Omnibot 2000 , Rad 2.0 Vacuum Bot

jstarne1

USA

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#1  

I like the idea of the RAD drive section - tracks ar COOL! And it would give great traction to move that vac around. And when you are hacking a robot, nothing is sacred. I also like the idea of the canister on the back, kind of like a back pack.

#2  

Bret i really wish we talked directly back and forth , you started your omnibot project way before me so you have valued info and experience with these guys, :-) thankyou in the tracks comment , i love the agressivenesss of tracks. Ha ha i have a walle ucommand in the mail that id like to make a automated pooper scooper ha ha ha

#3  

Dude - bret.tallent@gmail.com I am in the Norfolk VA area.

What a great idea for a Wall-e!

#4  

Mines kandyred@gmail.com , im josh , im in chattanooga TN

#5  

Hey guys,

Very Jealous of your Omni 2000. Broken arm or not that will be fun!

I have modded my RAD 2.0. The tracks are pretty darn powerful. I drive them with a 7.2V RC car battery. It may do fine....not sure about how it will drive the vac on heavy shag carpet. That would be an interesting test. We have a Shark Navigator vacuum too....now you got me thinking!

Below is the link to my project so far...i am still modding (Mine is going to be a Sentry Bot), but I will be watching your RAD project for sure!

btw, I am in Springfield, VA (just up the road from Bret)

Kevin

My RAD 2.0 Project

#7  

Lol , ez b needs a feature that let's them talk to other bots. So is your bot moving yet bret?

#8  

No, not yet.

I am waiting on a bluetooth dongle to arrive so I can't communicate with the board yet. I ordered the darn thing nearly a month ago so it should be here soon. Then I need to figure out how to wire up my h-bridge. I'll post video as I go. The first will be of the arms and claw moving.....;)

#9  

When we have our bots up and running, we should do a mid-atlantic region meet-up. Maybe at Oticon (big Anime convention) in Baltimore or one of the science fiction conventions in the region so we can show off a little as well as meet each other.

Alan

#11  

My inner nerds comming out ha ha ha , robots could follow us around the show .

#13  

Very cool inner nerds I think! Meeting up at some time would be awesome! Those pics with Omnibot and the vac are so cool!

Kevin

#15  

Ok my girlfriend went home so I have a couple nights to get the project working. I removed all factory electronics without cutting any wires. Brain and everything is intact so I'm putting all of it on eBay. Might get me 50 to 75 for a perfect set of guts. The bot has Brown discoloring in some places. I have it in the dishwasher with 3 to 4 cups of bleach and regs dishwashing powder. If this doesn't do the trick any other ideas? I don't know strong the OEM drain is. There's 8 sets of plastic gears so I see why its loud.

#17  

Ok I went to sallys beauty supply and got a large bottle of peroxide layup. That's peroxide that is already gelled. It was 3.50 USD. Then a tub of oxy clean powder for about 3.50 as well. Last night I washed parts in diswasher with 3 cups bleach and barely made a difference. So now I'm trying the retro bright peroxide method!

#18  

That all seemed like too much work to me so I just painted mine like DJ did his omnibot - I just changed the color scheme on mine. You can use plastic spray paint and it works really well.

#19  

I have a weird thing about stuff being nice as possible before nodding. I actually plan on a automotive quality paint job from a body shop however I won't do that until all cutting , molding , fiberglass ext is done. So ill give it the college try but in the end its getting paint.:) but that could be 3 months from now so I like it to look good as possible in progress pictures.

#20  

Ok update after 2 days of cleaning. I went through a bucket of oxy clean and a pint of 15 percent hydrogen peroxide and it definatly lightened the Brown iv damage. However they were only about half gone after many hours of treatment in the sun. So I took remaining oxy clean and added a couple scoops every cycle and ran it through my dish washer about 6 or 7 Times. This proved more effective than whitenening with retro bright type formula. Then before this last load I took 400 grit sand paper and soap n water to really stubborn areas which worked well from just a few minutes but your fingers will hurt tryin to get into those really sharp crevesas and curves. The front chest piece is completely clean , as well as bottom and lower half of omnibot. Now its just the edges if the arms and top of the head I need to clear up.

#22  

I'll post pics this evening hopfully after I've finished cleaning up the edges of arms and top of the head. In cleaning I've noticed small damages the bot has incited that has made cracks and splits in a few places. I will definitely fibreglass around these mounting points and cracked areas i previously couldn't see through the browned tar.

#23  

I gotta fit lots of stuff in this bot. I think need 20ah worth of batteries , I'm thinking of doing three 12v power sonic sealed batteries. The motherboard draws 90w max but more like 40w average. It's just a dual core atom 330 with nvidia ion gpu. This motherboard came with a its remote for powering on and off , playing music and DVDs ext. I have a New HP lightscribe DVD RW data for the project and standard size 3.5 in Western digital 250gig Hdd , (the PSU is build in onboard) , I also must install a dc to dc regs power supply. This protects the electronics from spikes or drops in voltage. I have the Asus it eye I need to mount somwhere for the remote. This mobo has WiFi and Bluetooth built-in so connection to keyboard and mouse wirelessly is easy. The mono is 6.5 in square and 2.5 in thick. I def need to open up some vents . I'm thinking 5 inch fans mounted horizontally, one above ez b and another above mobo and a exhaust fan somwhere low. I need to install a switching power supply (battery charger) onboard so that all I need to do is plug up a strong act adapter and it charges at the same time pc is running. I removed the bottom counterweight and cassette player/LCD from the chest since that's not useful.

#24  

This is the batt I'm thinking off

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#25  

So you are thinking of running 3 of those batteries? Cool. Is there room in the frive section for all three, to help keep the center of gravity low?

#26  

I believe I could remove the drawer and line three up side by side. That's like 15 pounds of batteries though. If I must ill just run two but I want.the bot to be able to go autonomous for 2 to 4 hours at a time without completely draining the batteries as it needs time to dock and recharge. Ofcorse I'm loosing the metal wieght under the drawer that wieghs about 5 pounds and took the cassette and LCD out so I'm not adding but about 7 to 10th pounds I believe in difference from batteries. Hopefully it will have enough weight the dog won't knock it over.

#27  

Ok tiny update , batteries on the way , the are 6" L 2.5 W 3.8 tall. They weight 5.9 pounds. So two batteries is 12 pounds , 3 is 18 . I may only install 2 for weight reasons. Also SOUND Deadening is somthing I'm adding in. I'm trying a spray in deadening liner. This is common in high end car audio to block road and wind noise. I'm thinking I could coat the outside of the motor housing and inside where there is no moving parts , and outside all over bottom and top of the gearbox casing. The inside the the bottom half of omnibot would all be coated and inside of torso. Hopefully I can dampen most motor and servo wining! I'm going to take a look at gear housing , if I can fill the gear box area 1/3 with a "gear oil " which is fairly thick ill do that , I believe the bottom of the case is sealed , trick is not putting too much in so the motor itself isn't submerged , this will silence the gears some and add lubrication this little guy hasn't seen in 26 years.:). There is a gear switcher for the transmission which I may replace with a servo but it has a "low speed high torque" setting which may be useful for vacuuming or toting around 10th extra pounds of batteries it didn't originally have..

#28  

Clearly I've been playing lol. Here's pics of parts after a day of cleaning , the best results appeared after 7 runs through the dishwasher.

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#29  

Dude, that looks sick sitting on those tracks! I love it!

#30  

Thanks , still wieghing options , on a pos note you could do this on your omnibot ! Tracks would be perfect for your bot! I believe you have a rad right? They are going cheap these days. As you can sew the top of bots head and back are still yellowed a bit but its almost completely clean. Thanks for watching my posts Bret , feedback and ideas are what makes the projects even more creative and exciting.

#31  

Agreed that the R.A.D. tracks look quite at home under your Omnibot 2000. cool Nice to know I'll have an alternate option if my Robie Sr's drive is a dud. I also love the embedded PC and the location it's currently mounted. I'd really like to do that for my Robie Sr if I can. Would a little home theater PC (HTPC) running Windows 7 Home Premium be beefy enough, you think? I really want the speech recognition to work and having low power requirements wouldn't hurt either. :D

#32  

That is looking really sweet. Love your plans for onboard ITX Mobo! I am very interested on your take of the track drive train. How much voltage are you going to supply to it. Right now I am giving my RAD 7.2 volts and even in low gear mode it moves along pretty fast. I may cut the voltage in half making two low and two high speeds....not sure yet. As far as sound goes. My wife will back me up on this. RAD tracks are LOUD! The gearboxes and motors definitely need dampening. Your idea with the gear oil sounds awesome and I will be following this closely as well as your sound dampening ideas.

Looking awesome!

;)

#33  

Yes a Asus mini itx is a great option, it draws less than 20 watts and has built in PSU so it just needs its 12v input ( pretty sure that's watt the act adapters rated for at voltage) it has built in WiFi , Bluetooth, hdmi, dual monitor support, ect. There's beefier versions but I wanted the best power for the wattage. The next step up 20 percent faster and has a larger heatsink. They are made to be home theater computers with recording capability, support for 4 data drives , 4gb ddr3 ram and even a PCI express x16 slot for a nicer video card , video capture or whatever. These boards have comparable performance to a 2ghz p4 mobile CPU for 1/4 the wattage and heat. Also it doesn't require enourmous amounts of air to cool because of the larger fanless heatsink.

#34  

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Omnibot gets final bleaching , I used salon 40 lift peroxide and powdered beach mix together to make toothpaste type thickness or little thinner , hit with heatgun , set for 2 hours and then ran through dishwasher.

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#35  

Batteries are here today ! The drawer just so happened to fit one 7 ah battery with no mods. However in the future I would like two or three in the bot. Here's a pick of one and layout for two batteries. Two batt gives me 17ah @ 12v way more than original batt. I'm not worried about tracks till after I get this thing running and ESB in my hand.

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I'll do measurements later but I believe a couple batteries could lay ontop of the gearbox as well. After measuring I found that cutting out the AA battery and fuse area on omnibot leaves me with a easy 4th place to mount a 12v 8.5ah battery. This juice hungry monster wouldn't be running to the charger anytime soon with 26ah of juice from four batteries, how crazy would that be! Excellent news is my battery guy gets me 3 batt for 19.99 name brand yusa New! So if anyone needs some lemme knoww:).

#36  

yeah, i have an dual core ion for an HTPC right now. Those things work very well. What are you planning to run on it? Are you going to go with the SDK or ARC. I am really liking the added features DJ is putting in for I/O. That way you can leverage all the cool controls and easy scripting DJ has in ARC but also send/receive using the TELNET/Web interface. That opens you up to using programs like Autohotkey and Eventghost to automate other processes that are not currently in the ARC realm. For examply if you wanted to tie this into your caller ID system. you can do it and have your bot speak who is calling or read to you the latest news feeds when you ask it. Looks like you are moving along well with your project. Thanks for the connection on the batteries..I may take you up on that at some point.

Kevin:P

#37  

Thanks for feedback Kevin! Ironically I feel like I haven't done anything! Lol I cleaned the bot the last time so I'm ready for some cutting! My favorite tools are my Kawasaki and dremel brand rotary tools. Not only will this.be.a.robot but its gonna be my grove with.blueray player. I don't know anything about the interfaces yet but ARC sounds easier at first. I basically plan to put a nice touch screen fan controller in the chest and blueray drive but I need to trim up some plastic as I need another 2mm on each side to fit. I though about mounting drives on front of the.base above the.gearbox too but first things first! Mounting the motherboard upside down in the motor compartment and cutting the rectangle hole out of the insert behind the accessory door so I can flip up the acc door to cover pc connections when mobile/autonomous. I will only use super quiet rated. Fans , like 30 dba then ill use the fan controller to reduce their.voltage till they are 20 to 25 dba so I can't.hear fan buzzing as it cools ez board or.HTPC inside.

#38  

ASUS DELUXE HTPC MOBO FROM NEWEGG.COM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131635R

PCI Express x16

SATA

Onboard Video Chipse

Wireless LAN

Bluetooth

PS/2

Video Ports

HDMI

USB 1.1/2.0

S/PDIF Out

Audio Ports

Onboard USB

Form Factor

Dimensions

Features

Learn more about the ASUS AT3IONT-I Deluxe

ASUS

AT3IONT-I Deluxe

Motherboard/CPU Combo

Intel Atom 330

Yes

Intel Atom

533MHz

NVIDIA ION

2×240pin

DDR3 1066/800

4GB

Dual Channel

1

4 x SATA 3.0Gb/s

NVIDIA ION

Realtek ALC887

6 Channels

10/100/1000Mbps

WiFi IEEE 802.11b/g/n

Yes

1

D-Sub

1 x HDMI

6 x USB 2.0

1 x Optical

1 x 2-CH RCA AUDIO 6 -Channel Audio I/O

2 x USB connectors support additional 4 USB ports

Mini ITX

6.7" x 6.7"

Intel Atom 330 on board Nvidia ION Graphics Processors Home Theater Gate WiFi 802.11b/g/n and BlueTooth Wireless on board DC on board Remote Controller & Receiver

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#39  

@ KEVIN I plan on testing drive motors at 12v and then scaling them back with adjustable voltage controllers , I will turn it back from 12v till the motors are more quiet but still can pull the bot around fine. This voltage stepdown would reduce current draw over running it wide open at 12v. It would be nice to drop it to 5 to 6 volts but that really must be tested, lowering voltage is a proven way to lower sound and saves battery too:). At first I will use the omnibot drive which already runs at 6 volts maybe I can lower it to around 4 - 4.5v and the bot still scoot around fine.

