EZ-B V3 (now discontinued but what we all currently use) is Bluetooth but could be upgraded to WiFi. EZ-B V4 (currently in pre-order, hopefully shipping will start after the Chinese new year) is WiFi.

The EZ-B can be controlled via ARC (Windows GUI), ARC Mobile (Android only currently and in very early stages) and the EZ-SDK (SDK for C# etc.). To be honest, ARC is the easiest option, the controls are simple but it also has scripting for more complex functions. Start with ARC (download it now, it's free), have a play, see how you get on, ask if you have questions we will answer.

The EZ-B and ARC are stupidly easy to use. As I said, download ARC, add some controls, look at the options, if you can't figure something out just look in the Learn section of the site or ask here and someone will answer. Your biggest problem is going to be funding the hobby, you will end up wanting a whole robot army

Oh, and welcome to the community. It's always nice to see someone else from the UK join up (there are a few of us around). Where in the UK are you?

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies ..... I'm from just outside Taunton in Somerset.

Jay

Software only works with ez-b. EZ-B V3 uses Bluetooth, EZ-B V4 uses wifi. The Ez-b can be used wit vb, c++, and c#. ARC is the ez-b software that I use. Its easy and you learn a lot from it. It also has it's own simple code you can code with. I'd recommend using it first. Using the wifly is possible, though it might take some time. How better to learn ez-script! Although, the v4 has wifi so it wouldnt be necessary.

Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy the ez-robot experience!

Welcome. Jay from The UK. (That's fun to say!) I didn't have any electronics or robotics experience and I was researching Aurdino/Electronics and Bioloids/Robotics and discovered EZ-Robot. EZ-Robot is incredibly easy to use. I think you're going to love what EZ-Robot has to offer.

Hmmmmm ....

Just realised, the IOS / iPhone app isn't available at the moment stress , has anyone got any idea when it will be available? Looks like the V4 board isn't available either for another couple of months either ?(then shipping to the UK). Argh ..... patience never was my strong point LOL.

Have had a look around the software and it looks really good so far. I was hoping that there would be more 3D files, but it doesn't look like there's many at all.

Jay

iOS version wont be released until the V4s have started shipping at the earliest. iOS is only available for the V4 due to the bluetooth and iOS not being at all helpful when it comes to bluetooth.

Shipping to the UK isn't long though. Both of my V3 orders arrived within a week which surprised me. Be aware there may be duty and tax to pay on them though (mine was about £20 on each).

More 3D files will be coming but EZ-Robots have been busy. The 3D stuff and the revolution is still pretty new. It's been all go with getting the new V4 boards sorted. Once everything is in place I am sure we will see more 3D stuff from EZ-Robots. There is info available on the EZ-Clip system so you could always make your own bits and share them with the community

Well I was originally thinking of designing something like a rover type unit - it's for indoors only so don't really need tracks. But then I've been looking a few different designs ... the spider octobots are cool but probs not the best camera platform. I do like the humanoid robots .... I saw this one on youtube and it's cool as! This is cool I do love the eyes and head - not sure what these are done with (small lcd screens?).

If I am to wait a couple of months for the electronics, I guess I could start on the body design and printing etc. I was originally thinking that whatever design, that I would use 360 degree servos for the drive rather than motors. Does this sound like a good plan or should I be going down the geared motor route? I just hope that if I commit to this platform, that the IOS interface does come to fruition as it would be a deal breaker for me.

Feel free to steer me and give me suggestions ! I guess if I'm building before I get the electronics, then it's going to need accurate dimensions for everything to make sure it all fits !

Jay

Fixed video:

If your building a robot that you want some speed to go with, geared motors are the way to go. if you want high torque, the same goes.

That's the robot ! That is so cool! I love the eyes too and the balancing on one leg trick lol. Oh I just realised .... I have three roomba 500 series robots too.... Get them wired up too !

Oh! You could put an ez-b on the Roomba and make some sort of humanoid with no legs.

If you want any kind of speed (other than really really slow) I'd go for motors to drive it, hooked up to a H-Bridge. It's very simple to wire up. Or just use a roomba, serial connection through one digital port to control the roomba leaves you with 23 more ports to play with. The roomba is fully supported by ARC and has it's own EZ-Script commands too.

