Lt. Commander Data's child "Lal" My latest project which is powered by a EZB4, is a re-creation of Lt. Commander Data's android daughter Lal. It is based on Star Trek, The Next Generation, season 3:16 "The Offspring". She is intended to be a Humanoid house robot with less degrees of freedom movement from my previous robot Captain AnnDroid. I wanted to keep her her low maintenace, basic, and dependable. She is about 4 ft. tall and weighs about 13 lbs. " After new a servo addition" Lal's head utilizes 3 HD EZ Robot servos for pan (rotate left and right), tilt (up and down). and head daisy (like a puppy dog). 2 HD EZ Robot servos for arm movement now ( may add an elbow or wrist servo?). IRobot Create V.1 for drive platform. She uses great EZ Robot features like Multi-color camera tracking, and plan to add some type of A.I., like Dave Cochran designed. Special Thanks to EZ Robot and D.J. Sures for providing a great product that lets people pursue their robotic dreams.
By Steve S
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This is Eve. What do you guys think so far?
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steve S
nice work,cant even see the camera.
Thank you Patrick.
Yes Anthony, it is mounted in the R ear, drilling the opening bigger, without disfiguring her face.
Holy Crow! That is the coolest and classiest humanoid design I have seen. You nailed it dude, that is so Lal! Putting the camera in her ear is brilliant!
I'm super surprised that the iRobot Create can carry that mannequin. I would have thought that would not be possible.
Can you post a picture of the servo should mount? You have kids and grandkids, right Steve? What do they think of Lal?
Is she made of fiberglass or all rubber? Are you going to put her on/off switch on her lower back, as all Noonian Soong android have?
What did you use the cut the back out? A box cutter knife?
Can you tell I want to copy cat your design?
@ Steve S That is really a great mod/robotic build !
Thank you Justin. It is a smaller plastic mannequin that is very strong, but lightweight. I purchased it on Ebay for about $50. I think it stated in stock condition 43" tall. With the head/neck mod and attached to the Create it is about 48" tall. I had a larger one ,but went to the smaller unit because I wanted to use the IRobot Create. The Create handles fairly well, but the 4th wheel causes the cargo bay tailgate to flex some. I may add an additional aluminum strap to the tailgate for increased rigidity. The shoulder servos are held in place w aluminum straps. The servo gear is exposed through a center hole drilled in the arm socket, which is inset on the body enough to fit a HD servo horn cut to fit inside that recessed area. The way it fits together offers support to the arm and servo. Yes the grandsons check her out pretty well. They like having her track them and interact with her. My wife purchased Lal's clothes for $1 and $2. The top allows access to her EZB positronic brain. Yes, I plan to add a on/off switch on her back panel. I can try to find a link to Lal's body if you would like.
Thanks Robot-Doc, I always liked Lt. Commander Data, so I thought my smaller mannequin could be "Lal".
Steve, I tried to post a comment when you first posted but had trouble with the internet.
I just wanted to say: "WOW!, Steve, you have done it again!"
:-)
Thank you Mel and hope you are doing fine. Lal's training is showing progress, she can now recognize 4 different colored objects using EZ Robot multi color camera tracking.
steve S
awesome how che recognize colors and objects. did you use the camera script?
Patrick, Yes, I followed D.J.'s tutorial on multi-color camera tracking. Great stuff! You can modify to your particular robot and adjust to your individual objects to be recognized. I was surprised after some adjusting, I could use 4 colored objects!
Can you tell I like Star Trek? I am ordering her own IRobot battery, so she does not have to share with Ann. Lal's school experience is progressing, but has a way to go. Does anyone have a faster RSS feed for weather?
?
steve S
thanks for charing.i dont get mine whit tutorial from dj to work correct.
@Nomad, that's because you need to add some stuff and do a little programming yourself like Steve did....
RR
sorry late replay.ah it needs a script?
steve s sorry for using your topic.
@Steve S... That is a really cool robot. That was one of my favorite episodes. Maybe you could find a Star Trek kids uniform for her.
