
stelmobarry
USA
Asked
— Edited
Hello - I am mostly paralyzed from Lou Gehrig's disease and I won't be able to turn my Roli on or off to use it when I am home alone. My house is fully automated so I can be left alone for a few hours at a time. Is there a plan or a way to do this seemingly simple task? Robotics for the disabled is a largely untapped field. I performed a few searches but came up empty. Thank you in advance for your replies.
Also, due to the power supply being a Switching Power Supply, there is no heat during idle - therefore low energy consumption.
In this video, I talk a bit about the power supply that we created...
Funnily enough I had a similar thought to you, of doing something along these lines on my current build. I don't have my EZ-B v4 just yet but expecting it soon, so I have not had the chance to physically look at one. Can someone tell me how the EZ-B4 power button works, i.e is it a click ON/click OFF switch or a momentary ON/OFF switch?
I did some web searching and came across this on the Amazon UK site, something similar to what thetechguru found which I was curious about.
Remote control switch
Does anyone know, could something like this be connected to the EZ-B power switch or even bypass the switch completely and play nice with each other? Obviously it will need it's own power supply but a battery should last a long time between charges. If this was to work it would be a relatively simple and inexpensive fix to create a neat and useful feature for robot users from all walks of life.
Steve.
The power switch/button on a custom build could be anything you want it to be. I have a simple toggle switch on one bot, Melvin doesn't have a switch at all and my test bot I just unplug the battery to shut it down.
youtu.be/NilxwE9KV6I
Steve.
Steve.
A MOSFET based switching circuit to simulate a button push will used extremely little power. With the correct latching circuit for the power (i.e. a push on/push off type circuit similar to that of a PC power switch) the circuit will only require energising for a fraction of a second. A solenoid is effectively a motor, these are known for having very low efficiency. Not to mention the possibility of mechanical failure.
@steve, it should work. It's a circuit I've been wanting to get on to looking in to for some time now but never had the chance to do so.
A solenoid only uses power for a moment and the controller will only use a tiny amount of power when on standby plus relays can cause other problems like power spikes though the ez-b
Further details on this circuit
Something along these lines. This one even allows the EZ-B to turn itself off. This is just an example, there are other circuits which could also be used. You can also have a remote RF controlled switching circuit run along side it to simulate the push button for remote operation.
Alan