#40  

@jstane1 Be careful driving the RAD motors at 12V. You don't want to burn them out. Stock they were driven at 6V. I am pushing 7.2V to them and they seem fine. Not sure I would drive them to 12V..maybe for testing. At 12V if they don't burn out, they will turn the gear box even in low gear very fast. Just a caution when you start testing. If you have another power source, you could check it out at 6-8V first before hooking up 12V. I would not want you to burn the motors out. I would probably say that is the same for the Omnibot motors too...especially if they were stock at 6V.

Good luck! Thanks for posting the specs on your mobo.

v/r

kevin

#41  

Thx for feedback , checking YouTube there are.others running 12v on rad and omni but when I meant starting at 12v and testing I was reffering to the battery I was using being 12v not that being the voltage I put to them , I rather undervolt to 5 volt if I can. Can you try under volting yours and see if it significantly affected it?

#42  

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Okay I coated all of the bot especially the problem areas with 15 percent hydrogen peroxide , and I'm rinsing that after 2 hours then adding more and let it sit overnight , then tommorow am I will recover the parts in solution and let it sit for a few hrs in the sun.

#43  

@ Kevin you definitely gotta tell me how to get my personal robot to read feeds and messages. There are text to speech air programs out there that some trendy websites are using that allow the bot to literally have a conversation but that's on a webpage I don't know if that could translate to use with the robot. First thing I gotta figure out is how this guy will charge. I was watching a 90s movie called evolver that was basically a autonomous laser tag enemy but he charged literally seeing a regular 110 volt outlet and plugging his arm in that had a power plug on it. Copying the way roomba does it wouldn't be bad either.

#44  

Alright some parts came in. I have 4 sheets of dynamat come in still waiting on two more. The ez board kit came in today! I have HDD mounting bracket and cooling fans. Just waiting on my fan controller , motherboard and CPU. I sold the Asus theater pc board on eBay and reined around to buy a nice one with am3+ AMD socket with 8gb ram support still mini itx form factor. The board I had was 20w CPU power consumption so I am being careful to get the most performance from a processor and keep it 45 watts tdp or less. I found a dual core Athlon x2 25w 2ghz I'm considering but there's a 3ghz version that uses 45watts. So I'm tossing between these two performance vs my bots autonomous battery life.

#46  

Updating my progress thread , adding pics of the sound.deadening progress.

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#47  

Im thinking of adding a second omnibot gearbox and.wheels in place of the dummy wheels that were in the back. This is a backup idea because my bot will weight 15 to 20 pounds over stock fully loaded. Anyone think lining up a second gearbox to drive only the rear wheels? I have a gearbox and extra stock wheels. Motherboard , CPU , more batteries , fan controller , CPU heatsink , 6 micro 40mm ultra quiet low current draw fans are on the way. So can I use more than one ultrasound sensor on a bot for mapping? For example on on head and one near floor. That way he doesn't run into the edge of the workbench , person or table.

#48  

@jstarne1 did you wrap the enire motor? I think I may want to get some of that. But then again, now I am thinking about scrapping my omnibot build and just working on my big bot. After seeing RCRichie and his daughter's scratch-built - I have the bug. lol

#49  

If you do scrap it let me know I would love to get some parts from you , like drive train maybe wheels

#50  

I only wrapped the center of the motor , and outside surfaces of the case. The rubber grommets are mounts that hold the motor in place. Can't wait to get this dude moving around!

#51  

After measuring a bit I need to loose 2-3 inches from this canister and 2-3 inches from the casing above the vacuum motor / blower . Thats over 5 inches shorter because the canister and motor needs to fit into the back of the bot. No doubt customizing the back of Omnibot 2000 upper torso to include this and also route the vacuum hose down to the power head under the bot will all be challenges of fiberglass and hot glue engineering lol. I have not descided which voltage to power the vacuum with but I believe I will use straight 12v from a dedicated battery seperate from the main systems. The power head motor uses 11.1 volts and so does the vacuum motor. Running them at 12v I don't believe will be any significant difference. I may experiment with running the vacuum motor at 6v as well to see if I can make the system around 40 to 50 decimals so that it is not so darn annoying. I have three adjustable step down converters on the way. Also I havevs ideas for a wet mop that too but one thing at a time.

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I changed what computer I'm using to somthing with a lot more power. It's a new motherboard just released from ASUS this month. Massive power , runs off 12v dc but only 39 watt http://www.ebay.com/itm/190500465148?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

The CPU I chose was AMD Athlon x2 dual core 2 GHz http://www.ebay.com/itm/260928442285?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l264

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Here everyone can see I hollowed out the accessories panel in the back of Omnibots base. Lucky me its just about perfect to have a flip down access door to all the pc connections. I had to cut away the two posts that screws go through which were both hollow. It still is not aligned perfectly. I will cut away a hole the size of the board and recess it to make my connections and this door line up right. The are where the drawer was I believe I will install two 5.25 in bay hhd fans each one has three 40mm fans that move about 5 cubic ft a min. With 6 of these tiny low current guys I'm moving at least 30 cubic ft a min away from my electronics. I will have at least 3 identical intake fans in the chest , also a 5.25 in triple fan bay cooler. Testing battery fitment where I was thinking of installing two 12v 8.5 ah 6 pound batteries.

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Though I have a slim blueray drive on the way it looks like my new HP lightscribe drive fits right at home above the two battery mounting positions. I have a Digital readout to install on the front for motor temp , wattage , current draw , and live battery voltage. That will fit at the top of the chest I believe.

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This is the bay fans I was talking about

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Black bay fans I'm using http://www.ebay.com/itm/260928442285?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

#52  

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This is one of the black.ones.but I have.2 more.that.match the Omnibot color perfectly. These are 40mm x 20mm triple set of fans. I believe.they move 5 cubic foot a minute per fan .

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This is a Silvia Nissan logo , its first letter of.my.last.name , .if I ever paint this I will.definatly use.these.badges.

#53  

Sick! He is looking Sick! I love what you are doing. What if you made the bot taller instead of the vacuum shorter?

#54  

To answer everyones question that I have been emailed .... The motherboard is being mounted upside down. I'm making a battery mount that fits in the bottom of the torso with wood , motherboard will mount to the bottom of the battery tray , I will cut away a section of plastic the size of the motherboard. This will recess it 1/4 inch to line up correctly with the accessories door I hollowed out for the pc connections. Mounting the motherboard upside down is more practical because you can only access it by removing the bottom of Omnibots chassis. This gives me a few crucial inches to upgrade heatsink or add a high end video card later , but right now I believe onboard graphics are rated to handle 1080P Blueray decoding and HDMI which is what's important to me:)

#55  

@bret that's a great idea , I could turn the base /bottom of omnibot upside down , it should be the exact shape of the top of 2000 base , maybe that would add 2 to 3 inches?? Or I have more 1/4 in plywood , I could make a spacer I guess. Hmm I need to get the board n other stuff mounted first. If I add a spacer section then I will definitely need to do some painting. It could add some extra space for drives /fans too though , hmm. I will definitely consider this.

#56  

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Ok I modified a backoff panel and cut down all sides with my dremel. Then glued it to the accessory door. First time I glued it upside down..... Oops lol. I removed it with a razor and flipped it around. I'm hoping all plugs clear but more cutting can be done if needed.:)

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A test fit:)

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I glued in 4 brass stand offs that the motherboard mount to. They are in mini itx configuration so if I ever upgrade boards its a easier swap. The stand offs put about 1/8th in gap between the bottom if mini itx motherboard and the wood. I plan to epoxy this wood on both sides all the way around to stuffing the Omnibot base to support the 12 pounds of batteries that will be mounted at the bottom of the torso.

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I have a idea here. I'm planning in mounting the ez board to one side of the base wall and motor controllers right beside them if I have room. If I don't I will mount the h bridge to the opposite side.

#57  

Ok just for fun I tested.how many batteries I could fit inside , I could fit one battery in the drawer , and 4 batteries in the bottom of the torso. Also one battery fit ontoo of the gearbox but that's completely impractical place to put a battery. So I have figured I could have a maximum of 5 yusa lead acid 12v 8.5ah batteries. That's 34 ah of juice , and 30 pounds total of batteries. With five batteries the platform would weigtht 45-55 pounds. More than likely I will only do three batteries. That's 26 ah and 18 pounds of battery weight. This feels like a weight the stock gearbox could lug around. Any opinions are appreciated! Take in mind I removed the 3 pound weight from the base and removed another 5 pounds from removal if the cassette player and stock motherboard.

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#58  

You may want to add some weight to the drive section and just see if those motors can move it. Remember you also have the weight and drag of the vacuum to consider.

#59  

I'm going to get the battery tray done , mount up the fans , and mount up ezb. Right now I don't have a h bridge , it was accidentally not shipped with my ezb so all I can mount is the sonar and ezb, fans and batteries now.

#60  

Man it is really coming along! I really like how you are mounting it all in the bot. Looks professional. I still think you could add a spacer so you don't have to cut down the vacuum. I saw that someone else did it to 2000 that he painted black. It is somewhere in the forum under projects I think. He just used wood. Question Josh, If space is not a real problem and you already had one, do you think a standard ATX motherboard would be acceptable? Or is it more of a power issue?

#61  

It won't fit a standard atx unlesss the board was mounted sideways . The power supply has to be a small one. There are 160 to 200 watt power supplies , mine litteraly is 1.5 in x 3 in and produces 160 watts continous. But really though there are lots of atom power mini itx boards that use way less juice but still do the job. I picked this board because with a simple CPU change I can go from 25 watts 2.0 GHz , but I can plug a AMD Phenom X2 555 quad core 3.4 GHz at a drop if a hat.

#62  

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Ok so I made a battery tray for two 12v lead acid batteries , still room for a 6v ub645 if I needed a dedicated 6v battery. But I have those voltage step down controllers in the way. I used 1 in thick shims on all for sides of each battery and glued them down so the under no circumstances will the battery move. Then cut a 1/2 in slot and ran a Velcro strap through and that straps down the batteries so they don't move even if turned upside down. (yup I did it). I held up the two ventalation fans , I will be making the drawer hole larger to match the size of two 5.25 drive bays. I have several xt60 plugs I'm using as high amp battery connections. At this point I just need to find a good mounting point for the hhd and t coming soon a blueray disc drive. I also checked the vacuum power head vs the rear wheels which is where I thought of mounting the power head.

#63  

Omnibot is going to have a full belly for sure !:) J.W.

#64  

A full Omnibot is a happy Omnibot! Lol. Right now I'm kicking around a idea to use two servos in tandem for arm movements. Mounting two side by side and run a pushrod on.each side of secondary helper servo to main drive servo. Both would share the same signal and ground so they move together this would pracically double the torque the shoulders have. I would like the arms to be able to lift 3 plus pounds so it can hold a wine bottle with no problems.

#65  

@jstarne1, Looking great so far! So now that you have a freekin awesome MOBO going into your bot.... a few questions. What do you plan to use for a monitor? What size? I noticed you had a Blue Ray player ready to go but just for planning..and saving power and real estate.....do you need it? Unless you are going with a 42 inch screen or larger... putting up 720p will really be all your eyes will notice for resolution.... and you can easily stream that over wifi (you can probably stream 1080p with the MOBO you have with no issues). That is..unless you actually want to put the disk in the tray to watch a movie, which is kind of a novelty.

You could even put a projector on your bot and have him put up a projection.........or have it so your bot could jack into any HDMI source and get the party started!.....VERY COOL!...anyway, just curious as you have some decent processing power now available for ARC and more if you want. Just was wondering what you were going to do for a screen, or if you are just planning on no screen and remote control? Running XBMC on a built in screen streaming videos while your robot danced would be awesome!

v/r

Kevin

#66  

Kevin, every time you talk more money goes flying out of my wallet. Now I am going to need to buy a pico projector dammit;)

Alan

#67  

Lol I have a 7 inch I have contemplated. I figured I would plug in my 42 in LCD through hdmi and when I need it to be mobile I could either remote desktop from the tablet so I see everything vicariously or switch Bluetooth connections to the tablet. I'm not real concerned about having a built in monitor but I'm considering options. Obviously I need somthing small. I thought about using one of those USB powered 5 in LCD monitors and stick it in his chest but I definitely don't want dj to think I'm stealing ideas. And by the time I'm finished I want to be 109 percent sure no one would ever confuse my bot for someone else's:). If anyone has monitor ideas I will definitely take the ideas in consideration. Right now I gotta figure out how to make a radar with the sonar module. I've never done it before so anyone who can't point the right direction would be greaaaat. Projector? Wow if I could fit one in Omnibots head after fitting the camera and night time ir led rings .

