Italy
Asked — Edited

Help For Hardware Expansion.

Hello, and first of all, scuse me for my bad english.

I have made two little robots for my little son. These were made on Arduino platform. I was very happy making these and my little son was very happy to use these!

Now, i want do some more, so i have bought Ez robot, but i have many question about and i hope someone in this forum can help me.

I have a very big and large '80 years robot........ It was mine when i was i child..... and now i want to give him a 'brain' so, mi little son, will have fun with him. It had no servos to move arms. I have provided to install servos in arms and in head.

But the first problem with Ez robot, is the number of digital i/o........ Ez-b only have 20 ports.

First thing: How can i add some more ports?

Second thing: I want to have a 'stand alone' robot. How can i do it? Do i need to 'embed' a pc into my robot? Has someone done this? What kind of battery do i need in order to power it?

Third thing: It seems difficult to have 'speech recognition' on some Windows version....... is it thru?

Thank you very much and scuse me for my bad english. I hope you can explain me how to build what i am trying to do.

Best regards!

Ema from Italy


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United Kingdom
#1  

Add more ports - The easiest way is to fit a second (or up to 5) EZ-B.

You will need a PC to control the robot, embedded PCs are the obvious choice where power permits. Otherwise a remote PC hidden away in a cupboard or even just under a desk can be used. I plan to use one of my "nettop" PCs which attach to the back of a TV on a Vesa bracket for one of mine. Check the project showcase for ideas.

Speech recognition is only as good as the microphone and training it's been given. It is very unreliable when a fixed phrase list is not present. It's not the Windows version, it is the hardware set up. When set up correctly with good hardware and a lot of training it works very well.

#2  

Your English is very easy to understand. Unlike some who post here that actually live in English speaking country's.

All of the things you list are simple to overcome.

Need more ports, then get a second EZB Board. ARC can support up to 5 boards working together seamlessly. I'm using 3 now in my robot. The only limitation I've found is that you need a really good Bluetooth receiver on your computer. or laptop. I started having disconnect issues after adding the 3rd board till I upgraded my Bluetooth Dongle.

It's easy to install a mini-mother board on your robot to make it stand alone. Do a search on this forum for ideas and recommendations. DJ even has a video in the tutorial section on this.

Windows 7 & 8 work great with the voice recognition feature. You need to train it and set it up properly and it will work nice. However you will still have some false reactions and that is a windows limitation, not EZB.

Welcome and your in for a real treat!

Italy
#3  

Thank you very much for your reply. So, the first thing for me, is buying a second Ez-board.But before doing this, i would like to learn something about connecting and programming two boards in the same robot. I have searched into this web-site some tutorial about, but i was not able to find anything about. Can someone please show me a 'link' where i can learn something?

Thank you.

Ema from Italy

Ireland
#4  

you can also use an ir beacon pair, works very well indoors hold one beacon in your hand and it will even turn around and follow you

United Kingdom
#5  

Connecting two boards is as simple as adding the second one to the connection control in ARC.

Using the second board just needs the board number changed in the specific controls.

Scripting only needs the board number before the port too.

It's very simple and easy to use up to 5 EZ-Bs in one robot.

Italy
#6  

What is "ir beacon pair"?

Scuse me because my english is very bad and so, i don't know many words.....

Italy
#7  

Thank you Rich. So, it seems a script has a 'destination' board, and so, i can use a single script for 2 destination board, is it so?

Italy
#8  

...... after registering in this forum, i am now having many many many spam-email.......

Oh my God...... about 50 spam-email at day!....... very bad thing..........

United Kingdom
#9  

EZ-Robots do not give your email address away to anyone. If you are receiving spam since registering it is a coincidence.

If you are talking about the update emails you can turn those off in settings however technically they are not spam :)

Ireland
#10  

@odt ir beacon
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/701

#11  

THATS one i am using and it fairly easy to interface to EZB it takes only 4 digital inputs

I am working on a design like that only using EZB instead of the built-in micro it has and have it at a lower cost too.

Italy
#12  

Ok, i want to say 'thanks' to all because you are trying to help me.

I repeat 'scuse for my bad english'..... i can understand only 75% you tell to me because my english is bad. And i can explain what i want to say in very difficult way...... but i am trying to do my best because i want to build a nice toy for my little son!

Today, i have bought a 'tablet pc' Windows based, so, i will mount it into the robot.

Soonly i will buy another Ez-b platform, so, as you suggest me, i will expand input/output.

I still don't understand what is "ir beacon"....... it seems to be a 'recognition' about position. Am i wrong? It seems a device sending 'ir'...... what does it do?

I think i have understood two Ez-platforms can run under same script simply addresing the fuction to the platform. Am i in right?

I want to tell i am totally newbie and i have no experience about ez-b. I still am building the 'structure' of the robot...... At the moment, i am applying servoes to an old '80 robot-toy (very very big!). So, scuse me for this if it seems i make 'stupid questions'...... i need to understand many things....... please, be patient with me.

Ireland
#13  

@odt Please understand there are no " stupid questions" you will find we all try to help others here.

May I suggest you take small steps, experiment with the EZ-B and see what it can do every control has a help button which will explain it to you. you will understand in no time how it works ,then you can decide what you want to connect to it.

I have been using the EZ-B for over two years and I learn something new about it everyday.

United Kingdom
#14  

I agree with Bravia.

Small steps to get to know the EZ-B and ARC. There is a lot of information in the tutorials. There is even more information in the forums. And if you get stuck just ask, someone will be around to point you in the right direction.

There certainly aren't stupid questions, we all start from somewhere and we all need a hand to guide us at some point.