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This is Bob, our 3 ft tall house robot using the Ez-Robot kit and leftovers from plastering angle beads (lengths of perferated coated- right angle tin use to finish edges of plasterboard).
The angle beads are super cheap, can be cut to any length and can be easily riveted together. The big plus is the material is super light but strong. Bobs head comprises of 2 X 1.25 ltr plastic bottles. We are soon to retrofit Bob with Electric drill motors so he can venture up the driveway and down the street.
By Hazbot
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Since adding Bobs brain (netbook) his potential has grown 1000 times. I've been messing with him as a voice activation Juke box, a Skype Bot and a crazy dancer giving all kinds of information and holding sponges and T-Towels for me when I wash up in the kitchen.
I have some footage but I'm so busy running so many scripts with him that the video has gone on the back foot. Also Richie from Richies RC and Robotics is working on some new tracks for him (he now weighs in at over 6 kilos). I'm also looking at giving him some skin here and there. Bob has consumed me...I've become a slave to the Robot already.....
Goody for you!
I put the question to Bob..
My three year old daughter laughs laugh listening to bob like a baby!
ha ha ha.:D
Cheers
SPECIAL THANKS to Richie of Richies RC and Robots he now has fantastic tank treads, see through skin and can carry 2 bottles of wine inside him. Richie added 2 powerfull servo's and a new ingenious tank treads that had Bob powering outside through long grass, over tree branches and down the street.
No more H-Bridge, these turbo-servo puppies pull Bob along like a snowplough pulling a kiddie slay. I'm not sure if he has the treads for general purchase but when he does - you must try them. Come on Richie, get them up on your site, they are great - really !
http://richies-rc.com.au/catalog/
So whats next. When I get time there will be more video and pics of Bob with his new treads. For Christmas he's getting a Kinect so he can navigate around the house and he most probably have 3 different boards in him.
What did you say was the model and make of your servo you are using for wheels?
Also, you made a comment about BOB doing something that he was not programmed to do. When ever that happens, we call it Emergent Behavior. You tell the robot to do two or three things and he starts doing stuff on his own that you did not tell him to do. I have experienced this on some of my robots. It is really neat and a little creepy sometimes. Sometimes, Marty will just start laughing or simply tell me "Hello, Sweetie." Also, this adds personality to the bot.
One of my robots out of nowhere said he was looking for a man named "somebody", I forget. But, that was NOT in his programming at all. I looked through all of the code, and it was not there.
Typically me, I'm not sure what make and model of the servos but I'm sure the engineer of the system, my friend Richie of Richies RC & Robotics will give you the specs if you contact him at his web site.
http://richies-rc.com.au
On the subject of Robots doing stuff outside what we program or expect them to do - yes,it happens and this is a big fun part for me. There is no doubt when you combine speech recognition with actions, our robots seem to do weird and unexpected things. I remember PC computer chess programs in the 90's that seemed to make illegal moves to win games. Whilst we are on the subject, I'll let you in on a great discovery I made in my quest for total Robot automation. It happened while I was trying to figure the script to have Bob auto connect with the board. DJ helped solve it but in trying to do it in a unique and different way I discovered Windows has a program in System tools called Task Scheduler.
You can use it to WAKE UP your PC from Hibernation or Sleep mode. Then I discovered a program called Mouse and Keyboard recorder. This program has a schedule feature that can replay as many mouse clicks as you like at a specific time. So I started thinking... Ok, I get the digital timer to switch Bob on at a specific time.. He lights up at say 9:00 am. His board is flashing but he needs a computer so using Task Scheduler, his apron netbook comes on at say, 9:05. Then at 9:10 am, Mouse recorder comes on giving Bob commands - the curser starts moving around as if Bob is doing it himself. It's Awesome to watch Bob come alive in these 3 steps and have him complete tasks as if he is doing it himself. Then you can schedule everything to shut down. You need digital timers and Windows 7 or similar to do it but I urge everyone to try it.
Cheers
Hazbot
Instead of running purely from scripts and code, this way of operating Bob gives him a human element and looks kind of cool. Full credit to Richie for providing tracks that keep Bob moving with very little margin for error. I've programmed the timer for Bob to meet me in the Kitchen and play music on my work days. It's a fun start to the day,
good work!
I think the biggest breakthroughs have been the onboard netbook and the Mouse Cursor/Key stroke Automator. Whilst I have the upmost respect for all of you out there punching away code, I'm basically lazy, time poor and always looking for the easy way to do things.
It is my hope that in the near future, instead of bashing away at scripts and code, that there will be a series of buttons on your laptop or mobile phone and your only task will be to click away your instructions to get your housebot to do the things it needs to do. Of course at the cutting edge, there will always be some form of code entries, a smoking soldering iron, wire cutters, batteries and a clutter of nuts and bolts - That's the real Magic of Building Robots.
Thanks,
Mel
Yesterday, I had to Totally disassemble Marty. (RIP)
I have NEVER been able to get her to avoid objects. It may not be her fault because I live in a very small apartment (you have to back up to turn around). Everything else worked good. I am going to totally rebuild her. Her Hair gets in the way and tangled up in the servos. The arms are not balanced. Plus, I cannot user her as a telepresence unit in her current state. All of the wires are so thin and not very strong. I am going to be putting back twisted wires for less interference. I am going to add a PIR so she can tell me if there are any carbon based units near. I already have a temperature sensor. But, I need to convert it to F. Right now it is just a number between 0 and 2. I purchased a trash can to put her guts in. Hopefully, it will not create a heated situation. I may need to add a fan.
I have been operating her with Team-Viewer so I would not have to type on the notebook.
I have watched closely and have been AMAZED at what you have done with BOB , he is AWSOME!
Sincerely,
Moviemaker (Mel)