Day 1 (4th August 2015)
So after throwing around a few ideas for a new project to sink my teeth in to, I decided to go ahead and do my own version of an Astromech Droid, rather an Astromech "Smartdroid". With K-9 being one of my all time favourite on-screen robots, R2-D2 was (and still is) just as much of an all time favourite of mine so building one of my own droids is a logical step for me. As my other robot showcases where posted when the majority of the work was done, this will be a build diary of sorts, with updates throughout the build.
So wanting to get back to building, I had a few ideas floating around for my next BIG project and the thought about doing an R2 style robot came up a few times in the past (the blueprints I drew up that I've posted are 3 years old and was for an R/C version), and after encountering a few design issues for a large custom robot (which I will get back to one day), it was @Robot56's fantastic Astromech Droid project that was the final push for me to decide what direction I should go. There are so many great scale replica Astromech builds around that people have done, but much like my K-9 2.0 build, I want to stay away from doing an exact prop replica build and do a custom build with custom paint job (as seen in the blueprints) while still keeping with the overall original design.
So what's with the name E4-B4 (Eiifor-Befour)? Well its kinda based on the EZ-B 4, of which this little'ish guy will have two of them. One master v4 to control motor controllers, ping sensors, v4 soundboard, camera and sensors, while the 2nd slave v4 will be used for all of the servos used as well as additional sensors. E4 will be mainly built using MDF with a plastic covering, and movement will be powered by 12v 30 watt gearbox/motors for the drive system. The "burtt acoustic signaller" and system ventilation vents on R2-D2's chest area (the two silver square'ish panels) will be replaced on E4 with a tablet PC, and the Optical Holographic Projector in R2's head will be something similar to what E4 will have, using a portable projector like the Aiptek or the Pico Genie, so no holograms... yet.
The dimensions will be slightly smaller than the original prob, but not by much so E4 will be plenty big enough. I'm intending to fit a few useful tools that he will be able to deploy, and of course have the fully rotating head which will have all kinds of bells and whistles. I have some of the MDF sheets and 2x4 wood lengths for the frame already, and the motors and head dome (lampshade) should be with me sometime this week, so it will be power tools at the ready. I'm in no rush to finish this project, but I am aiming to have E4-B4 pretty much finished by this December.
I will posting lots of photos and few videos throughout the build process, so I hope anyone reading will find this build dairy interesting and enjoyable. And as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions (especially on the colour scheme). Anyway thanks for reading, and let the build begin...
Steve.
Other robots from Synthiam community
Kenny's Motion Activated Camera Pause Toggle
Brw's New Robot And A Bluetooth Question
Great stuff and thanks for sharing all this wonderful information. Are you able to control both EB brain units with 1 iPhone or controller? It looks like you need 2 to run all those serves and gadgets. excellent astromech, the rebellion would be proud.
@r2d2tech01.
Your more than welcome. I'm more than happy to share what I've done and hope it will give someone ideas or inspiration. I'm pleased you like what I've done and thanks for your kind words.
In regards to using 2 EZ-B's, that was the original plan, but I had trouble having 2 v4's stay connected at the same time. Because of this, I now only use one v4 and decided to use the SSC-32u servo controller board which connects to the v4 using one of the UART ports, and run all but two of the servos through that instead.
Thanks Steve, BTW voted for you on instructables, hope you get dude, and may the force be with you, always.
@r2d2tech01.
I appreciate the vote, thank you very much. Live long and prosper buddy (oops, wrong universe
)
I had to rewrite the ARC project as it became very unstable and kept crashing, but I think I've figured out what was causing it (badly placed sound files by me, competing to play over each other). So I've made two projects now... one dumbed down for mobile control, and the other which now plays sound files using exec() commands instead of using the soundboard (after a helpful reminder from Dave S). Seems to have made a big improvement.
I also received my new DSR conference microphone today, and after initial tests, it seems to work really well, with speech recognition commands being heard from across a large living room. I just need to find somewhere to install it into E4. confused
I've got a busy few days ahead what with Xmas fast approaching like a speeding train, and I'll be doing things I should have done while building E4. But I hoping to get part 2 of the video showcase filmed and posted soon.
I'm still blown away by this project! Well done and placed my vote!
Is there any literature on how the SSC-32u servo controller board works with the ezb? I would be interested in that for my astromech as well
Nevermind I found it haha
Also I will copy the code I wrote when I get home for a script that autoconnects the boards when a signal is dropped on multiple boards. I had the same problem that you did and the script helped a lot
Aaron
@Aaron.
Really, many thanks for what you said (and for the vote too). You know, this whole project is mainly down to you really. If it wasn't for your excellent R7 build and showcase which motivated me, chances are I would never had started this particular project.
Yeah, the SSC-32 is a great bit of kit, and I'm really pleased with how it performs. Sure I would have liked to use two v4's, but as it goes I wouldn't have had enough ports for servos anyway. It would be nice to have a look at your script though, and next year I may change my router anyway as advised by @thetechguru.
E4's been doing a little home schooling this evening, where I've been teaching him more objects and some family faces with the camera control. Tracking is next.
Anyway, thanks again buddy, and keep up the great work with your Astronech.
UPDATE. 12th December 2015.
Here it is guys, the second part of the video showcase to the one that's in post #129.
Enjoy.
I have been having great results with the conference microphone I got, and as you can see in the video, E4's speech recognition can understand me really well from a cross a room with, so far, about a 97% success rate with confidence set around the 70 mark.
I had to change the "E4" speech recognition command to "E4 listen", as it kept getting false positives and in-pausing the speech Rev control. It also doesn't help having a TV channel here in the UK called e4. Every time an ad for the Chanel comes on screen, E4-B4 would spring to life and go bananas, lol.
The "Astromech Translator" has proved popular as my nephew was enjoying asking E4 to tell him some jokes yesterday.
WOW! Great work, Steve. In post #144 you wrote you wouldn't have enough servo ports on 2 - v4's. How many servos are in your E4-B4?