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
Tony great job with the arms, so I can understand the black box are the motor and potentiometer, and control electronics are apart, I like it because it makes better use of the space that would occupy high torque servo, an engine much more torque instead. One question: what will be the weight of the claw manipilacion about?
Thanks, Tony!
Humm, 63cm. That's 2 feet in my part of the world. I think that would fit perfectly inside my B9's rubber arms. So many ways to go. I love it.
Tony has done some weight lifting test with the arm? though I suppose the ability to manipulate depend on the total length weight arm. Any idea how much weight you can lift your arm? Your robot is technologically impressive, I love it. greetings.
Hi R2, For initial tests the end effector (claw/hand) comfortably picks up and holds 750ml of liquid which is roughly 900g in weight. I am pretty sure that I can push it above this. The main thing I really pleased about is how silent and smooth the arms operation is.
Tony
Awesome, thanks for the reply, 900 grams is a very high value for an arm 50 or 60 cm long, it is because with a 30kg torque servo lift him 300 grams of weight in a 35cm long arm. And the combined use of the two arms of the robot would be 1800 grams or more, I guess inside their black boxes are a low speed engines with a gearbox ratio 100/1 or higher to avoid engine noise when subjected to heavy loads. Tony your project is a great example to follow.
Yes R2D2, it's technologically impressive and looks great also!
Tony, Did you receive my private e-mail a few days ago. with the shipping info?
Here is the new (lower cost) claw prototype for the EZ:1 and EZ:2 robots
It can be controlled from the EZ-B using PWM (or the I2C bus) this is how it currently works.
As soon as I get some free time I will get a video up of the first trials of the new arm and claw.
Tony