jayceekeys
Hi there,
I'm Jay from the UK and have a few questions!
I've been into electronics, Arduino and robots for years. My last robot was the Wowwee Rovio ..... great as it could be controlled over the web and it had vid, but it's no longer supported and after fixing it many times over the years, it has now died ! Unfortunately there isn't a replacement off the shelf robot that does video streaming over the net.
Over the last 6 months I've built a 3D printer and thought well why don't I just build my own? I could program an Arduino and print the robot parts ... maybe buy some other parts that I need to too.
My biggest thing is that I need to be able to connect wirelessy over the net and get video too.
Although I could program servos etc easily from an Arduino, it does present the problem of how I build an interface on a PC or iPhone. I'm really good with electronics, but haven't done PC or iPhone software before.
I surfed the net for ages to find out whether there were any apps or software that would interface with an Arduino, and found one that worked with the WiFly board which could connect to the Arduino. The trouble is, although there is an off the shelf app by Axemblo
Click Here , and it shows an IP camera, and can control a robot (forward backwards etc), I don't think it is easily (if at all) customizable in case I want to add extra buttons etc. I ordered the WiFly board (Roving Networks / Sparkfun RN-XV) so I could have a play and see if I can get it controlling a Mega 2560 I have,
Then I found this site !
Ok so my questions ....
Does the software only work with the EZ-B (I'm guessing it works on bluetooth?). I really do want to use wifi due to range considerations.
What language does the EZ-B use? I'm used to Arduino, but be handy if I don't have to learn a completely new language.
Can the EZ-B use the WiFly that I have just bought (I have no problem buying the EZ-B as it sounds like a great piece of kit). I just don;t want to buy it and then find that I have to do incredibly difficult programing to build some sort of interface / converter.
Sorry if it's loads of questions, but this sounds sooooooo exciting and it seems just what I need!
Thanks,
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 !