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.
Do you mean Roli will be with you in the house? If so, voice commands will work controlling him... If over the internet where Roli is somewhere other than with you, I will have to leave it to someone else to help... I do however know how to control the EZB over the internet via a computer or Android device, but that requires a mouse , keyboard or some other tactile user interface.. Not sure how to do (or if it's even possible) voice control over the internet...
I can use a mouse and I control everything from my computer and some voice control. I plan to run my Roli with my computer and my android tablet both with a mouse or mouthstick, but that would be after the power switch has been manually turned on, what I need is a way to power it on, unless there is that capability now.
Ok, gotcha' someone with some serious electronic skills should chime in here... sorry I can't help dude....
Remotely powering off should be a fairly simple hack. Here is a good thread on controlling switches from EZ-B https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/4427
Remotely turning back on is more of a trick. Once the EZ-B is off, it is not listening for a signal, so you would need some kind of physical access to the switch. Maybe a low power consumption DC remote switch (something like http://www.amazon.com/LOGISYS-RM02-relay-remote-control/dp/B000PI9E4K) could work for both the on and off (that was just the first google hit for remote DC switch. Probably better options available that are closer matches to the voltage and amperage of your Roli battery).
Alan
Wow this is a great application! I would like to help you with this one. First, let me find out what the power consumption looks like... You can power down all of the devices connected to the robot, and just let the ezb run - but first we need to see how long a charge will last if left on in lower power mode.
I'll get back to you
I going to say sleep mode would be the feature for this where the EZ-B is technique still on but no features running thus in power saving mode and waiting to be woke back up.
That would be an awesome script command... low power mode.... maybe something like... ezbhibernate()? And ezbwakeup()?
As Alan said, this has been discussed in the past, more than once. It's one of those things that has always been up the top of my list of things to look at but not made it higher than about 3rd or 4th on the list (autonomous charging is another one of those items).
I can't help much with it but I have a great interest in this so want the notifications of updates
FYI, for anyone looking for info on the EZ-B V3, with no load on any ports it draws 0.03 to 0.04 amps according to my Adafruit INA169 current sensor (one of the best things I've bought just because I was placing an order anyway and needed to get the order value up for free shipping).