As for dimensions, the EZ-B dimensions are on the shop page for it, you can use these and build the robot around it.

As for the iOS app, it's being worked on. You will need the windows version of ARC in order to set up the project and save it to the cloud though.

Thanks Rich/guys,

I have the windows version so can save to the cloud when needed. I don't think I need any kind of mega speed to be honest, it's for indoor use only (restricted to the ground floor the same as Rovio due to stairs - unless anyone has designs for a stair climber which would be wicked lol). We have a cat so not looking to drive at fast speeds lol. I have to set the roombas to clean at different times of the day so she always can have a floor without a robot upsetting her all important and busy life of sleep hehe!

Oh there is one thing probably worth asking - my rovio was perfect because it could return back to its charging base when it foot low on power. I don't expect the robot to navigate back on its own, but how does everyone that uses the robots for remote web use keep their robots charged up? I have been thinking about how to get around the problem and have so far come up with four options:

1. have a socket on the robot and a charge dock with a 1/4" mono audio jack .... Using the camera, u drive onto the jack impaling it in the robots chest (sounds brutal but thought it was the best words to describe lol) - kind of taken from the idea of the remote refuelling mid air of jets - you could even have the socket have a guide channel to locate the plug easier.

2. have a socket on the robot and a large power jack plug that the robot grips. Provided it was correctly gripped you could program the robot to do the pluging action into the socket?

3. place a contact inside of the robots two "hands" - when the two hands grip two charge contacts on the base station, charge passes through hands up cables in arms and on to the battery ?

4. the contacts are below the body of the robot (like rovio) and it drives onto charge contacts

Just a few thoughts, but would love to hear what other people do. I used the robot to keep an eye on the cat and house when away for a few days. She has a robotic food machine that talks to her when it's feeding time so she's happy on her own for a night - but I want to be able to check in on her and would need to get the robot charged remotely.

Cheers,

Jay

Daft question now LOL ..... why is it that virtually everything is 5-7 week pre-order? I understand that with development and manufacture of the V4 board, that that is a wait, but it looks like everything is being developed still ..... even plastic molded parts and the servos - which are presumably just off the shelf servos?

I wish there were 3D printed parts that I could start on so that I had something to do during the wait !

If I order now is it really 5-7 weeks or would that have reduced now and could it actually closer to completion than the site says? I did say these were daft questions ! It;s just I'm so tempted to order today, but needed to know.

Thanks!

Jay

The first batch of revolution products are currently being manufactured, over in China. They currently have around 3 weeks off for Chinese New Year. After this we should, provided there are no more delays, start receiving the revolution stuff.

Some of us have been waiting since September, the pre-orders wee a huge hit and the plant making everything couldn't manage the quantity, EZ-Robots had to fly to China on a days notice to find another manufacturer. The whole story is on the forum somewhere.

But put basically, it's a pre-order, they have been delays, there is a huge backlog of orders to sort out hence the long lead times.

Thanks Rich

I have decided I am definitely going down the EZ Robot route thanks to the advice that you have all given. To be honest the other route I was looking at (Axemblo) sounded really good before, (hence why I bought a Wifly this week), but the promise of a customisable app for IOS and one other important thing has been the decider. That this was the fact that there is this forum whereas on the other site there is no forum and nowhere you can even ask people anything. Forums are ace and it that that has made the final choice.

Now .... My final decision, do I design and build a robot whilst I wait for the V4 to become available, or do I order a complete kit and sit it out? Given that I really need to engineer a charging dock etc I am thinking a custom may be the way to go ..... unless anyone has any ideas on how I could remotely charge one of the Revolution bots?

Jay

and thank you all for all your help .... you're legends!

Hang on ...... Am I wrong or are all the STL files for the robots in the software ? I was only looking on the site before, but it looks like they're in the software instead ? So I could start printing now and just order all the electronics and stuff?

If that's the case, then the electronics that go in the head (camera etc) will that be available as I'm guessing its not the same as the one that's in the shop?

Cheers,

J

I think the robots have received a few slight tweaks since being added to the software but yes, you could start printing now and add the electronics later. That's the great thing about the revolution robots, you can print them yourself if you have a 3d printer. You can even make your own based on the parts in ARC.

Everything will be available in the shop so you don't need to buy the full robot, the developers kit should do and I expect everything else is available separately too.

