Everybody, Meet phil:)

Kenny Storm

USA
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Just got my EZ-B today, and I hit the ground running:) This is my robophilo robot. He's the cheapest 20 DOF robot on the market. PHILO stands for "Programmable Humanoid In Lifelike Operation". I Think the creators may have overlooked the cryptic acronym lol. I just set up the AutoPosition with his first movement. I cant believe how easy this is, I got him to this point in just a couple hours:) These are all standard servos, but with all of them running off the EZ-B, the regulators make some serious heat. Even had a couple brownouts. For now I'm using a 12v 3A power supply. The onboard battery is a 2 cell 750mah Li-po (8A continuous 15A max heli batteries lol) that I haven't tried yet.The next step is to give the servos external power, I don't want the EZ-B carrying all that juice:) Here's a short video and some pictures:)

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#2  

Wow!:D Just watch him and rename him according to HIS particular personality.

#3  

P.S. You COULD call him Doctor Phil so he sounds more knowledgeable. But then people would have to always be asking him questions, etc.

#4  

I thought that RoboPhil comes with a microcontroller.

#5  

It does, but it sux. The controller was an atmega32 with 8k of memory. Its infrared controlled from the factory with an optional upgrade to a playstation controller. The software was horrible and the flash memory would wipe itself if you ran the battery too low. I kept thinking to myself "there's gotta be a better way". Then I saw Dj's wall-e video and was hooked lol:)

Spain
#6  

Welcome, Kenny Storm, like you, I too was hooked on learning ez-b for almost two years, and his draft-legged humanoid robot is the first here, whether you can cosiderarse a pioneer! :D

PRO
Synthiam
#8  

Kenny! Great work:) You can use the STEPS to increase the speed of the servos also, in case you are looking for fast movements. I really like that you've adapted the Auto Positioner so quickly! Great work

To prevent the VR's from heating up, I use a 5cm by 5cm 5volt fan (available in surplus from eBay for cheap)...

Your EZ-B will run ALL day with no heat issues using this fan mounted like this :)

Here is a search: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_BIN=1&_sacat=0&_nkw=50mm%20fan%205v&_sop=15

I connect the fan power using the plug it comes with to one of the unused ADC ports

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#9  

Thanks for the warm welcomes:) Phil is progressing pretty well:) I added a lil 12v 40mm fan and stole power off the GND and Vin pins, no more cooling problems. Thanks DJ:)

The hardest part of the old software was getting him to sit and stand without falling halfway through the transition. This time, I only needed two frames. One standing, one sitting...and Voila lol got it the first try :D AutoPosition Rocks.

#10  

I'm kinda copying the motion sequence of the old board.

Canada
#11  

I like it:) Makes me want to get into bipeds now... just another 'roundtoit to add to my collection :P

Would you consider uploading your program so we can look at it? I don't have a biped, nor am likely to get one soon, but I catch on best by example, so seeing how someone else did something with Auto Position helps me learn quicker (even if just by comparing the steps with the video)... and your steps here look complex enough to really bite into :)

Looking forward to your progression.

#13  

Looks like Phil is coming along well. I am working on a humanoid also. Auto position helps a great deal.

#17  

User-inserted image Just got around to installing the camera :D

Canada
#18  

I love the Cowboy Bebop background... that and your camera angle adds to Phil's majestic pose :D

#19  

I love your bot kenny. Your one of the first members to tinker with bipeds and the ezb:) . If you dont mind sharing a secret or two .... what voltage are you running on your servos and what brand and torque rating are they? Thanks I look forward to watching your progress! - Josh S.

#20  

Thanks Josh:D Its mostly standard generic futaba s3003's, 5v 42oz in. The ankle toe up/down servos are supposed to be hi torque, don't know the specs on those. I really need to run external power to the servos with a 6v regulator to get a lil more torque. I need that power to get it to walk right lol

#21  

I've almost got the walking thing figured out. This takes lots of balance and strong servos...neither of which I have lol :D I'm gonna replace all the servos with Hitec HS-430BH Standard Deluxe BB HV servos. 70 oz in, and running straight off the battery, no regulator. That's about a 30% increase in torque :D

#22  

He is walking better than my first humanoid. I am sure with the new servos and some work you will get him walking all over the place.

