actuator Motor "
@Bravia Thanks for the link! These are great motors but look a little pricey for the torque what I require.
@Toymaker If I could have your email please I may be able to help