@kevin yup everything about a bot is novelty lol , I just want to give him as many practical uses as possible. One is autonomous use , sentry , watching bluerays off him , use him as a pc when charging batteries as I don't have any other pc besides my tablet (hard to believe I know lol ) obviously possible plans for autonomous vacuuming in the works. But the reason why I made all connections accessible through the accessories bay is so he can go from desktop to autonomous in seconds. The more practical uses for a creation the more it will get used. Id really love for it to play catch with my dog , she just chases the ball she doesn't care who or what throws it lol.

UPDATE; I recieved the AMD ATHLON 2 x2 2ghzCPU , had bent pins but I carefully corrected them. Tommorow I will bench test everything , maybe load Windows. ( if anyone can hook me up with a copy that would be awesome). I also recieved 2 ,6v batteries uv 645 , the Asus blueray player slim USB powered also came in! Plus 4 more sqaure ft of dynamat came.

PICO projector? Anyone have links , costs? Specs?

Anyone point me to right article for making a radar setup with sonar sensor?

Thanks guys all support and suggestions greatly appreciated , I'm just trying to mod the greatest omnibot 2000 to date , and I'm confident with everyone's help I will!

#68  

Here is the link to the PING radar tutorial: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Hardware.aspx?id=3

Note: since this was recorded DJ made a change to the ping calibration and it no longer measures in inches. Each increment is ~0.27 inches (~70 inch maximum range / 255 increments).

Pico projectors: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=pico+projector

These are last year's models and stock over-runs for decent pricing (as these things go). None of the Pico projectors has had great reviews yet, although they have been improving every year since they came out about 3 years ago. At this time, I would just buy the cheapest available because the difference between the best and the worst is not significant.

Alan

#69  

@alan thanks man. Ok guys I have a idea to add some movement to a omnibot. A turning waist ! I believe I could do it with a couple heavy duty metal gear servos and a ball bearing swivle plate used in furniture. I love the flexability of what Muppets thought Omnibot should have been.....besides that he's all yellow and dirty lol. And yellow eyes.

#71  

I particularly like the 5" floppy drive in his chest hahaha

#72  

@bret......ill just go.with a dvd/blueray in the same spot.... I'll use that more:). I haven't.seen a floppy like that in ten years in person.

@kevin good news I researched to AMD II x2 270u is the exact same core as the 3.4 GHz CPU the multiplier is 17 vs 10th. This board can actively unlock cores and memory unlock so I should be able to clock from 2ghz to 3.4 at anytime. Wattage draw is 65 watts. My 12v dc power supply is rated at 160 so maxing out this CPU I'm still good on power.

I took your advice and found a 4.3in LCD monitor that powers on with 12v , that means it powers on with the robot. IT has no buttons or logos but is from USA and has 3 yr warranty. It's only 28 bucks shipped too:)

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http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-3-TFT-LCD-Digital-Monitor-Vehicle-Parking-Reverse-Camera-NTSC-PAL-12V-/130640469901?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6ac75f8d

I have lots to fit in his chest , so far I have a5.25" bay 5 zone LCD temp and fan controller from cooler master (this keeps fans spinning at.minimum unless temps go up. Saves battery!

Also.in his chest goes a LCD display for battery status , power supply voltage from battery , total wattage usage , amps being drawn and battery temprature during charging/ operation.

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#74  

@jstarne1, Wow you are moving out on the gear! Glad you are going for a screen. I hope I am not bearing bad news, but it looks like that screen may not work directly with your MOBO. Your MOBO has DVI and HDMI out and the screen on ebay is NTSC/PAL which will no work without conversion. Converters, while not super expensive, will take room and power... and you are going to loose resolution with that too. If you already bought it, you can still use it....may be a bit tough to fit everything in your bot. I hope this is not too bad of news for you. I will see if I can find some DVI screens which would absolutely rock at a decent price.......

@Bret That circle thing is trippin'. I think i just found a centerpiece for Legion...if you don't mind me stealing your idea shamelessly!

v/r

Kevin

#75  

Ok I've descided the vacuum unit will be a seperate unit that attaches to the back , but power head built in is what I'm thinking. That way it can be removed easily anytime. Just a thought there. Also I believe ill do eyes with either el film behind some plexi or just frosted Plexiglas side lit with LEDs. I was thinking " what would Tony Starks personal robot look like , his personal flashlight and screw holder , what a bot might look like rolling around his shop.

#76  

Go for it Kevin, I think it will fit quite nicely in Legion's chest. They also have them in rainbow colors and other single colors. But I liked the blue and the green ones best.

#77  

@kevin board has a "tv out" with is regular RCA video connection.... It's standard definition but on a 4 inch screen no one cares.:). This really is a perfect board to do this project with ...;)

#78  

whew....good good! It looked like SPDIF coaxial audio ..... in the pic above or was that your old board? Whats the model of your new one........I am taking notes...

#79  

@kevin. Ok I lied , its not a video out ,wooops! Not the end of the world though because I can grab a video card that has a tv out or somthing else that will produce the standard video signal. From what I understand there's a dvi to composite adapter for 30 t0 40 , I think I would rather invest that money into a suitable video card. Anyways its cool everything's been super smooth in this project so I'm happy !

#80  

I was able to salvage a lefty motorized arm from another Omnibot 2000! Woohoo with two potential motorized arms now I'm more concerned about getting good head movements. I need left/right turning , side to side tilting , and looking up and down. The tilting to the side with the head would be a great reflex after recieving a voice command , or if the bot didn't recognise a command as if he's thinking about it. Any ideas or info for setting up neck movements let me know !

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#81  

you need a mount like Helicopter .LOL 3 servos,(L to R, F to B, Spin) I'm sure you can do it .:)

#82  

@ww321r. That sounds like a option minus the head spinning. Maybe like a ball joint with pushrods going down to neck where the three servos will be ! If anyone finds a specific piece of hardware please link me ! Thankyou

#83  

Spin meant ,left /right movement. You could make a gimbal I'm sure. It would allow you to tilt the head at any angle . Like this You would attach the servos at 90% from each other centered on the pivot point. Should make it very lifelike:) J.W. gimbal

#85  

Here is my proposed rangefinder placing. The front is radar , sides are still on the drawing board but the idea is that the could measure a couple inches off the wall to make sure Omnibot is not scraping when vacuuming. Rear is ONLY used when backing up for object avoidance. I was thinking of one sensor faced down on the front edge to avoid drop offs and stairs. I have thought of a sensor for edge avoidance on the back too. I have 3 sensors on the way and one was included in the kit. Any better ideas?? Feedback?

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#86  

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Ok I used a new 40mm x 40mm x20mm fan and VGA heatsink to add some additional cooling. The fan has a few drops of super glue attaching it to the heatsink. The heatsink has arctic silver paste on it where the voltage regulators touch it. At the bottom where it meets the board its just 3m double sided tape. I did cover the outside edge of the blade fuse with electrical tape to prevent any paste run from touching anything other than the heatsinks.

Update: card reader / blue led fan controller came in! Also the LCD voltage,amp, watts and temp meter for power supply monitoring . Plus the fans and Blueray player came in !!! Lastly the voltage step down power supplies came in so I can power ezb from 12v battery , the motors at 6v and seperate power supply for High Torque servos as well:) Wow

All I'm waiting on now is my h bridge motor controller from dj which is in the mail.

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Now I just got to figure out where I'm going to mount these things. I can do cutting on chest and cut edges of controller off and put it in the chest......OR I noticed the drawer in the back of omnibot 2000 is the same width as a standard cd drive bay. This is crazy that I was thinking of putting everything in the chest and this is perfect size. Downside obviously is putting drives in the back is less accessible. Any suggestions guys??

PRO
Synthiam
#87  

That's some serious fan!! I think this bot combo is gonna be aweeeeeesome

#88  

Lol yea but moves 6 cu ft per minute and is very quiet. Low current draw for the airflow too , given the presence of other things generating heat , like CPU , power supply , and other stuff I want to make sure this little guy has excellent cooling.

#89  

@DJ thanks ! I really hope everyone likes it , I will make improvments overtime but I really appreciate your feedback dj.

#91  

Ok so your thoughts are one IR led and Reciever on each corner pointed down. Using these parts : 2 -- 940nm IR LED (ex. LTE4206 --available from BG Micro) 2 -- 940nm IR photo transistor (ex. LTE4206E -- available from BG Micro)

note: Radio Shack part 276-0142 - IR Emitter and Detector will work for the the parts above

#92  

@ jstarn1 and helmuteke - I like that idea. Simple and reliable.

#93  

I'll consider it , right now I have 3 ultrasonic sr04 coming. , maybe place them the exact same.way.just.using a.different type of sensor? One in front of each wheel just like this little bot in the videos that way it works on dark or shiny floors and glass.

#94  

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Idea here is to widen the slots for the wheels and use wheels with no tread to lay track over. If your tracks have a guide grove u can modify your omnibots stock wheel for it. Rad only has a few teeth every couple inches so knotching shouldn't be too difficult. Any ideas? This way u can incorporate rad 2.0 tracks to run on a near silent drive train and everything will match up perfect , thoughts?

#95  

@jstarne1,

Concept for tracks is good but making it look and work well may be difficult. I would like to do my own track system but keep running into difficulties that unless you go with matched gears/treads you are going to have tracks falling off/slipping and all sorts of stuff.

about the IR sensors. I you look through some of the threads they tend to be a bit less reliable over the sonic sensors...either would be worth a try. IR sensors can get wacky sometimes with various light sources causing interference (like a candle for instance will reek havoc on an ir sensor....backlights on flat panel TVs and also CFL lights)...not that that would apply with them mounted on the bottom side of your bot though.

v/r

Kevin

#96  

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I cut holes to flushmount 4 40mm fans to pump air into the base. I cut up HDD bay cooling fans for this. Playing around with mounting positions I'm considering this location. I've descided to retain the original switch and LCD panel. I'm just going to put my own spin on it.:). Dvd drive fits at home in drawer hole. I plan on cutting the hole down to make it .5 inch taller opening that way I have two full 5.250gig pc bays ! One bay I'm inserting a 5.25 bay triple 40mm fan probably as a exhuast blowing outward. The h bridge , ezb , hard drive , and maybe even motors will have individual cooling fans so all I need to do is keep 20-30 cu ft a min of air flowing through the torso and out the base.

#97  

that is looking totally SICK...looks like you got the cooling down for sure! well done jstarne1!

#99  

@brett , then get back in the workshop! Lol I am excited to see your bot running around! I just now got the H-bridge from Dj. Once it has a fan on it and maybe a heatsink if I have one small enough I can start the tedious task of plugging everything up. So far I'm thinking of having the ezb and motor controller in the torso so I have fast access to them through the back door.;). Hopefully this h bridge from dj is enough to lug around my bot. I'm sure it will draw 1-1.5 amps a channel. I have some fiberglassing to do to reinforce the plastic around the axles and wheels as they are supporting twice the original weight and ofcourse being 27 years old doesn't help lol I have voltage stepdown transformers. 3 adjustable ones. I was going to convert my 12v battery voltage to 6 volts for ezb , 6 volts for motors and 6v for servos I believe. I did have an alternative idea.... A battery configuration that supports both voltages....hmm ill post a picture.

#100  

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Ok the term paralleled means all positives are connected together and all negatives connected from batteries of the same voltage. Paralleled batteries of the same voltage adds their Amp Hour capacity at that voltage.

The term series is where batteries are wired positive to the next batteries negative and positive to another negative. This is commonly called a daisy chain. Series two 6v batteries together and you will have 12v at the same Amp Hour rating.

Ok here's the idea- ezb, motor controller and servos need 6v everything else is 12v. I want to be able to charge them from a home base eventually but for right now it would be through the DC charge port already in omnibot back. This way while running everything has seperate power supplies and all charge from one easy source.

#101  

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I modified the OEM LCD panel. Previously it would not light up like modern backlit LCD. So I purchased a LCD unit that perfectly fit. Once I got the LCD and LCD microcontroller driver it added up to about 45 dollars. The four buttons on the right are no longer functional but I planned on retaining the original power on switch , power on light and hard disk light.

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The bot needs cooling as there are 3 dc to dc converters , motor controller, ezb board , mini pc and HDD that generates heat. I doubled up the exhuast , 6 40mm fans from a now taller drawer hole. This should exhuast 30 to 35 cu ft a minute.

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I epoxied together two 5.25 inch drive bay coolers that are quiet and advertised to move 18 cu ft.each.

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Now I need to mount my slim blueray player right over the fan controller. I must mount the 3 dc converters , motor controller, ezb. I want to use standoffs but they are hard to find locally.

#103  

I'm trying dude , this lol robot is very complex and not much room for all the things. I have not mounted any servos yet. I am salvaging some standoffs from smaller less important boards to mount my components. I'm going to epoxy the standoffs so my components can be unscrewed and bench tested or even replaced. I had my 10 amp hbridge come in which.I may use instead of the 1.5 that I got from dj. Here's a picture of the boards I gotta find a place for ...

