polbit
USA
Asked
— Edited
Hi everyone, new member here! I saw an article in Robot magazine about ez robot and got very interested. I have a Parallax Boebot kit that I have played with extensively, and looking for something bigger, preferably with lots of servos/sensors, etc., without breaking a bank. JD or six look like a lot of fun, but after I've read and watched few videos here, I've realized that nowhere is any memory mentioned for the EZ-B. Does that mean that the robot has to be tethered to a PC? No autonomous operations? If that is the case, is there a plan in the future for a companion EZ module that would be programmable?
Thanks!
Polbit
Correct, a PC or mobile device is required to be tethered for operation. The PC/Mobile Device is what gives the EZ-B the power to be as good as it is.
Many people mount integral PCs in their robots, now we have the mobile version this can be a tablet or smart phone.
Unlike the boebot, ezrobots are real science fiction style robots. Ones which can speak, understand voice commands and interact with the world through cameras. The power of the ezb is far superior to any other "hobbyist" controller - we use 3 x 32 bit processors totalling 320 MHz (if you include the camera). The EZ-B Firmware is hard coded to be used for robotics with robot functions. Because the CPU is still not powerful enough to support all of the functionality, the ezb requires a more powerful external CPU - such as a mobile phone or PC.
EZ-Robot is no different from other robots you will find that are more robot-like than a 1990's boebot - today, all of the advanced robots are powered by a PC (of some sort) - including NAO and others...
You will always have a mobile phone in your pocket, so it's quite transperant anyway.
The new ez-b connects via wifi to a pc or mobile device. The robot has to be connected the control device at all times. Rumors(they are rumors,so be cautious in believing them) say that a arduino board that connects to the ez-b is in the works.
That's true - there is an Arduino add-on that will be released after the EZ-B v4 is shipped... I wouldn't count on it being very awesome though. I don't know why anyone would want to program a micro controller when they have ARC for Windows and Mobile
So much hate on the microcontrollers... breaks my heart! I wouldn't know what to do with all the PC power when I count my memory space in bytes.
[/90s humor] Looking forward to when six is available in stock, I'll be placing my order then. Keep up the good work!
Polbit
Hehe, no hate on micro's since I program them
It matters what is best for the job - the EZ-B has 2 Microcontrollers on the board.. Just because "they" are not programmable doesn't mean the system is not programmable. The ARC has a much more fun programming environment. Also, if you wish to dive into code, our EZ-SDK can be used with C#, VB or C++.
I highly recommend C#, as it has become "the language to know" these days. I really enjoy C# - it's such a productive language to work with.