subc
United Kingdom
Asked
— Edited
Inspired by this website and it's community I have just got hold of an old omnibot for my first attempt at creating an ez robot. As this is my first time I need some help and advice as to what I can and can't do and thought I would put my ideas to you guys and see what comes back.
My first idea is to remove the original drive and replace it with something like the rover 5, has anyone tried or achieved this?
Also I was wondering if there is anyway of controlling a tablet that is built into the omnibot via the ez-b?
I know this one is really out there but any thoughts on wireless charging or anyway of configuring it to charge itself when the battery is low?
Please excuse my ignorance and be kind
Check out the project showcase for many examples of Omnibot based projects for ideas.
I haven't seen an Omnibot with a rover base but there is one robot that uses a similar idea that I'm aware of
Controlling the tablet via the EZ-B no but since the EZ-B needs connection to a PC you could control the tablet via other applications on the PC. It depends on what it is you want to do.
Wireless charging has been mentioned before, it's inefficient but possible. Also finding the charging station/base when low battery is a topic of much discussion.
Hi Rich
Thanks for coming back to me, very helpful.
I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel so it looks like a good option would be to use a Roomba for the base, thus solving my drive and charging issues. Has anyone on here successfully achieved this? If so does anyone know which models of the Roomba are best for this and also quiet?
You definately want the i-Create. It is cheap and good. I have used it with the EZB many times.
Hi MovieMaker
I actually quite like the idea of the Roomba vacuum functions as an added addition to my robot as well as the automatic charging. Would I need to keep the existing Roomba controls or would the ez-b be able to take care of all the existing functions?
You only attach the roomba via a serial cable (all you need is 2 or 3 wire interface)... Then EZb would send instructions to the Roomba on what to do... Like (SeekDockingStation) command... or (sidebrushon)...the roomba then will execute the commands... Nothing more than that.. a simple interface....
Hi rryerson
Thank you for your advice, can the ez-b also control the vacuum functions? Has anyone successfully done this that can share a video or photos?
@subc Yes, check out the script manager in ARC for all the commands available to control the Roomba....
Ok I have had a good think about this and as it's my first project I seem to be overcomplicating things for myself. I have decided to keep it simple and maybe use one of the old R.A.D robot bases instead of a Roomba, anyone have any experience with using one of these for an omnibot?
My main concern is noise with this base as I have watched a few youtube videos and they seem quite loud, can you upgrade the motors so they are more silent?