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Any suggestions on if I should put ezb on the inside of the torso door or just try to keep everything in the base. I'm thinking of the fact I will have head and arm servos needing to be connected. So here is my proposed ezb mounting position for easy access....

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#104  

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i applied two layers of fiberglass fabric and epoxy to repair the rear wheel mounts. The.

  • plastic by the rear wheels split and i didnt want it to break agian given ive really added some weight to the robot

-Josh

#105  

I am Drooling! that is just wicked! I would recommend mounting EZB for easy access...and label your wires...and use the notepad feature in ARC....when you have a gazillion wires on your EZ-B troubleshooting will be a pain if you don't have things well documented and have easy access to the EZ-B....you will be making adjustments or fixes or how you want to map your wires when you start plugging everything in. you may want to make room for that 2nd EZ-B with the rate things are looking.....nice work!

v/r

Kevin

#106  

Thanks man, this is tip of the iceburg but i want to make the best one out there lol. oh yea i am known to be a overdocumenter I will make paper tags for the wires because there are far too many to keep up with. my fan controller alone has 25-30 wires that are all black. I will have power for ez b, power for motors, servos and motherboard. thats another 4 pairs and i havent even mentioned any servos yet lol right now I gotta figure out how to mount the slim blueray drive above the fan controller and below the control panel. I will need to make a mount somehow. More work for tommorow! - Josh

#107  

I really like the EZ-B on the inside of the door, that really gives you excellent access. Which I have found out in my omni, is really crucial.

#108  

Great project however You can't have the 6volts battery parrrell and series at the same time. Your schematic is a dead short across the batteries. If you want to do what you want, you would need a relay to have the battetys in parallel when sourcing the ez-b but switch to series for charging while disconnecting the load.

#109  

@drwass I descided to use voltage converters , drops from 12 to 10-1v adjustable. So all my batteries will be 12v. @brett yea I'm liking the idea , I will need to do some cutting to make sure I have ample space to plug.in wires.

#110  

I think that's the smart way to go jstarne1 ! Now energy from all the batteries will be able to be used .:) J.W.

#111  

My only potential problem which.May not even become an issue is my dc to dc converters are rated 2amps each. So I must me sure not to over amp. The drive motors dj had no problem with but I'm wondering what kinda juice they will draw with the 15 pounds of electronics and batteries onboard. Anyone know average current draw the motors usually use at a close to original weight?

#112  

Okay updates ! I'm mounting all of the electronics. The motor controller on one side and ezb on the other. The voltage converters that allow me to drop the 12v battery supply down to a usable 6v are lined up agianst the front. I will be doing some more dynamat as I just recieved the 4 sq ft I bought on the internet.

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Ok I wanted to utilize the holes in the back door so I installed led holders to indicate pc power on , ezb status light , primary power on and HDD light.. one is a momentary switch to shutdown the pc if it freezes. The switches are going to be arranged so I can remotely control the robot from my w500 tablet.

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#113  

Looking great.....where did you get your voltage converters? Very neat work!

#115  

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Having a smoothie makes progress go smoooother:)

I purchased 3 voltage converters for 30 dollars shipped. So they are cheaper and allow you to use a 12v battery and get a longer runtime. http://www.ebay.com/itm/150748060772?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I reversed all the fans orientation and glued in the mount with epoxy. Now my cooling solution is finished. I.have the led holders in place but I have not descided what colors I'm going to use yet. All the LEDs I have at the moment are high output and that's big overkill for indicator lights.

#116  

Ok somthing I was waiting on ! Back to building. The additional three sr04 ping sensors came in from Hong Kong. With as much as they ship you would think they would make international imports more efficient. Anyways here they are...

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I planned on facing one forward for radar , one for stair avoidance on the front bottom and the other two sensors use is not definitely descided yet but previous pictures I drew threw ideas out there.

Netherlands
#117  

That LCD front is awesome! I have a serial LCD laying around i could put on mine! thanks for the idea!

#118  

Do those voltage converters get very hot (waste energy to heat)?

I have a pair of 12v 17amp/hour batteries that are currently wired serial for 24v, which is what my wheelchair motors want. I also want to provide auxiliary power to the netbook the bot will be carrying (19v) and would like to also use the same batteries to provide 7.2 to the EZ-B and maybe 12 to some fans.

I figured I could pull the 12 by just connecting to one of the 2 batteries (will that work if they are wired in Serial -- pull 12v + and ground from between the batteries? Seems to look right on my meter, but it has been 30 years since I did any electrical work other than replacing a light switch or ceiling fan). If that works for the 12v, then another converter to go down to 7.5 (maybe from the other battery, so they discharge somewhat evenly)....

I am still looking for a charging solution too if anyone has any ideas to charge 1 24 or 2 12v high amperage batteries without taking all night but also without breaking the bank account....

Alan

#120  

Thanks Bret. Price is right. It would take 4 hours to fully recharge. I'll have to come up with some kind of self plugging docking station so it can go patrol and get back to the charger on its own if the house alarm goes off while it is charging, but there have been a lot of ideas thrown around about how to do that, so I am sure I'll be able to figure it out.

Looks like this seller has a bunch of differnet chargers. I'll look through and make sure this is the most appropriate.

The previous one I had found (that would have had 2 hour charge time) was $90, and I would rather spend $30 on the charger and put the difference towards a 2x25 H-bridge. Once I have those items I can really start my big bot build.

Alan

#121  

I think Drwass answered my question a couple pages back about using the batteries as both 12 and 24 at the same time.. Answer is no, although he was critiquing a more complex circuit than I was thinking of.

Can anyone recommend a good site or book on basic circuit design? Just looking for things like voltage regulation, use of relays, transistors, capacitors, etc... I don't need anything that gets into IC design or higher level stuff. I just need a refresher course on the basics I learned in high school.

Alan

#122  

Just testing no it didn't get hot. Are you 24 volt.motors? There are voltage steppers that would work fine for you and I see them on Rabat at 3a and 5a if you needed more current. The 2 amp should be plenty for a netbook though.

#123  

Yeah, the motors are 24v, (they can haul 300 lbs, plus their own 60lbs...)

I think you are right about 2amps for the netbook, I'll verify this evening. I have a car converter for it that steps up 12 to 19 volts, vut I know it wastes a lot to do it, so going down to 19 makes more sense to me.

I eventually plan on doing what you did and putting a mini atx in, but the netbook doesn't get much use since I got an Android tablet and a laptop from work not much bigger than the netbook with twice the horsepower.

Alan

#124  

@alan so did you.confirm netbook draw , on my tablet charger max is 1.8 amps but.I'm sure its using less than that.

Ok so I'm "thinking" of leaving in the OEM motors for claw and wrist rotation . I came up with a wiring diagram today at work. In.this diagram all powered units are accounted for except my front LCD display but that's 12v anyways. I'm if I can get a servo to move slow enough I will put two high torque servos in place of shoulder motors:) any thoughts are appreciated.

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Anyone know the width and length of the motors in the arms? One arms motors are bad. Or ill just buy a whole motorized arm. And what size thickness and length in mm for the drive motors. I believe I.have found higher torque upgrades but I gotta know the exact size to know if I can fit it in the tranny easily.:) this is a backup plan in case the OEM motors are having trouble pulling around the extra 20 pounds

#125  

Netbook draws 1.58 amps, so no problem with the DC-DC converters. Nice find.

Alan

#126  

Have pics of your bot? Or design?

#127  

Ok I have a few updates. first.I caught a great deal to get.three usb 4G data sticks for .99 cents. The idea is.to use.this as a longer range / endless range form of communication I can either use the web portal or direct remote desktop from tablet or phone.

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These data.sticks are also usb hard drives since they have a SD card slot for up to 32 Gb memory. The sticks have GPS satillite tracking as well if that could really ever be useful.

#128  

Ok I took off modding for a week because I changed to nightshift , however I may actually work.on the bot from my desk lol. I modified the camera housing by cutting a notch into each edge to clear the reflector lenses in the eyes. I used a hole cutting bit to make a perfect hole between the eyes to mount my camera. I drilled a smaller hole below the usb charger so I can do the 5v camera power mod. I used epoxy to adhere the camera casing to the inside and camera pressure fits in just like it originally did.:)

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#129  

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Ok the camera is mounted , I will probably do LEDs in the eyes but I am still thinking of putting a few IR LEDs in the eye sockets for additional illumination.

#130  

Nice job! You could mount IR LED's over the eyes to look like eyebrows and keep the regular LED's for eyes. Just a thought.

#131  

I'm glad you brought that up, I thought about making eyebrows from LEDs to give him more personality. Maybe even make it where certain LEDs turn on for one mood or another.

#132  

You could use the RGB color changing LED's and get three different moods from one source. I believe they change color depending on the voltage so that might be a nice way to do it.

#135  

@jstarne and others i designed h-bridge design and pcb boards all info in zip file,made this design awhile back and sold many boards if anyone needs to buy the boards let me know,more that buy the boards the lower the cost to have it made ,boards are in 2 parts ,main reason is that the board is universal logic circuit on one board and pwm h-bridge on another rated at 60 amp cont,but you can easy remove mosfets to save money,remove 4 of the 8 mosfets give you 30 amps i dont get money from this and dont need it HBRIDGE.zip files in bmp and sch

#136  

Ok time to do all the tedious wiring to the 9 different boards , pc 12 cooling fans , batteries , switches and camera 5v mod. First I was worried about arching accross my connections from the batteries. I soldered the clips on , heatshrink over them and I'm using turnigy quick disconnects. In the future ill move to lithium ion which turnigy uses these same high amp plugs.

#138  

turnigy lithium ion i use alot great batteries,just design a charger for it and one one gel cell rare at up to 50 amp charging and up to 24 volts ,both charging rate and voltage can be set,getting the boards in 2 weeks i like sending my boards out to be made,kinda hard at more and there different ways to do it,but most take time and now good as pcb company does it

you you need the circuit for yours can post it,do need to recheck it with the pcb i will get

jstarne nice job so far

#139  

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Ok here is the 10th amp motor controller , I put heatsinks on all four chips.from radioshack. This was 6 dollars retail. I just don't want these guys running hot under my boys "heavy" load. When I perform first tests after wiring I will only have one battery in the torso which.will reduce load by 6 pounds and no arms , about 3 less pounds too.

#140  

@jstarne mine is much smaller, but still very close to it,running with 20 amp load on mine the mosfets get only warm ,at 40 amp and higher they need a heatsink,looking to get my board in soon to post so far your project looking really good

also noticed they using 2 h-bridge driver ,mine is one full bridge chip and h-bridge are rated up to 180 amp and higher peak using 8 mosfets,mostly made it for very high current wheelchair motors IRF3205 mosfet are rated at 110 amps each and in parallel and quad so looking at 440 amps total each side if using only 4 mosfets looking at 40 amps at 220 amp each side maybe 90 amps peak

#141  

Ok today I got a sliver of metal in my eye , oh the sacrifices we make for the robot. I was wearing nice safety glasses too. So I started mounting ultrasonic stair sensors in the base. I want to bring realism to the bot and more than.the toy it was meant to be. The shoulder and neck segments are ment to mimic rubber dust boots on industrial bots. So I found some rubber tooldip to coat the neck and shoulder to make them look new yet still be flexible. More flexible than paint.

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Before

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First coat of tool dip...

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After 4th light coat it is literally starting to look like a genuine rubber boot. I believe I will spray another 2 or 3 coats on inside and outside for durability. Agian this is literally rubber so it remains flexible.:). I'm thinking of using 4 to 5 coats of this on wheels too and maybe claws.

#142  

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I found this while in radioshack getting 5v regular low Mcd blue LEDs for eyes or indicators. I'm still thinking about using a multicolor .) Thanks for planting that idea Brett , lol my budget just went a tiny bit higher lol. It's a passive infrared sensor. Package says its sensativity is adjustable from 15 ft to 30ft+ it was just 9 dollars so I picked it up. Any ideas where I should / could mount it? I saw others use it to trigger thirty bot to "look" in that direction if it sees motion. Ideas for its use are appreciated.

#143  

looks good so far,i got a tiny spec in my once once,like the smoothie drink you made,i make one aday very heathly,have 2 special machines for them ,plus i am baker well leaving on my work trip to CHINA ,i got a new handheld digital/analog o-scope given to me by work to keep and use on my trip,cant wait to use it @JSTARNE have you look at my ROVER project on the really good PIR detectors ,very very small for $15,many different types digital and analog output,just drill a small hole

second item whats the name of the developer cleaner and whitener you used (make of it) look on sally's and they have too many and dont wont the wrong one

#144  

@jstarne1 - I have the same sensor haha. I am going to use it as part of my intruder alert system. For something like that, a good place might be the top center of his head. I guess it kind of depends what you want to do with it. You could put it on the front chest somewhere so when someone walks by he says something or acts out a script you have written. HMMMM - ideas, ideas.

#145  

@robotmaker could you.link me to these , where to buy? Thanks

#146  

Ok now for stair avoidance system! I descided to use ultrasonic sensors because they work in most types of floors and stairs. Basically the idea we are using here is if the sensors read more than say... 15 cm then the bot "sees" a dropoff which indicates stairs or edge of table. I thought about having one sensor.beside each wheel what does everyone else think?....

