Hi Tony,

I've been lurking in the background these past few months and watching this thread and your progress with amazement. What got my interest was how great your Speech Recognition works. Although Microsoft Windows SR is working OK for me (kinda) in full sized B9, I'm still not satisfied. I'm dreaming of the day my robot will respond like the computers on Star Trek and other Si Fi shows do to SR commands. I see your creation being closer then any other I've seen. Now I'm seeing the Smart servo your developing and am again super interested. I find myself asking "how can I get these systems and servos into my B9? I'm looking forward to seeing the final result and how you are able to integrate this all into EZB. I have three EZB's controlling my B9; one in the leg section, one in the torso and the 3rd in the bubble. EZB controls them great but like I said I want a better SR then Microsoft can give.

Also I'm to the point with my build where I'm designing my B9's arms. They are long and heavy. Made out of rubber with plastic claws and wrists. Then need to retract from full extension (about the length a humans arm) to fully tight to the body. I want them to do at least that and also the claws to open and close and rotate. Where I see your design helping me is the elbow. I'm thinking if your new servo can lift the load of this arm and claw I could slip a design like your into the rubber are of my B9 and have a arm that bends up and down. The original TV robot had a man in the custom and the arms looked great. With some modification Your arm design would work great. Here's a pic of my robot with the arms attached (no claws) but hanging:

You say they are strong and silent. How much weight will they lift at the extension length of a mans arm and will they hold up to this kind of pressure and use?

Very nice work, Dave Schulpius

@Toymaker, I am also interested in the 12 volt servos and would like to know your source if possible! Also can they rotate 360 or at least be modified to do so? Once my own robot is done( well as done as possible as anything worthwhile is always ongoing ) I would be interested in your Aimec robot. I also really like your trouble shooting debug pic and LCD diplay. Thanks so much for sharing it

@Dave yup it is fun to be "reenergized" again by others innovations and...passions. Are you designing the arm mechanisms because if you are this instructable link might be helpful! (ignore the arduino part ) http://www.instructables.com/id/Animatronic-Tentacles-with-Arduino/

Hi Dave

Glad you like the EZ:1 robot. Here are some pictures of the new arm attached to the EZ:1 body, (I am still working on the shoulder smart servo). Yes I think these could work well in your B9 arm and should fit inside the arm tubing.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOSCH-12-VOLT-VARIABLE-SERVO-100-MOVEMENT-GEARED-NEW-/380343639810?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1123

At an unbelievable price of £6.99 each! Problem is, Pat said they will not ship outside the UK, so I have bought quite a lot of these units and sent some over to Pat in Ireland (hope they arrived ok Pat?). I would be happy to send you some over Dave (free of charge), but I not sure how much the postage would be?

In the servo motor drive, you get an amazingly powerful worm driven motor that generates huge torque at a very low run current.

As you can see from the photo, there are no end effectors connected, this new arm allows various types of hands/claws to be added. We so far have 2 end effectors designed a low cost simple claw and a 3 fingered hand.

@irobot58 The original servodrives do 100 degrees, but it is possible to extend this in the firmware on the microcontroller, the wrist on the EZ:1 servo does 180 degrees. You do need to remove the mechanical end stops though.

Tony

Thanks so much for the information and offer to send me over some of these cool little motors. I am very interested but don't want you to take the hit on either the cost of the motor or the shipment. I would gladly pay full cost of both.

With that said, I'm just a little confused on how this all works mechanically. Forgive me if you've already described all this. It looks like there are two parts to your Smart servo; the 12v Bosh servo motors (with feedback potentiometer) and the little white box it's attached to? If I'm reading this right in your past posts you have a controller board you've made with the microcontroller and other circuits to give it the "Smarts" you mention. That must be inside the little white box?

If this is the case I am totally interested not only in the motor but also the technology (your controller board) that make it all work. I assume if this is what will make me happy I need to wait and buy the whole kit when it comes available. Do you "foresee selling any of these parts as "Stand alone"? I'm mostly interest in the SR and arm servos. If I buy the kit I'd be taking it all apart and retro fitting and modifying it into my B9. Like I mentioned above my arm will need to retract from full extension (about the length a human arm) to fully tight to the body. Also, the claws need to open and close and rotate. If I can get your elbow design in there that would be a huge deal!

I'm completely willing to help implement your new boards and motors and work out the bugs. Like you mentioned I have DC motors working now in B9 and have EZB monitoring the poisons with external pots attached to ADC ports but your method seems much less primitive. I may need a little help implmenting the technology and adapting it to EZB but I think I've got the building part worked out.

