My robot story
For many years ( more than I would like to remember) I have been a programmer. I have carried out research into many areas of computer science. A friend suggested that I might find it interesting to take a look at robotics.
I did not really know where to start. So after some surfing I came across EZ-Robot. I purchased my first robot about two years ago. Revolution JD. Well I have to say this changed my life as far as computer science and related studies are concerned.
Using my Revolution JD and ARC I began to have some real fun. I then decided to purchase a 4ft tall Meccano Meccanoid. With the intention of turing into an EZ controlled robot. I put the end result of this task on the forum about a year ago.
This robot is now completely modifed with its own Laptop and mobile wifi and as I have stated completely under the control of EZ. I have also made the robot connect with a piece of computational software that I use all the time. About a year ago I placed my Revolution JD on the forum showing how the robot could now read text. Also the ability to evaluate text, for example, reading "The capital of England" the robot would reply "London". There are other features these are also shown on the forum. The features were made possible by the computational software. You can read about the computational software on previous entries on the forum.
However access to this external software was not perfect and although it was good for testing algorithms, which is the main task I use it for. The system came with a great deal of latency. Waiting for a minute to check a computation is not a problem to me. As I have said I am more interested in correct execution of the algorithm. In robotics latency is normally a problem.
Having learnt a great deal using the EZ system. I decided to build myself a robotics workbench. The key to being able to build the workbench was all that I had learnt using the EZ system. The workbench is also EZ controlled and can also be controlled by my computational software directly using another controller. Those of you who know controllers will recognize the other controller from the pictures below. Here is my workbench, I feel that it is quite an achievement for someone who two years ago knew very little about robotics.
All that I have achieved is down to EZ-robot, DJ Sures and his team. This is the reason for this entry now. I wish to thank DJ and his team and the community for all there help. I have some big plans for my workbench from the algorithmic viewpoint not a business viewpoint. So to anyone who thinks they would like to learn about robots. Then my advice would be EZ is the place to start. Remember two years ago although I am no computing novice. I knew little to nothing about robotics. I am sure the workbench and my Meccano robot shows that I have learnt quite a lot. I will continue using EZ but I will also be using other systems as well.
So once again a big thanks to EZ Robot and all concerned.
Other robots from Synthiam community
Jayutmb's My Ez Robot R2 Project :)
Smarty's Synthiam - My Robi 2.0
Sorry about the picture orientation they seemed alright when I uploaded them oops.
The problem seems to be phone. Sorry once again.
No worries - I can read upside-down!
That is a nice looking setup!
I agree - DJ and everyone here are super! This is one of the best forums I've participated on, due to the helpfulness, friendliness and respectful people here. In addition, I don't know of any company where the CEO takes such an active interest in "the every day part". If more companies (and governments) followed this model, the world would be in a lot better shape!
Yeah, I certainly agree. There are not many companies where you kind of feel you actually know the CEO.
That's really cool! It would be better if the pictures weren't all screwed up. Here's a great tutorial on how to get your pictures to post correctly. https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/UserTutorials/207/1
Thanks bhouston, Sorry about the screw up. Sorted now.
hi tezsmith
i bouth one too mecanoid 2.0.am no programmer but i have alot of fun, trying things out.and when it works eureka.first mod will be his hands.
i like your pictures,stunning to see whats all connected.
Great pictures!LOL You need to do a video of your bench in 'action'.
Yeah I will try to get one on in the next few days.
Yeah, totally...I would love to see your setup in action! Very interesting! I am also interested in connecting my robot to a learning algorithm to teach him how of to find certain positions in a virtual environment, but that is all somewhere in a galaxy far far away!
Looks superdope, thanks for sharing!
I shall upload a video later to show everything works. My main interest is the algorithms that run behind the scene. I am interested in getting this system to do just the sort of things you describe. When I get it to do something interesting I will video that.
Thanks for your comments.
Here is a video of my workbench functioning (very basically). All I have to do now is program. The bit I really like. However at this point I would like to iterate that my reason for showing the workbench was to show what I have learnt over the past two years with EZ and its community. As I stated earlier if you are keen to learn about robots this is the place to be. Anyway here is the video. One small point I refer to the slider controls as potentiometer. Strictly speaking that is incorrect as there are six potentiometers in the slider control. Now the video.
Wow - thanks for sharing and the kind words. It's great to see your setup. I like when people post their workbench setups almost as much as robots! Your bench and robot arms remind me of iron man's lab lol
By the way I hate making videos as you might have guessed by the quality and presentation. As I said earlier back to programming.
Once again thanks to all at EZ and the community.
Nice! Good work...... I have something similar that I have been working on... I am going to try and post a video as soon as I can...
Thanks DJ, it is always good when you comment.
@tezsmith No worries your videos are great... Love the detail and your set up... Gives me ideas...
Thanks for your comments Richard, much appreciated.
Nice set up. I can see it now, the turn table and the two arms sculpturing pottery.
Sculpting robot...
Yeah, sounds like a good idea. That would be some tricky programming. This is one of the best forums ever. Thanks DJ.