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The rear backup stairs sensor

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Front sensor from.inside

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A unibit works great for sizing out the perfect hole for discrete mounting positions.

#147  

@jstarne here is is buddy,like the uni-bit,i have all 3 of them ,they great for robot projects

what about the developer you used what name or it or link motion sensor they have others on digi-key site

utrasonic not great as stairs detectors,one main reason false or bad reading if any carpets,mostly all people that build robots and companies use IR sensors short distance types

#148  

Hi guys , I know this is still a few days away but its getting close to paint prep time. I want to go with a really nice red but a OEM color that's easy to match in the future. I'm going to look at cars tonight a little bit. If you have a idea for a red similar to iron man red please post pic , model and year and paint code if you find it. Thanks guys!

#149  

Depending on what pictures and lighting you see pictures of iron man in you might like Barcelona red by Toyota. It does have a little metallic in it though so I'm not sure if it would be easy or difficult to get matched later on. My tacoma is a 2009 painted Barcelona red and I know they still paint cars in that color. Should be easy to find and look at. It would be cool to use a candy apple red however it'd most likely be a huge pain in the butt

#150  

Yea my painter said a candy red which is base , then color , then 5 coats candy and clear would run me 200 for the bot parts. I'm gonna find a pic of that and post it.

#152  

That is HOT!!!!! Here is a pic of my car, the color is GM Crystal Red. It is a deeper red out of direct sunlight.

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#153  

Sweet , Bret on your doorjam or a sticker on the bottom side of your hood there should be a paint code. That's a great color too

#155  

Ok buying paint tommorow but for now I gotta take care of suspension on this bot. These tires are old and could use some retreading. I picked two plastic rubber coating products. First is tool dip for heavy duty applications and spray tool dip for places I need extra thin coats like robots neck and shoulders in plain view. I used a paint brush to apply tool dip liquid rubber over the original 27 year old treads so this new rubber would maintain a original tread pattern.

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After two thin coats , let them sit outside to cure , if you need a touchup wait till its cured 2 to 4 hours first.

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#157  

Ok I tested this paint on rubber and its a alternative for areas with lots of nooks and crannies that's hard to.get a flat piece into. This coating is safe and completely non conductive. Spray rubber works too I just noticed it goes on.thinner for each.coat and costs more in a spray can.

#158  

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Ok I took the shoulder skirts off and washed them well. Here's the neck skirt next to freshly cleaned shoulder skirt. Soon as it dries it will get a coating inside and out of rubber to match the neck. Also I will coat the rear dummy wheels as well.;)

#159  

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Ok I have a couple coats on the shoulder pieces , just a couple more coats inside and out once this dries.

#160  

all this work and only vacuum the floors,looks good

#161  

I'm sure it will do.lots more. It will be my personal computer , a security bot , feed my dog at a certain time when I'm at work and hopefully I can teach.this guy to bring me a beer too lol. I want.it to fit in and be good looking like a high dollar appliance. I may install a screen on the front so its also a telepresence robot as well.

#162  

looking at the same with my omnibot,my full size robot will have arms and full hands,main reason for lathe machine,but add my AI LEAF project to it ,and mostly all my robots have you check the LEAF project,only full AI design project open source there is so far,fulll emotions, and chats,recognizes faces ,objects,spells and so much much more i finished a design to detect beer from water or milk called spectrometer

#163  

Can this leaf thing.be used with ezb? Easily?

#164  

Ok back to work.. I been pondering the power system because the bot must be able to charge. I descided to wire it similar to a car with 12v system that charges between 13.8 - 14.4v my regulated power supply is 12v but I believe I can adjust it in high 13 volt area otherwise I would need to get a nicer power supply. In a car the battery is always in the charging loop so when my bot docks for charging its completely uninterrupted. Everyone please look over this. Also just to let everyone know all the juice passes through the LCD system monitor wether it comes from batt or the ac adapter.

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#165  

Potential docking station. , just an example not a final idea or design...

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#166  

dont you have a led system monitor not lcd,each led near 20 ma x 7 segments so you are looking at alot of wasted current draw,lcd monitors are cheap and easy to use and very low current

Netherlands
#167  

Holy cow! eek That is one seriously awesome robot! What excellent work, that definitly is looking like a high dollar robot. You must have put a lot of time and $$ into it. I am absolutly impressed, that is so cool and very inspiring. Awesome!:D

#168  

@okidey I probably have 1000 , 180 was for computer, 70 hd, 40 ram and 90 for CPU, 235 for ezb , 200 for nice Omnibot 2000 , 40 for all the cooling fans , 30 for H bridge , 15 wiring , 20 for 2 12v batteries , 25 for 12v 15a ac adapter. So adding that in my head was 925. It's also getting a automotive quality paint job gm crystal red code 89 which after paint costs and paying a buddy a few bucks to paint it is 200. Wow building a nice robot has a price , I haven't really thought of how much I spent. Thankyou for the compliment it really makes my day. This is my first robot build.

@robotmaker the LCD is not only for systems monitor but its built into chest of Omnibot where the factory LCD was. It's draws about .2 amps

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#169  

@jstarne on the led units i was talking about are the dc-dc converters you are using 3 of about bout the right price for a good design,mine mostly over $2000 my big big project JOHNNY FIVE LIKE SIZE will be over $6000 MAYBE MORE here is the link to it,tracks and motors alone are $500 each one the we bsite so far they dont have a computer, just base plans , mine with have LEAF project,still looking for a SAPI voice of johnny five

#170  

@robot maker. Johnny 5 voice was human voice recorded with autotune. You could maybe make your own mp3 files this way adjust autotune and pitch till you sound like Johnny 5 . I would love to make him , or.the newer robot from lost.in.space movie. Lastly the robot from evolver would be a menacing security droid. Anyways I will get different dc to dc regulators with higher 5-10 amp current handling without the LEDs on them because eventually all the motors in both my motorized arms will be functional and 2 amps won't cut it. Next payday I'm buying three h bridges to power the original motorized arms. , and those could draw 2amp each depending on load. Right now I'm trying to find motor replacements for my motorized arm as they are corroded and locked up. They are 3 or 6v motors....

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If anyone could help me find a direct replacement that could run 6 to 12v I would greatly appreciate it!

#171  

from what i can tell they look like the stock motors in the rad main drive i new the 2 amp dc-dc converters wont work,but good for sensors ,EZB and rest of low current stuff on the voice its TIM BLANEY AND AUTOTUNE most R2-D2 builders buy parts a little at a time pre-fab parts,SOME ON EBAY rest custom made some parts i got or made ,like his eyes and iris same on johnny five,iris i think i paid $35 each at edmund optics,stereo camera $200,led vu meter for his lips moving,made part of the telesccope RF controller (multi-frequency controller) on his head

also the stock rad MOTORS i dont really need,so can sell cheap

#172  

@jstarne1 - how many of those motors do you need? I have a few from my RAD torso that I won't be using if they will fit. You can have them dude. Just let me know if they will work.

#173  

I need three at least. I accidentally washed one.motorized arm in.dish washer and all the motors are.locked. so three , two a minimum for claw and.wrist movement.

Netherlands
#174  

@ jstarne1

You are very welcome! It is very inspiring to see your robot, things quickly cost a lot of $$ but when passionate in making something the results are priceless right? I do not have the knowledge nor a lot of money to make a robot with all the hardware you have working on it on yours. Though I am completly new and just started out building robots for myself. Results like that require lots of time and effort and dedication, who knows in time mine may turn out as cool and extensive as yours, and hopefully I may learn from your experiences and everyone here. You guys make some seriously wicked robots.

I havent gotten very far with Hank v1.0 unfortunatly, though I have been working on something else which ill be showing too. I am learning and having loads of fun doing so and together it can all result in hopefully as wicked. I keep getting more and more ideas.

I am now starting to get into the software of things and I'm thinking of adding AI with the Leaf project. I will be running into a pile of questions I'm sure, aswel as hardware problems. I've been checking out all the robots made by members here and reading about it and I can learn a lot from you and all the members here. Hopefully I can share some valuable experience of my own. Im going to make pictures of what ive been working on right now, I hope you guys like it:P

#175  

@jstarne,i see you are mounting sonars on the bottom of your robot,do you have carpet on any of your floors, it wont detect it

#176  

They can't read carpet at all?? Should I remove these and use ir??

#177  

yes,look for short distance ones like this one should work and digital is better since you are not detecting distance only steps and ledge detection

short distance digital also these are great for non contact bumper switches you set it at 10 cm or distance to hard floor to sensor,then stay high from 10 cm or less like if see carpet or tile or wooden floor,now if you have a step it will be over 10cm and output goes low i dont know what the distance from your bottom of you robot to floor IF can tell me can find you a better one also sensor reads at 24 cm so you need to modify it ,here is the link

short distance digital modify can modify from 10cm to 24 cm ,10cm is 3.94 " and 24cm is 9.449"

another IR sensor will work is 1.5" to 20" but analog ,if you have some ports left over

short distance analog remember to set the distance from robot IR to wooden floor,so it will detect carpets ,floors,and small metal strip for carpets and any thing higher will be cliff detection

and these are great for non contact bumber switches,dont need a bumper guard like on the neato,good reason if using bumper switches robot cant turn around but with non contact IR sensor it can because you can set the distance

on IROBOT ROOMBA is uses them for cliff detection

#178  

Ok I.bought 4 of those ir sensors the 4 to 30 cm distance sensors. I may only.use two but spares are nice

http://www.junun.org/MarkIII/Info.jsp?item=37

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Also I descided I could try converting my bot the treads using rover 5 tracks which are 1/8 in thinner than rubber treads on omnibot 2000

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Doing.some math I.figured the length.of tracks at max stretch , using omnibot 3 inch wheels its 1.4 inches shorter so the tread should fit snug agianst the hub. Diagrams above show how I would do this. Also on the way is 2 6amp dc to dc converters to reduce drive.voltage , servo supply power and origi nal motors from 12 v

#179  

i finally got me omnibot 2000,cant wait to start on him ,its monday morning in china now,i know my girlfriend is happy,me getting it and comming home this friday,i hate the about 20 hours on the plane right now it lunch time at work,i think right now back home its 12am,food here super cheap @jstarne the tracks looks great also

#181  

i design and build high precision in-house test equipment for A/C and electrical test company

#182  

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Ok so obviously I'm giving this robot a iron man theme. No better way than for this robot its very own ARC Reactor! I purchased a Hasbro toy but once I recieved it , I noticed it had a unconvincing Amber glow when lit up. I took this guy apart and installed 3 bright white LEDs. It's amazing how much blue color is in a white led. This picture just shows the toy sitting in the placement where I would like it to go. I believe I will cut into the speaker location a recess the ARC reactor in about 1/2 inch deep or more. Once it has been installed into this torso it will also be painted the same crystal red color. If anyone has additional ideas let me know:).

#183  

instructables.com has many ironman ARC reactors.lot of them look very close to real in the movie

#186  

leaving china at 10:30pm plane today to usa,27 hours on plane that is a big drag so will be back about 2pm at my house friday or so about 7am now so have some time to look around

#187  

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Ok the painter picked up the paint , its crystal red. What does everyone think?

#188  

nice color,mine looking at chrome or silver,i have friend who owns a paint shop,may have him do it or might do it my self,since i do a lot at work on some projects also i guess you are getting it air sprayed on in 12 hours about 10pm will be on the plane,good to come back home

#189  

I really like the Ironman paint scheme and that red is going to look wild on there !:)

#190  

Did you see the ARC reactor I'm working on fitting into the torso ?:) I'm not sure if I will do any gold accents. If I do I will use it sparingly.

#191  

I would really add some gold to it. From the waist up on some Ironman art, there isn't much gold . I saw the ARC reactor you got and it looks good and bright now . I can't wait to see yours complete. I saw you sold your spare Omnibot . I was watching the bidding on it :) JW

#192  

Yea I still have the regular Omnibot which I may paint red as well , I already have a ezb on the way for it lol.

#193  

Ok I couldnt sleep tonight from kidney pain (i have a blocked kidney) and I was checking out the carry handles. I don't know if they are sturdy enough to handle the extra 15 pounds on a regular basis , so I filled the hollow cavities with fiberglass resin. Tommorow I will coat the handles in epoxy and fiberglass to thicken them slightly , also I will place a single layer of Matt on the backside of the handles where I filled the cavities tonight. I will post pics in the am. It's about time to mold in my iron man ARC reactor into the factory speaker location. I believe I will still put the speaker behind it though.

#195  

@jstarne good to be back home to work on my robot projects,had a great time in china hopping to get my omnibot 2000 soon my first project since most of my parts are here is my roomba project ,then my brookstone rover hack since i think i have all parts for it now,many mant boxes of parts to unpack,my girlfriend did a good job holding them for me,so going out to a nice place to eat dinner with her

#196  

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Ok I beefed up the handles , I will.sand these to get ready for paint. More.pics when I get the ARC reactor in.