Patrick, you can add scripts in the camera settings, start tracking. Keep trying to adjust the color wheel till it works on the object.
rgordon, thank you, I have looked at Goodwill for "Lal" clothes, but a Star Trek uniform is a good idea.
steve S
thanks am trying.
Enjoying a nice spring day with my EZ Robots. This has been a great Journey and is still advancing.
wow very nice place and robots.
Thank you Patrick, I discovered EZ Robot in 2012 looking at the Robot Shop website. My satisfaction with robotics is at a new level. I like building robots of my own.
me in 2013,have alot to learn.i never learn so much then whit ez robots.
"Lal" shows her new Starfleet dress. "Data" always wanted her to attend the Academy.
super cool.
Steve that is awesome! The dress looks really nice on Lal. How about a dramatic video of Lal talking and interacting with Captain Ann Droid? Maybe a skit where Data is missing and the Captain has to enlist Lal to help search for her father by scanning for positronic brain patterns. Be neat to have a mock up of a science station for her to pretend to use......
Oh my ! I have been watching too much Start Trek....
Very cool Steve! That dress fits her perfectly. What size is it?
@rgordon, there is no such thing as "too much" Star Trek
You guys are such Star Trek geeks. Lol. I love it! I'm one too. I've been watching sense first run episodes of season one of the original series. Kirk was my role model growing up. Sadly I was never able to kick butt and get the women like he did. stress
Really sweet work Steve. Nicely done.
rgordon, thanks for the uniform idea. The sleeves will help if I add extra degrees of freedom. I wanted to alter "Lal's" voice a little with reverb (like Star Trek) to distinguish it from "Ann".
Justin, Thank you, The dress size is a womans XS, and is pinned back for now until it is altered smaller.
Thank you also Patrick and Dave. EZ Robots are fun!
"Lal" enjoying her new Starfleet uniform outside. Starfleet debates "Lal"?
@Steve G responded, I'm glad you did pull your phone out. It was a nice little video demo. In regards to light, LED light tape may be bright enough (depending on ambient light of course), but personally I think it would be a mistake. I love lighting, and the illuminated mouth on Captain Ann looks great, because it looks like a robot. Where as Lal has the human look and I'm not a flashing mouth would suit. I could be wrong of course and that's just my opinion. Hey, it might look pretty cool too, so it will be interesting to see which way you go. I guess you could try it with a couple of temporary LEDs to get an idea of what it would look like. Smile
Steve G, I moved the conversation. Thank you for responding, I respect your opinion and agree, that is why I have not done anything yet. After deciding the size limitations not enough room for movement, I had a headphone microphone type device to shine light on her face when she was talking. My wife thought it did not look good. I may try some LED options. Thank You
No problem Steve. I'd hate to see you do something and regret it later. But then, that's what making robots is all about... trial and error.
A thought for some subtle lighting though. Maybe you could accessorise her with a neon/ electroluminescent necklace, or maybe you could fashion a backlit comm badge (although I see she has the insignia printed on her uniform). Just a thought.
Lal now has a new degree of freedom for head movement, after being inspired by Bob H, thought it would be cool on Lal. Her pan and tilt servos now sit in a wishbone cradle, that is moved by a rod connected to a servo in her body below her neck. Her neck was also modified and shortened. Other improvements include a new movement gait using "AutoPosition". She still has a ways to go, but I am having fun. Please excuse "Lal" for not wearing her "Exterior Drapings" while she is being worked on.
She has very natural movement now Steve. Fantastic upgrade. Nice programming. Also the shorter neck is perfect. Much better.
awesome
Amazing how such a small improvement can make such an incredible difference in appearance. Great job Steve!
If you are able I would love to see pictures of the new internals. Fantastic improvements! Admiral Haftel even had a bounce in his step this morning after seeing the videos.
Yes yes...would like to see the head tilt mechanism...
The cradle pivots with almost most of original 2 servos weight below its pivot point. The 3rd and new servo sits below her neck in the chest area, connected to the cradle with a rod. Well you saw her topless, now headless! Thanks for the comments.
