Netherlands
Asked — Edited

Hi There Robot Builders!

Hi there robot builders!

For years i have had the dream of building my own robot, and thanks to DJ and you this is now becoming reality. Thank you very much for this amazing product, the opportunity, and your continued effort to making robotics available to everyone!

My name is Stefan Boon, i am a student mechanical engineering at the TU-Delft in the Netherlands. Since i have basically zero budget, i have been building my robot completely from 2nd hand parts and scrap materials collected here and there. (The ez-b was quite an investment but definitely worth it)

I had ordered my complete ez-robot kit with Halloween taking advantage of the discount. But a busy and important period at college prevented me from getting started with it.

This busy period is almost over, and i am extremely exited to start implementing the ez-b in the robot-platform i built. I plan to describe my robot and ambitions for it in the project showcase section.

In short: Two ~20cm diameter wheels powered by '6V' DC motor with transmission and differential, using a 7.2 NiCd battery and (at this moment) speed/reverse control from RC-cars. Steering with one middle rear wheel mounted on servo. Body made from mainly plastic with metal and wood, containing computer-fans, a bicycle head-light and speakers. A 'spine' made from a bicycle pump on a servo. A pan/tilt 'neck' ordered with the ez-b. A head with the camera (and a microphone i guess for speech recognition?) For starters it will be controlled via desktop computer, but a dummy motherboard is built in. Total weight maybe 5 kilo's or more, but the computer in it accounts for about half of it.

I'd like to describe in more detail later, but first i have one question: Can i safely connect a 7.2V NiCd battery (as shown in attachment) to the ez-b for power? I know it shouldn't be a problem right? but i would hate to fry my brand new ez-b, so i would really rather be safe then sorry.

Thanks and kind regards Boon


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United Kingdom
#2  

Yes. The EZB can safely be powered by sources from 6v to 17v I believe, full details are in the manual (in the FAQ section) if you want to double check my memory but I'm 99% sure I'm right.

But 7.2v is fine, I have used 6v, 7.4v (lipo so 8.4v when fully charged) and 12v supplies with no problems.

The higher the voltage the more the regulators have to work, the more they work the more heat they produce. It's not an issue, they are just doing their job, but you may find a fan could be required for them.

United Kingdom
#3  

And good luck with the project!

#4  

Welcome Boon! The EZ-B can easily handle that. I run 12V on mine and it runs great. So no worries.

#5  

Welcome Boon. I am new to robotics as well. Ez is a great way to get started!

#6  

Welcome abot(aboard) Boon...zero budget is fine! With EZ-B all you have to do is head to the nearest thrift store or dollar store or Ebay and find a cool looking "toy" and start hacking! I am new to the EZ-B and this forum and its amazing! Tons of cool people and awesome support. Send pics..we luv pics and updates...share seems to be a very common theme here :)

Netherlands
#7  

Thank you very much,

The community here seems to be really awesome indeed. I will begin work and post pictures somewhere next week.

#8  

Welcome! You have no idea what is in store for you! :-)

Belgium
#9  

Welkom Boon en veel geluk met je robot. Btw, ik maak ook volop gebruik van scrap en gerecycleerde onderdelen en daar mag je best trots op zijn. Met wat creativiteit kun je aardig wat bereiken op deze wijze. Succes !

#10  

Welcome Boon! Make sure to send us plenty of pix of your progress and also if you need help on something.

#11  

Boon you have awaken the Monster and he is large, Welcome to the forum.