#197  

have you check the instructables for ideas on the ARC design,many are on the site

#198  

@jstarne you making 2 different robots,one you hace a cd player and itx board ,OMNIBOT 2000 and another you have a ARC reator i guess where the missiles go in on the RAD

#199  

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Ok I cut out a hole with a dremel carefully , I had to.cut.down this ARC reactor toy 1/4" on the edge so it would fit.

#200  

ok i see now,going to look great,looking at one day to make a iron man robot,but for now looking to first finish my irobot roomba project ,almost done and my rover project about 75% done a fter start on my omnibot 2000,kinda close to yours,not using a reactor or cd player,but does have alot more upgrades i have plan for as i wait for parts to come in one,i start on another,my irobot roomba will be about 4 feet tall

#201  

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Ok here is my reactor lit up. The lines in the torso I will fill with epoxy and shave smooth tommorow with body filler. I recieved the four IR sensors and will drill out there holes and mounts tommorow. I picked up my.light sensors today and I already have the ir LEDs I'm using.for low light illumination because some areas of my house are dimly lit. Any ideas of a good placement of.motion detector /pyro electric sensor? rover 5 will be.here.monday and as I have illustrated I would like to convert my regular wheel drive to track drive.;)

#202  

in the front i front and sides,looking to use the big PIR'S ones kkeast is using or like the one on my ROVER robot design about 3/8 hole,they cost a little more ,but they have digital and analog output i like because of the tiny size,i like my sensors to almost be hidden

#204  

Thankyou Brett! I want to make sure this is one of a kind and looks good. If you have any suggestions let me know. Today I'm drilling mounts for the IR cliff sensors.

#205  

I'm wiring my drive section for B9. It is so nice to have some time to work on bots.

#206  

I know what you mean , I'm on LOA from work a few days trying to get this kidney problem diagnosed and treated and when I get bored I work on my bot;)

#207  

Ok before creating mounts for the IR sensors I needed to.clean.up the holes I originally drilled for cliff avoidance , I'm still undescided about also having a ultrasound sensor too in case there is too much bright light. I taped off the holes and filled with epoxy. They will be setup by the time I'm out of the shower.

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#208  

I picked a creative place for the PIR sensor. The four buttons that were removed with the original LCD left empty holes. In a effort to use them I drilled out the holes and used standoffs epoxied in place for mounts.

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The sensor is now part of the power management panel.

#209  

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Ok this.is the.PIR .sensor.by.my.power monitor.display.

#210  

interesting texture to the paint . What did you use? JW :)

#211  

That looks sick Josh! I love the sensor placement.

#212  

that looks like a very good spot for it josh,good work,kinda hidden and blends in

#213  

Thanks guys. The texture is rustoleum black texture paint , always does a good job. Im out of it but.the sensor will get a light coat to match. I'm making mounts from several nuts and screws so this can be taken apart. The power management panel is so tight PCB boards overlap so I don't want to hot glue them in place. I am using one hole for a ambient light sensor too. I haven't mounted it yet but I believe I could just epoxy it in place. I also have two more challenging tasks for the torso. I have two circular WiFi antenna I can either surface mount or flush in, the light sensor , and I must have one or two intake fans to vent the torso while charging. Lastly I must put in a basic pc speaker 8 ohm 6 watts but I robbed the speaker location when I installed the ARC reactor.

Vent fan Two 2.5 in ring WiFi antenna Pc speaker Light sensor

Ps. I'm tempted to install "flashlights" that come on in low light, maybe one on each side if torso or base? Any ideas? I'll post pics of the things that must be installed. The reason I'm not installing WiFi antennas inside the base is my insulation has a layer of steel that most likely blocks signal.

#214  

@jstarne i picked up another omnibot type robot ,its a cross between omnibot 2000 and omnibot called HEAROID fairly cheap

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looking to hack it soon one day,my robot room is like DJ room,so many many robots,looking to have much time and fun hacking them

#215  

That's a cool one robotmaker!:)

#216  

got it near $50 with shipping in good shape,shipping on omnibots are little high because of weight lucky where i got it from ,it ship from florida to hollywood ,fla or i would be paying about $65 going to call it BLUEE after my one of my favorate movie F/X2 ,where ROLLIE TYLER named a robot clown BLUEE,he had a telementry suit controlling ,i am working on a design

@jstarne looking for a good place to put the light sensor ,i see a tiny light or hole above the PIR sensor,good place to put a small LDR (light dependent resistor) very easy to make and use

#217  

That's a spot I'm.looking.at. I'm gonna pick up some.light sensors in.a.minute and try that.out;)

#218  

all you need is make a voltage divider ,or can make a simple comparator circuit to have a digital output and switch digita l output when light comes on,all is needed is a chip,few resistors and a trimpot chip is LM311 VERY COMMON COMPARATOR chip

United Kingdom
#219  

Hi jstarne1

Regarding the flashlights you are thinking of installing. Have you checked if the camara you are using is infared sensitive . If so you could make a infared flashlight out of infared LEDs . and the little fellow could see in the dark.

Steve_c

#220  

some webcams have that built-in ,ones on ebay with IR leds and about $10 or less f

this one here was $10 from usa and now on sale for $5.29 with leds and 36mb camera,very good video when i tried it out

webcam with leds

#221  

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Ok my second ezb was just received , I noticed Somthing different. There is no clear PVC or.heatshrink type cover over the Bluetooth module.

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Ok ARC reactor being molded in and lines filled as well. I forgot I'm out of sandpaper so I'm running to get s bite to eat and sandpaper. 60 grit , 120 grit , 320 grit , 400 grit and 600 grit. Switch paper one after another makes this process easier. No matter what I'm looking at a couple hours though.

#222  

i thought the EZB didnt have heatshrink tubing on it,since all 5 of mine didnt have it on sandpaper why not ue a sanding disc on dremel tool or small sander then use 400 or 600 wet,dry sandpaper from work they gave me a good size box with all types of sandpaper,and some plastic or metal work i use thier machine shop,until i get my lathe and milling machine

#223  

Josh,

That is coming along quite nicely....great work!

v/r

Kevin

#224  

Thanks KKeast , hopefully ill have this guy to a stage I can get paint done soon. Still have a few odds and ends to do. Tommorow the rover 5 comes and well double check how much trouble it would be to convert to treads. I know treads will cause my amp draw to be a tiny bit higher but I would also have great grip regardless of surface. On the agenda for tommorow-

  • make IR / white led illuminators

  • sand /shape torso

  • mount and mold WiFi antennas into sides of torso

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    As you can see they are circular , the center normally flips up and ring is the stand. I will look inside and see if the ring is antenna too , if so I imagine there is no harm in epoxy them to sides of the torso and mold the outside edges. I the antennas being part of the outside surface is the way to go. Any thoughts on this everybody?

  • I must finish the blue dots for eyes. I must drill out a blue indicator light and put in a blue led. The current led is white inside it and shows up a blue green color I wasn't satisfied with.

-i must make a mount of some kind and joint with servos so the head can turn left ,right , up down. Anyone have a simple yet effective design? Help with this is appreciated , remember I have servos from the ezb kit...

-i must modify and mount the fan controller casing into the torso , then mold it in.. , it will be painted same color red.

  • I must also figure out what to do with my new galaxy nvidia gt 520 MDT quad display video card. I obviously would toggle the video card to power off when bot is running but this guy is also my home computer:)
#225  

Update , recieved rover 5 today , treads feel they are very good quality rubber with only a small amount of stretch. They are not stretchy as I thought. If I do my tread conversion I may need a idler /tensioner to be sure these stay on tightly. From looking they appear they will fit I only question how snug.

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#226  

i got JSTARNE ominibot 2000 in today it looks good on outside,but arms need alot and lot of work,rusty springs and screws,but may not need them depends if servo's fit or homemade motor design i see on the hand grips is realkly messed up and one hand rubber grip is missing,anyone has the rubber grip pads for sale

#227  

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Original plan for track drive , I fear it may not be as.tight as I want so I plan to install the wheels that come with the kit pressing agianst the belt to maintain tension.

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Basically I can use my dremel to carefully cut a knotch dead center of the wheels , its must be a couple mm wider than the teeth on the belt. Also I must cut out the dividers between each wheel so I can get the belt in and out. I don't believe it will need anymore modifications than that:)

#228  

i do some stuff like that at work in the lathe they have ,cant wait to get it,wont need my dremel tool to much about end of may looking to get it, its about $1000 total,but need to make a bench for it ,since very heavy item,have plenty of room in my shed my parents gave to me,20 ft by 60 ft long shed,took a special truck to move it,and my dad had it for awhile before he gave to me paid $12000 for it.metal outsid and wood inside

#229  

Geezer , I could live in.that .... And would too lol

#230  

funny part about it i did one day,but a very long time ago when i was young,my dad got mad at me and got kicked out of his house for a night,he did forgot there was beer in the small refrigerator,it was his wood work shop at that time

#231  

Ha ha ha , that's great. Here is a picture of my fridge....

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#232  

Oh wait ! I got lost jstarne1 ! I thought this was your work space pic ! lol JK:) JW

#233  

Lol ill post mine in a hour ...

#234  

mine is good bad soon,need to get one at home depo,rig part good freezer is bad but i do have a big large main freezer,i use to be a baker while back to bake alot and make ice cream and frozen yogurt alot,so i need a big deep freezer for my kitchen aid ice maker that attaches to my kitchen aid pro mixer,thats another big hobby of mine,getting pro kitchen equipment and bake alot hope to make a robot to help me in the kitchen,i have seen one college made one while back

#235  

Hey Josh - you could use a roller blade wheel as a tensioner. It has a nice bearing and rolls smooth. You could probably pick up a pair of roller blades really cheap at a yard sale or thrift store. They might take more punishment than those little tires that came with the kit.

Or even just go to a hobby shop and get some RC car wheel/tires - you know, the ones for the carpet RC racers. Those would be light and the dense foam tire would be easy to cut into for the track guide. Just a thought.

P.S. I will be posting a pic of my work area tonight. It started out as some space in the garage, then my wife gave me a corner of the bedroom, now I have it spilling out into the living room..haha.

#236  

Upgrade.update:) ok everyone knows even a video card you can.buy.used for 50 dollars is better than onboard graphics , so I set out to get a good.video card at low cost. At bestbuy I came accross this Nvidia GT 520 multi display card. It was about 120 but with a little negotiation best buy let me have it for about 94. Thanks bestbuy for you small but appreciated sponsorship....;)

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Ok I fibbed lol there was a sale on this card when it came out in Feb , the sticker was on the shelf hidden under box , I took a pic and talked their.customer service into.helping a brother out:) I already know what your thinking "oh no there goes this bots battery life with a video card like that" well there are two possible solutions , first is I could have a admin login where.the PCI card is activated and a robot login where PCI is disabled / video card turned off. If I didn't want to go to that trouble it comes with software that's turns its gpu clock down or even off when no.monitors are detected like when the bot is autonomous....

This gives me productvity options of.multiple screens when working on my.projects:)

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My.current power supply.is.rated at 160 watts , if I must upgrade I.will go to a 250 watt but I believe this will work fine given I'm using a mobile version 25 watt CPU..:)

#237  

Ok I started the track conversion , I removed my rubber tires very carefully so I could put it back on the rim so this modification is completely reversable.

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I will need to cut a groove similar to this v groove in the rover 5 wheel , it must be consistant and dead center so the belt never touches the edge of the wheel.

I planned on using the wheels that come with EZb kit , they seem to be perfect size don't they?

#238  

i tore down the omnibot i got from you JOSH ,what is the white foam under the speaker,looks kinda like soap,and its in a few other places too

#239  

It's probably residue from where it was whitened.

#240  

no dont need any speaker my friend,just wondering,might reclean it again ,just took it apart to see what to order for it and my plans do you have any rubber grips for the hands ,one is missing or any ideas to make one i also may make new hands if i cant find stuff to fix it also on base did you measure the torque of the motors with weight

#241  

Ok taking a small break from these treads that are stressing me out , I need to do cutting so I'm marking everything on.the torso and wheels where I need to cut the V groove and I need to knotch out the torso as well so there is room for the Dvd / blueray drive below the power management panel.

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I believe I will also mold in the bezel for the fan / temp controller , this will cover up some labeling but it will also make it look cleaner.

@robotmaker , no I don't have a way to measure torque but I did test voltages between 6v to 12v the sweet spot felt like 9 volts.

#242  

way to measure payload handling (torque) is after you finish the tracks or if you did it before, is run the motors and bottom chassis only and add weights till is comes close to stop

#243  

Ok I took apart the fan controller , and flushed it into the torso cutting knotches , I with glue all the way around with epoxy and fill with body filler.

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None of the mounting.points or button are obstructed from what I see here in the test fit.

#244  

Ok I cut the torso to accomidate the Dvd drive , I attached a ledge where the Dvd drive will be held with double sided tape. I will cut a piece of wood to affix on top of the drive to give me additional mounting space for electronics.