Very cool work on her neck. She is growing up!
"Lal" has updates including new movement gait to simulate walking, new LED's in her eyes, camera moved to eyebrow, switch attached to a servo that powers servos on after EZB startup, and a TVFirestick. Hope you like her updates.
Steve! You've been busy! To cool. Love the swagger in her walk. Welcome back!
Steve, I love Lal! I tried years ago to make a robot from a manikin and I found it super, super hard to keep the humanness and integrate all the stuff to make a functional robot but what you keeping doing is just brilliant!
I'd like to hear more about the LEDs for the eyes and mouth. Are the PWM controlled from EZB? As they special LEDs? Her eyes really sparkle how ever you did it.
stunning.like these video's.
Great work Steve! What is the Ai service that Lal uses in the video, it integrates nicely with your robot.
Tony
Dave, Her Swagger movement uses forward Auto Position reverse ARC with arm and head movement that repeat, and adjusted her dress to flow and move. Thank you
Justin, The LED's are very low voltage that came from an auto dealer mailing. I collected them from the other old guys I have coffee with at McDonalds. They are driven from PCSpeaker Sound servo set at a low scaler setting. Static (no sound) they receive about 0.35-.45 volts and with sound they receive about 1.45 volts connected to white signal wire and ground. Mouth LED's were a flop, looks like a vampire in low light! Very small area to work with. Thank you.
Hey Patrick, thank you.
Tony, The TVFIRESTICK is an Amazon (Alexa) product that uses a remote with a built in BT microphone. Sells for $49 w/voice. Using a $15 monitor with a HDMI to VGA adapter and audio stereo output. Alexa learns from my past requests. Specs say HDMI required, but also worked with low resolution composite 7" TV using a composite adapter. Firestick requires a USB power supply. It worked on my small ACER Iconia USB port, but the Acer became very warm. I might try a USB power bank making the battery tv with Firestick usable on a robot with no wires. "Lal" is currently using a BT speaker onboard paired to the Firestick that seems to work ok, but it gave a notice that interferrence issues may occur. I also have an Echo Dot that requires a wake word. The voice commands activating WIFI Plugs work directly with Alexa without a WIFI hub. The TPlink WIFI $25 plugs-in units are very easy to set up and also work on my phone almost anywhere. Thank You.
Wonderful creation, Steve!
pashley, Thank you. I have enjoyed your work and videos.
Lal using MS Cognitive Vision and Emotion thru EZ Robot Software I am making progress with my recovery, start therapy tomorrow. Now able to navigate into the sunroom, so I decided to adapt Lal with the great MS plugins on EZ Robot. Thank You EZ Robot Steve S
WN.com linkVery cool work! She is very cool!
Spooky. Well done Ray!
Glad you're doing better.
Another great video Steve! Very impressive.
Tony
mcsdaver, Thank you Dave, it was fun. I read your EZ Robot writeup. My first computer robotics experience was also with a Commodore 64 computer using a relay board, and a Covox VR (very crude) system. Have you tried making any more latex female masks? That was creative.
Dave, It was SPOOKY when I googled it! Thank you.
Tony, That means alot coming from you. Thanks Steve S
I am working on a C3PO robot about the size of my Dave robot. My android takes up a bit more room and needs larger motors. I will get back to her. I have 3 of the EZ Robot V4 controllers.
I just found out my robot "Lal" was featured April 5th in roboticgizmos and Robot Enthusiast, along with a link to EZ Robot. The WorldNews (WN.com) Network featured some of "Lal's" videos.
Will's robot "Alan" was also featured in Roboticgizmos November 2016. Thank you EZ Robot and D.J., YOU MAKE ROBOT BUILDING FUN for Everyone, even amateur DIY roboticist. I can't wait to try the HDD Servos, so many new advancements. Steve S
Roboticgizmos
WN.com
Robotic Enthusiast
Great to see your robot in the press! You have done a great job with Lal.
Dave, Thank you for your comments. "The Offspring" was one of my favorite Star Trek episodes. Steve S "EDIT" Added pics of Create Mounting.