I think I may have to place an order today for the board and battery, camera etc ! If I start printing and place an order for the rest, how are the eyes done? is it a PCB that goes into the head and is it available separately or are they eg 3mm leds that are separately controlled (can't imagine that as it would use a huge number of pins).

Also, I would be happy to order the servos if they had been available now so I could get the robot looking ready for the electronics when they get sent, but the delay and import tax and duties for them make the servos crazy price by the time they get to the uk. The tax alone is the same price as buying them over here. I take it I could use standard Tower Pro 995 servos for the heavy duty ones and but it also uses micro/mini servos? From my count, it looks like 10 heavy duty servos and 4 mini servos .... but the website says there are 16 heavy duty servos in total and no mention of mini ones ... I take it that that's a typo?

Thanks again .... almost ready to place my order once I get this last bit of help so thankyou.

:D

Just started printing the front of the head, as I'm figuring that's probably the most tricky part - I just want to check I can actually make the most awkward part before I place my order else it may be a case of ordering the head too !

Jay

Hi Jay, welcome to the forum, what material are you printing in ? PLA, or ABS ? Also what 3D printer are you using ? A couple of us have the FlashForge dual extruder model.

Hey Doc,

I'm using a RepRapPro Mono Mendel. I've not done loads of printing with it - have two heads set up on it - one 0.3 and one 0.5. I tried the 0.3 head and it was taking years and TBH the support material started drifting allover the place, so have just switched over to the 0.5 head. That seems to be printing really nice so far.

I'm printing the front of the head in PLA at the moment!

Jay

ps provided it comes out ok I will try and upload a pic later if I can.

Looking forward to the pic of the head!

Hey Jay, I'm glad you found the STLs and are printing. I can't wait to see the prints. I'm hoping to order a Solidoodle 2 in a few weeks. I'm very excited to be able to print the EZ-Bits. I've only seen a few in the forums so far. Maybe after yours are printed you could start a showcase thread called Community Printed EZ-Bits or something like that. It could showcase the EZ-Bit prints we've done and finished things from the EZ-Bit Ideas thread. Niek has a couple of JD to Roli adapters in that thread if you haven't seen them yet.

Would you mind posting the print time along with that pic? Thanks.

Of course no problem !

Argh ! Stupidly printed direct from the PC and not the SD card - print failed 15 mins before the end ! Oh well - have to print it tomorrow !

Jay

Just a quick question ..... the site has details regarding the dimensions etc of the heavy duty servo but there is nothing about the micro servo .... has anyone got any info on it?

Thanks,

Jay

Hey guys,

Just to say thanks for the help everyone has given me .... I have placed my first order with EZ !

Once again thanks for the great advice,

Jay

Which Microservo? I have files for a tower pro micro servo in my cloud files. You should (hopefully) be able to get it here

Edit: Maybe not... It's on one of my other PCs, I'll post it when I can. I'm sure I've posted it in the past though as a zip file somewhere if you fancy searching and digging around.

Another edit: It is on this PC too... here you go TowerProMG90.stl

Brill,

Thanks Rich ! Just ordered a load of PLA from Faberdashery so I can get back on with printing JD !

Jay

Still waiting for my PLA to arrive, but have managed to print off a few of the servo bits to check that the printer is doing a good job. I have a servo, so tried snapping it into a printed part (the straight servo bits for top of legs). Everything fits perfectly -- but -- am I right in thinking that the servos in the legs have one of the mounting sections cut from them so that it doesn't foul the printed part when it hinges?

Cheers,

Jay

I just wanted to reach out and say hello.and welcome to the community Jay! I often shorten the screen names

Hey jstarne!

How's it going ? Yep jay is my name lol (the keys part isn't anything dark lol) ....an ex pro keyboard player hence the weird keys ending lol.

Jay

The first part of JD that I printed .... ankle locks! .. part way through the servos now!

Jay

First Parts

:D

Sweet. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Did anyone know anything about whether the servos have to have one of the mounting sections removed to be installed in the JD legs sections? The brackets seem to foul the printed parts when they pivot

I have read something about some of the brackets requiring the mounting tabs on the servos to be removed so that they fit, I can't say for sure if it was for JD or not but it sounds like it may be.

@Rich is correct, I can't remember what, where or when but I do remember DJ confirming the need to remove them for something.