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It's black so it doesnt show well however the dvd/blueray drive is in place above the fan controller:). This couldn't be fitting together any better:)

#245  

on my omnibot 2000 i finally tore it down and removed all screws,metals,electronics ,gears and motors out of all the plastic parts ,next is to wash it,bag it and box it for latter also researching motors,servo's and other parts needed and then order them,so when i finish my other 2 builds it should have the parts in by then i did have plans to work on RAD 2.0 but the little guy will have to wait its turn OMNIBOT 2000 want more

#246  

Hopefully you won't show me up and outdo my.omnibot 2000 lol

#249  

Ok I ordered from solarbotics a pan and tilt kit. Here's the pictures.

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This is for the robots neck , head tilt and left right.motions. I will use standard futuba servos that came with my ezb:). I.got the overnight shipping so I'm hoping I have it tommorow.

#251  

Ok u need a place to mount 4 dvi plugs , so I'm putting in one larger fan and cutting out spots for the 4 dvi. Any suggestions appreciated.

Current exhuast I must.cut

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This is a drawing of.what I'm.going.to do...

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#252  

i see alot of changes ,getting better

#253  

jstarne1;

I bout that pan and tilt kit from Spark-fun for a "Neck" as well, but caution: it is NOT that strong, I almost snapped one of the pieces just handling it too hard:(

#254  

plastics dont hold up,i bought one for a sensor awhile back and it broke,thats why i only metal pan and tilts ,like lynxmotion ,also if you buy the parts separate you save money C- bracket and servo bracket,but $10 is pretty cheap for one,only add the servo you need solarbotics you need to buy the servo's to go with it

good news about solarbotics is about the same price and metal ,but need to wait a long time and shipping high,canada

#255  

Oh bad news bear , ok.my roomate was repeating steps to make a home made smoke bomb and it unexpectedly blew up. Spewed molten material and burned through the counter. Here's pic of the kitchen after things were under control. I have not been home yet to see this I'm still at work.

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He told me the plastics melted on the front edge and left some burn marks. It may be salvagable.

On a side note I picked up two antecedent 80mm fans from best buy with speed control option to hook to my fan controller.... One fan will intake the other exhuast.

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#256  

dam sorry to hear the JOSH looks kinda bad hope soon it can be repaired

#257  

That sucks ! When is your roommates funeral? JW . I guess you can look at the good that it wasn't painted yet . That's a real bummer though:(

#258  

Hopefully I can sand it and fill with body , if not I must get another torso and redo everything.

#259  

if not wacked out of shape,filler should be able to fix hope your roomate pays for everything,it wil teach the person a good lesson you really did a great job on it i had some like that happen to me my my wife that did it and was very mad and made her pay for it,also she my ex-wife,not because of that,i do see her sometimes she comes over for my birthday and christmas and other days

#261  

I know right lol , its probably not too bad , I will press forward and either repair this or use my spare torso and mount the second ARC toy I have in it and pic up where I.left off with the torso , it only.put be behind 2 -3 nights work , as long as its less than that to repair it I will otherwise I gotta cannibalize the regular Omnibot I have for.his chest.lol

#262  

does anyone know what type of plastic is the omnibot shell is made of ,like pvc polycabonate or acrylic (pexiglass) need to oder some plastic sheets

#263  

It's ABS plastic , that's why it turns color over time.

#264  

i was thinking it might be that,they only have it in beige or black,so i guess beige then paint it white or match the bezel thats black,might need to repaint both bezel and the black ABS the same black color,bought a few cans of special plastic paint in white for another robot design,so will need to get a can of black plastic paint

#265  

Ok the torso is garbage now , so.roomie is.buying another Omnibot ...

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Lucky I.found another bot for.about 100

#266  

Ok I recieved my 6 amp continous , 8 amp max , adjustable step down converters. They were 15 dollars each...

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Having 6 amp overhead I could use for drive motors or all the high torque servos.

#267  

Those seem like a deal at that price !:) JW

#268  

Yea , if it wasn't for the internet.... Lol

#270  

Even a better deal !:)

#271  

also got rad 4.0 and look great to hack for EZB

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#272  

I saw those and wasn't sure how well it would walk? They look great though !

#273  

easy to add servo's to it,and has motors with wheels on bottom of feet going to add servo,s in legs ,arms and head,motors in bottom of feet should be ok

#275  

Ok. Due to.video card issues , I took my video card back to best.buy.and.moved up to nvidia GTX550TI 1gb DDR5 PCI graphics card, spent a little.extra , agian take in mind this will be deactivated whenever my bot is running around because I'm sure it draws as much or more juice than.my.CPU lol. It supports two monitors , dvi, VGA , hdmi and tv out so I'm covered on all accounts. I will.usually use hdmi...

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http://www.bestbuy.com/site/NVIDIA+-+GeForce+GTX+550+Ti+1GB+GDDR5+PCI+Express+2.0+Graphics+Card/2375089.p?id=1218323853938&skuId=2375089&st=nvidia%20video%20cardnvidia&cp=1&lp=3

#276  

josh

i was looking to get a video card for my robot computer and found out i needed 250 watt power supply,it was little like that one,and didnt get it because there is no 12 volt dc-dc converter to handle it so before you put out money for that board i would check what power supply is needed and see if your dc-dc converter with handle it,second you will most likely need a much bigger battery to handle the load of it

wow found out the power supply needed System Requirements Minimum of a 400 Watt power supply

here is the link to it

psu recommended

#277  

PSU recommendations are very generic , at max draw this card is 138 watts but that's overclocking , toms hardware rated it at 116 with stock settings. I ofcourse will Disable!! This card when the bot is on battery , it will be a power saving profile in Windows. But when I'm gaming I would like to turn it on. You are very right I will need a 250gig watt power supply , I'm looking at a M4-atx 250 watt continous , 300 watt max PSU

http://www.ebay.com/itm/M4-ATX-250W-6V-30V-Wide-Input-Intelligent-DC-DC-Power-Board-/310394249495?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item4844f06117

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Taking in mind my.motherboard only draws about 35 watts and this card 138 watts , think this will do the job ? ?

#278  

then add hard drive,and cd rom ,anything hook up to usb problem you will see is 35 watts is normal power no running programs running programs takes up much more,then video alot more ,thats why they have it at 400 watts when then meen 400 watts its total power of cpu and running programs, hard drive cd rom even if you use usb still draws some power, think at using that power supply you will 10 amps battery for may be 3 hours run time ,i have a 120 watts and found out total draw was 8 amps at 4 hours with any video video uses the most power of the power supply and cpu,for that board you will need a very fast computer since its mostly a gamming video card just some ideas to help you out,i would first try it with a ac power supply first and see if it works most cheap old computers use a 250 watts

good idea ask a tech support guy at best buy ,see what it says wow that board looks like it draws near 25 amps SINCE THERE IS A FUSE AT 25 AMPS it mostly about right for almost 10 watts power you have about 1 amp draw i think is .85 amps per 10 watts if i remember right

here is another idea to help my good friend out,use a 12 volt ac power supply with a relay switch,and use the wall socket when using the video card and dont use any video when running the robot,the card shold have idle current

#279  

@Josh,

I thought your MOBO had onboard video (VGA out)..that would be better than adding a card that is going to suck your power down, especially any of the NVIDA cards.....

Sorry to hear about your bot too, glad to hear you got another one lined up.

Another thing to consider with your video...why go with a fancy PCI video card if you are running a small composite video screen... (unless you got something different from the monitor you posted a while back). You will also need VGA/DVI to composite video conversion which will suck down more power as well.

v/r

Kevin

#280  

@kkeast thats what i try to tell him that ,trying to save him money and trouble i think he said wants as his main computer to hook up to a flat screen or better monitor only idea that would work is use a relay to switch power from 12 volts to 120 ac volts and not run the video card when using it as a robot

#281  

@kevin , the video card power will be disabled when robot is on battery , he is also my pc so when I'm gaming I want to enable the graphics card. Otherwise yes I have onboard video.

#282  

some bad news JSTARNE i check the specs on the dc-dc converter you are buying it wont work like you think it will,it 8 volts more on input to get 12 volts out,glad i didnt buy it so for 12 volts out you need 20 volts or more in,check the info on it,it will say that i am looking at making a circuit for dc-dc converter to handle up to 10 amps with 6 -30 in and 3 to 30 volts out ,its called a dc-dc boost converter

#283  

@robot maker , the.heavy.duty voltage converters need a 4 volt higher input than output. I purchased them for the.purposes of lowering the 12+ volt system down to 6 volts to power all the high torque servos , which there will be at least 4 , plus I wanted to reduce voltage to drive.motors to 7 or 8 volts so I don't burn them out. Ez b.will get reduced.voltage to 6v as well.

#285  

Ok I already know I must upgrade power supply , and I was trying to figure out battery management switch from ac to battery. I have descided to go buy a small APC battery backup and.use its brain , it charges batteries when on ac and seemlesly switches to battery when I unplug ac , it also monitors battery and will shutdown before battery is over discharged. This feels like a much simpler setup.

#286  

@JSTARNE i designed a few of them ,not a hard design ,switch circuit took a little extra time,plus any current output adjustable,voltage adjustable and cell count adjustable mostly yu are looking at is a simple battery charger that charges the battery ,then shuts of the power when battery fully charged,what bad about that does add some weight to already other weight

idea i have is to use a connector for charging the battery from a seperate battery charger and use low voltage contact plates that robot bumps in to like the neato does or run over a contact plate this way you only need a 12 volt input and not a very big battery and use EZB TO CONTROL THE SWITCHING,solves many problems and have a auto hombase charging design

thinking soon your robot will weight over 100 lbs with all the add-ons maybe more

#287  

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Alright , I gutted this APC 390 watt unit. It took a standard 12v battery so its a perfect match for my 12v existing batteries . This consist of a 8 inch long charger/ controller.board. a transformer and a relay. This should easily fit inside my base. I identified.that I only need three wires to power my PSU on.the computer. The yellow , blue and green. Yellow hot , blue nuetral , green ground. I also picked up a thermaltake 450 watt switching power supply. This sock came with a data interface to change profiles as soon the power changes to battery. This triggers the deactivation on the nvidia graphics card to greatly reduce current draw.:)

#288  

Here is my power supply I picked up today , thermaltake a good brand though not my favorite , 430 watt power supply but I'm sure I won't use but 200 - 250 watts even under gaming conditions so this is this is plenty.

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I needed Somthing with higher capacity than my current 160 watt.

#289  

@jstarne1,

So long as your not a hardcore gamer;) I run 1000W on my quad core with nvidia cards in SLI.....I would blow that thing up if i tried it.

Just be careful....! Good Luck!

v/r

Kevin

#290  

Lol , I'm sure this cards plenty , I will mostly play , Diablo , starcraft 3 , hack and slash games ect

#291  

YES that psu will handle the load on the gutting battery charge are you add that inside your robot

#292  

i am getting super computer its a gamming computer,but only using it as a video server and for programming,have 3 main computers in my computer and each room including the kitchen i have one looking for one of the best gamming computer check this one $400 with is cheap

asus super computer

and yes KKEAST using WINDOWS 7 32 BIT with ICORE7 EXTREME

#293  

@Robotmaker,

Nice Board...but Dude, why would you NOT run Win 7 64 on that thing!

You are getting robbed by not running it as a 64 bit machine. Plus if you are running 4 gb or more of RAM you are wasting resources... as I am sure you know 32 bit OS can only address 4gb of RAM total...so if you have a 1GB vid card in that....Windows is only using 3gb.

I could imagine that thing with 3 cards in SLI.....problem is finding a game that could leverage the power!

v/r

Kevin

#294  

IT HAS 24 GIG of memory,i have a very good IT TECH into high end gamiing that has this one and told me about it and he uses 32 bit windows 7 he use 23 video card i think he has 800 watt power supply yes i know very ewell about windows using only 3 gig of memory ,thats why using 24 gig of memory,i have a ICORE 3 WITH 16 GIG ,AND NEED A ANOTHER SUPER FAST COMPUTER

#295  

@robotmaker,

Sorry to tell you that 20GIGs of that is just sitting there on your box......not being used. Go to Control Panel, System & Security, System. Probably says your system is using 3.6gb or something but wont read any higher until you go to a 64 bit system.......its a logical limitation of a 32 bit OS.

Be careful with an IT tech that is telling you that....this is pretty basic IT stuff....

Windows Release Memmory Limits

#296  

i dont why i said running it at 32 bits,i meen 64 bits i made a mistake,my ICORE 3 RUNS AT 64 BIT WINDOWS 7 ITS ONE OF THE MAIN REASON TO USE WINDOWS 7 because it uses 64 BITS for higher memory,didnt proof read my posts before i post them sometimes

#297  

Anyone have a win 7 key and.maybe a copy of it?

#299  

That's what I meant by a copy of it , or a copy on a usb.thumb drive

#300  

no what i meed you need the windows 7 cd to go with the key, the key matches the cd

#301  

Ok update , I started cutting the track groove in the center of a wheel , first one was difficult but I bet.I can.do the other three faster. First I had to make a template so that when I mark each wheel.they are the same. Then cut dead center all.the way around. Lastly I must bevel.the edge with my dremel them hit it with sandpaper to get any buggers off.