@irobot58 , Thanks for the link! I'm heading over there right now to take a look!

Thanks again for your help and the work your've already done, Dave

Dave

If you want the servo drives to work on their own, you need a control board like this

I have a friend here in the UK (Adam) that has also built a full size B9, here is a video of the arm mechanism he put together.

revolabs.com/Products/Product-Line/XTAG-USB.aspx

Hope this helps

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the kind words about my robot and also thanks so much for the advice on the mic. The one you mention looks like it will work nicely. I might have to go with this to get better response. I wanted to try to stay away from having to wear a mic. Right now I'm using the Blue Snowball and havein it pick up commands from the desk top. I've been having good success with this setup but only when there's not a lot of background noise. All bets are off when there's a group of people milling around.

I've seen your friends video of his B9 arm many times and have been Very impressed. I fact I had planned on building my own based on his version. I was hoping to somehow modify it to add an elbow and when I saw your creation the gears started turning in my mind! All I need is a small enough elbow motor to fit in the 5" rubber arm with enough guts to lift the forearm and claw (and of course any servos and brackets that will operate the claw) and a way to control it. Then I'd also need a motor of some kind to suck the arm in and out.

I love the way you have incorporated an H-Bridge into your control board and have the PIC microcontroller taking the heavy lifting from the EZB. I do know I want to somehow work this into the arms of my B9 but I only hesitate because I don't know yet how to utilize them. Perhaps I should start with a couple motors to see if they are strong and quick enough for how I want to use them. I'm in no real hurry and maybe by the time I have it figured out you'll have the boards ready to sell. I'm no stranger to making my own homemade control boards but I'd rather have a master like you make a proper one. Should I contact you off this forum to arrange shipment and payment?

Thanks again, Dave Schulpius

Dave, The wireless mic is perfect for operating the robot in noisy environments people talking in the background etc, it was designed to do this. The other neat thing with the xTAG is that its so small, that when its operating in my shirt pocket, no onlookers can see it at all so they assume the mic is based on the robot.

Thats a good idea about trying out the servo motor drives first, I can spare 4 motor drives and I am honestly happy to donate them to your robot build. You can email me at toymaker(dot)tony(at)gmail(dot)com

Adam is a brilliant robot maker he has made full size Daleks, R2D2, B9 and a Wall-E. Here is my half scale Dalek with Adam's R2D2 at a UK Robotbuilders meetup

I have an idea about building the ram part of your B9 arm, possibly using Meccano. I use Meccano all the time to try out mechanical arrangements, and it is possible to still buy Meccano parts.

www.meccanospares.com

The idea is to use a threaded rod to drive a 3 bore coupling

www.meccanospares.com/shop/article_63-BR-N/3-Bore-Coupling.html?sessid=SDbFjC0SmZy8X8FW2dQbzPBrOat0vfaSJjB6J2IlzCcfrd61H8jx9Hln5dC1eMze&shop_param=cid%3D46%26aid%3D63-BR-N%26

The middle thread is driven forward/back by the rods (center) thread and the hole thing is kept stable by 2 axles in the side (non threaded) bores, the whole thing retracts to the length of the threaded rod. The threaded rod is driven by a motor, end stops would be via a magnet mounted in the retractable part and reed switches in the end stop positions. When the retractable part gets to the stop positions the reed switch makes (detects the magnet) and flags the controller (or EZ-B) that the motor must stop. Meccano parts are pretty strong, so may be good enough for your application as long as the claw is not picking up too heavy loads. It would be easy to mock the mechanism up in Meccano to see it all working and then scale it up (say to 6mm rods) if you need something stronger.

Tony

Tony, that's a fabulous idea! A screw crank balanced by two rods. Now you've really got my mind gears working! Thanks for the thoughtful input and also the links to help me put it together. You've also sold me on the mic. I'm going to go ahead and order one.

Hey, I really feel bad about hijacking this thread and working through a couple of creative blocks I was having on my robot. I'm going to stop talking about me now and wrap up my business with you on the motors off forum. Can I reach you through the e-mail link you posted earlier in this thread?

I'm in love with your half scale Dalek and how you've animated it. The vids you've shared with us have made my mouth water. If I ever finish this B9 I've got to find the time to build one.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help and ideas. I cant wait to see what rolls out of your work shop.

See ya off forum, Dave