#23  

Hooray for speech recognition:D

I set up some simple commands, added two servospeed init scripts(move fast, move slow), then added an auto connect script. So yeah, from power up to shutdown, my mouse is officially just for show lol

#25  

Thanks mcsdaver:D Very small update: if anyone is interested, I posted my current project file on the cloud under Examples.

#26  

I love your robot man. Your making great progress. I will watch closely as you work with phil. Maybe ill do a bipedal robot in 2013 but right now im enjoying yours. Keep those posts and videos coming kenny. Its gonna be a long winter. :)

#27  

Hi, let me just say your work is awesome! Now, when operating your Philo on the EZB, does it require a gyro sensor to maintain its stability while standing? I'm creating a humanoid of custom creation, and i just wanted to know. :)

#28  

@RoboticsMaster I am building a humanoid also. I hope to see your build as soon as you start posting pics and videos.

#29  

Nope, no gyros, just big feet and lots of fine tuning:) That works ok on my bot because its not very big. It would be awesome to add a 3axis accelerometer, just need to make sure its analog for fast reaction times. Well, that and I'm out of digital ports lol

#30  

Wow, that's awesome! Well, I need to start building soon, project SIHRO won't start constructing itself; yet, lol. Thanks, for the info, Kenny! Also, nice work on your humanoid mcsdaver! Would you have happened to vacuum form the face? Also, if you two want to check out the beginning of my little robot companion, you can view it here: http://letsmakerobots.com/node/33846

#31  

Today I added a battery monitor. Li-pos are easily damaged if the battery is run too low, and I wanted to be able to watch voltage spikes. My battery is 8.35 volts hot off the charger and 7.1 volts at 80% discharged. (20% remaining) I've been told the service life is longer if they're cycled this way. So, I studied the forum and did the 'ol twin 10kohm resistor trick to pull the battery voltage down to half of what it was, so as not to blow the ADC port. Here's my monitor program example. User-inserted image

The program creates the variable $Battvolts then updates the variable once per 1000ms. I messed with the multiplier till it matched my voltmeter. If the voltage is less than 7.1v (3.55 per cell) it plays my disable speech sound to alert me, once per second:D It's kinda funny, if I lose the bluetooth connection, ARC reads 0 volts and sounds the alert. I guess its kinda dual purpose lol After I was done, I added $Battvolts to my camera overlay :D

Canada
#32  

Nice mod. I made up a similar voltage divider but my script is an auto connect... if I loose connection (determined by no voltage) it automatically tries to reconnect, also with voice prompts :). I am running a AGM battery, a lot more forgiving, so I just manually watch my voltage with the ADC display, but I like your idea of automatic audio cues for low voltage... have to steal that one :p

#33  

"MY BATTERY IS NOW LOW , PLEASE CONNECT CHARGER" in B9 lost in space voice

#34  

Lol that's awesome:P Find me a sound clip and I'll do it :D

#35  

I have a sound clip of B9 saying "Energy cells exhausted"

#36  

I decided to change the arrangement of the elbow servos. I had been watching Robobuilder humanoid videos on youtube and saw that the servo joint was rotated 90 degrees. I set up some punching and throat chop moves with AutoPosition, then assigned the motions to joystick buttons.

#38  

So,I just downloaded the 12.13.12 update. I was ecstatic to see the camera resolution dropdown:) I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I'm havin some issue here. It seems that the menu only changes the resolution of the processor, but not the actual video capture pin. So the camera is still in 640x480 all the time. I tested this by uninstalling ARC, then installed an old copy(8.08.12-will not upload to anyone, don't ask) when the old resolution menu was still available. Worked crazy fast(30fps) @160x120. Of course, I can't use that copy because there's no autoposition. I mean it, I'm grateful for every update, this software just keeps getting better:)

#39  

@Kenny Storm, awesome! An inspiration for anyone with little experiance to "make it work". I am so jealous of your yet to be newly named robot!.....and thanks to DJ for the EZ-cooling "shield"