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It seems to turn smooth but I want to make the other three a little tighter to reduce and play.

#302  

I see your room mate cleaned the robot destroying debris off the stove! To bad you dont live closer , you could come over and whip those wheels out on something I have here. I still feel really bad about the robot body and all the work you had put into it. JW:)

#303  

Yea I didn't have the heart to work on it all weekend , I do have a replacement body already but when you work for a couple days to get it all just right. I picked up a sock backup and robbed the brain over the weekend.

#304  

what you need is a milling machine,if you have a xy table and a drill press you can make like a milling machine easy,it would make very even grooves,othr way is easy is to have the wheel mounted to a drill and have the dremel stationary and have the height adjustable,they do have a drill press for dremel tool,i use mine alot,most bought every attachment i can get for my dremel tool ,xpr4000 model lastest one but still you are getting there,good to see you have close to finish

my roomba project has just a few more days and it will bbe done,almost 4 feet tall with many sensor added

i see you like using the blue painters tape too

#305  

Man Josh, that looks like a lot of work. Too bad you don't have a drill press (bench top models are pretty cheap). You could chuck up the wheels for rotation and use any number of tools (triangular file maybe) to make those grooves. Just a thought.

#306  

@brett. It only took 20 min to finish that wheel , I would be done.before I got.back from harbor frieght tools with a new press lol. Oh I didn't know till I recieved my solarbotics pan/tilt kit but I need a micro servo , my standard are way too big.

I'm determined to have a video card in this machine. I must raise the motherboard mounting position 1/2" vertically , after a few measurements I found I have wiggle room..

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I do have about 1/4 in wiggle on remounting the axles lower as a last resort as well. I want to.avoid it but I will cut.the nvidia fan shroud as a last resort as well.

#307  

Dude, I'll send you a micro servo. Just email me your address again. Need anything else? Sonar sensor?

#308  

dude looks like your omnibot when done will weight a ton dont need a mill machine for harbor freight, just a dremel drill base and a second drill to turn the wheel super simple and easy to use and make and can make a pro cut in seconds

#310  

i see many others on ebay for under $4 but without latch

Australia
#311  

Do you still need a windows 7 disk (64 bit) If so drop me an email with your address. Algeraist@AOL.com

I live in Australia so it may take a while to get to you.

#312  

Ok jstarne1! I think you win for the longest thread on the forum! LOL!:)

#313  

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Ok phase 2 planning , a second smaller , simple robot will vacuum kitchen and living room..

#314  

@ww321 lol I promise I didn't plan it that way , but I wanted my build to be educational and informative , lots of "how toos" and illustrations , and before after pictures are priceless in value to someone who is learning or.trying to.repeat any aspect of my project.

Here is a Isometric sketch I.did.on my.last break.at work.... Forgive its simple look lol , also a topview of possible sensor.locations.

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A side note I descided for airflow reasons I perferate 4 spots on the omni 2000 base , two areas for intake , two exhuast as I believe one 80mm fan will realistically not be enough...

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#315  

what did you do about the cliff detection ,did you use my idea on using IR SENSOR instead of SONAR

#316  

I don't have either.mounted at.the moment , I've had really mixed thoughts , dj thought a sonic sensor would be great so honestly I'm a bit confused , I bought 4 sharp ir sensors to use instead but I have not mounted them. For anyone interested I.have a roll of rubber sound deadening mat and fans to cool ezb and motor controllers I'm.hooking my friends up with.

#317  

if you read the specs on sonars it wont work well on material like carpets,cloth,sofa's,foam

also look at NEATO XV11 VACUUM robot they use IR and does the ROOMBA on the bottom for edge detection

another sensor i have since you are making a vacuum robot is a dirt sensor,do you need it

#318  

Josh, I absolutely love the omnivacubot design! He looks soooo cool! I actually have a roomba board if you want it. I know that DJ has controls for the roomba, maybe you could combine the two to control your vacubot? I may even have a few of the sensors off the roomba, I'll check and see. If you want it you got it. Just let me know your shipping address.

#319  

bret i not sure it will work,because DJ hasent add on the roomba to read the sensors,only control the the roomba,but it might be able to use it to control the motors

#320  

JOSH here is more info on using sonars facing carpet The front-facing sonar sensor detects obstacles straight ahead. Since sonar sensors tend to have a wider beam and range than infrared sensors, it makes a good general purpose obstacle detector. However, there is one "gotcha" about sonar sensors that had me puzzled for days before I figured it out. If you mount such a sensor too close to the ground, it will detect small irregularities in the floor surface that you wouldn't consider obstacles. For example, my dining room carpet is barely an inch above the tile kitchen floor. Nonetheless, if the front facing sonar sensor is mounted less than about 4" off the floor, its beam bounces back off this rise and the poor robot can't get out of the kitchen. IR sensors can be mounted much closer to the floor without suffering from the same problem.

look on the internet there is more info on sonars not able to detect anything cloth,sofa's,carpet,foam the sound absorbs and blocks it,same with speakers using foam or acoustic material

#321  

Power diagram for vacuum bot ...

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#323  

Actually this is for the smaller vacuum bot , not.the omnibot 2000 , I really should name these guys...

#324  

oh.i see the head of it now,one with the dome top ,omnibot
i have 2 of them at home,also hope you are adding fuses to it

#325  

I need a dome , do you have a good one?

#326  

no sorry ,mine is scratch alot,need to rework it,bought a special scratch removal kit and special sandpaper to see if i can remove the scratches,other one restoring it there is a place that has domes for sale to fit it perfect $40,same size only the lip needs a little work

Australia
#327  

Josh,

Two questions probably simple answers :-

Why the dc - dc converter can't the EZ-B run on 12volts ? For the Cam why don't you run the power from the EZ-B ?

I think I know the answers to these questions but I'm still learning so thought I'd ask.

Regards

#328  

algeraist you need 7.5 volts any higher the regulator gets very hot,you should be able to run it from EZB only noise might be a problem,i takes very little current to drive it

dc-dc converters are very good to get rid of noise,but low drop out regulators are better,but need a filter,i design dc-dc converters at work

aslo whats bad about its very important you watch the discharge level of the battery you are using ,if you go too low ow of voltage using a dc-dc converter,when you try to charge it ,it will go bad so very important to have a voltage monitor ,witch is mostlt a zener diode,and a voltage devider hook up to analog port,or a simple voltage comparator to digital port can buy them but will cost you 3 to 4 times mores ,parts are under $2

#329  

@robotmaker. , yes I fuse between , battery , power supply , before ezb ect , but I didn't draw them in.

No you can't run the cam from ezb digital out , you either must use a switching transister or Somthing to drop the voltage from your battery , connecting this cam to a digital port will smoke it. It draws between 200 ma to 500ma depending on charge level of the battery. See camera mod to bypass battery so this current draw is consistent and low as possible.

#330  

no not from digital output,from 5 volt output at the regulator ezb uses 5 volt low dropout regulator,and hight current i think its 5 or 7 amps i see other have the address up ,so can put mine up too i am in hallandale beach,fla ,also my email s roboticsdesigner@yahoo.com my main email jamericanfreddy@yahoo.com my girlfriend help make that name part jamaica part america part freddy my name,she a very pretty jamaican lady,been to jamaica 52 times so far

#331  

Linky to the solar charger/PSU unit pls?

#332  

Wow! this robot is definately taken on a life of its own! Congrats! Will you be using a pan/tilt joint within his shoulders? That would be a neat look!

#333  

@glick click , ugh everytime I hear a good idea my wallet gets a little lighter. (jk thanks:). I'm gonna measure when I get out of bed but that does sound like a good idea and could give the arms greater range of motion. I just recieved my pan tilt bracket for the neck.

@ndavid yea I recommend a solar charger because I could go from charging to running without interuption. It basically makes your bot have its own UPS backup. This is a 10th amp model good for most bots , but they come in 15a , 20a and higher... http://www.ebay.com/itm/150771239291?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

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I have two choices , either use a solar PSU or a ups backup brain and a regular PSU... I'm not afraid to go back and change Somthing that doesn't work efficiently but the key here is that it works:). Hope everyone has a good morning , I'm going back to bed its a little early for me to be up.

#334  

josh i see you are using a transistor and a relay for driving your vacuum,not a great idea ,much power lost,should use a mosfet,and will save you money too,mosfets can be driven from digital output using a 260 ohm resistor,mosfets are very common for this and h-bridges,and dc-dc convertersplus alot smaller in size

#335  

Can you please draw a diagram of how I would use a midget like that?

#336  

same as using a transistor ,only using a mosfet but will need a transistor to drive it i found a circuit on the internet close to it, use only Q1 and Q3 the mosfet ,plus R1 and R3 MOSFET CIRCUIT IT IS A H-BRIDGE circuit ,but you only using one mosfet mosfet part #IRF3205 IT IS RATED AT 110amps but anyone close to it will work without a heatsink needed D2 is not needed because this mosfet has one for protection

#337  

Oh yeah O forgot to tell you another idea.

Think 'pico projector'!:D

#338  

thats what i am using pico projector on mine,to watch movies on the wall

#339  

How many lumens is the least to think of using?

#340  

Ok here are some pics of little brother Omnibot and the donor shark vx63 vac. The original gearbox and wheels are perfect but I'm kicking around the idea of using this 4wd tracked rover 5 which would offer significantly more power and more traction to man handle the vacuum motorized power head. Any suggestions? Should I keep the original drive systems? Take a look...

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I plan on having one 12v 8.5 ah yusa battery that should allow this guy to vacuum for 2 hours.

#341  

@glickclic 20 lumens for brightness,shows a very good video at 6 feet away i am looking at better ones ,prices will be high as you go up in lumens output plus adding a design i made to match the brightness level of the room

@JSTARNES thats not much amps only 4 amps per hour are you using a computer board on wheels i would add a strong motor for more load torque everytime i design a robot i weight everything going to put inside and any extra changes on outside,plus the weight of the robot with the parts needed then i take the chassis by its self and put the total weight of everything using like cans or something heavy and run using a power supply with amp meter inline with power supply and see if it stalls first and see how current to draws and then add weight little at a time to see when it stall ,and measure the curr e nt fast or use a peak holding meter,this tells me 3 things,how much current it needed,sta ll current for h-bridge and stall shutdown circuit and how much extra load can add to it

stall shutdown is very important,because you dont want your motors to go bad incase of a rock or something in its way and switch off the motor

all this will save you much time headaches and extra money spent

#342  

@robotmaker no I.believe I will only have ezb.in.the vacuum bot and control it from.my computer or tablet. Wieghing.the parts it looks like it will only weight about 12 pounds extra mostly due to the large battery.

#343  

that including omnibot and vacuum cleaner,i know motors for vacuum takes alot of power ,like in NEATO XV-11 and ROOMBA robot vacuum cleaner and its very small about 12 lbs not including a very large 12 volt battery like your use

also motors on neato xv11 and roomba are very good for robots ,high torque can handle over 35 lbs and bigger then one in omnibot,but will fit,wass checking the specs on that motor used in omnibot not such great torque,it will come close to handle just your omnibot maybe,when companies design robots the motors they use just barly handle the toy and just a little more ,only one good reason to save money

another idea just in case it doest last for hours is to make a low cost rechargable 7.2 volt battery pack at 3 amps for sensors and EZB and may be motors check my post on building low cost battery pack

#344  

Update on incoming parts , I bought a l298 motor controller , 4 of them from ebay but one has a broken peice , a little push button , I have no idea if this makes my controller useless , because I don't know what the little button does.... Any help here?

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There's a little white button at the bottom on right , what is it?

#345  

It appears to connect or disconnect the onboard 5v regulator. Which is unnecessary with the EZ-B providing said 5v.

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#346  

check my reply on using that board ,it tells how to hook it up and EZB file example to use it since you and others wanted to know how to hook it up

on the switch i just tie the connects togetherm,its not really needed even if the switch is good ,just incase when using the board the switch doesnt pop up from vibration

#347  

Tiny update , my vision of the omnitrackvac. Lol

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#349  

Yes Brett , I could definitely use that sonar sensor and micro servo. I'll email my address.

#350  

good deal, I'll send them to you as soon as I get it.

#352  

Is that with the stock motors and gearboxes? That is really impressive.

#353  

Yea no mods at all its completely stock not even gear lube lol.

#354  

i see you tried my idea thats great ,i would measure the current too,carpet will always take more current on mine i adding much higher torque,to carry beer's and alot more,looking at adding 12 volt 20 amp battery or more for a very long run time,got mostof my parts in :D :D and this week willl have my ROOMBA PROJECT done,with photos and code :D :D then start on my OMNIBOT DESIGN

#355  

Tested rover 5 with 40 pounds , moves just as well as the Omnibot but the chassis flexed some under the weight. Otherwise it was peppy.

#356  

Tested rover 5 with 40 pounds , moves just as well as the Omnibot but the chassis flexed some under the weight. Otherwise it was peppy.

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#357  

Ok here is the inside of.the donor vacuum.

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There is not much to this vacuum unit at all! It should be fairly easy to fabricate it into the back of omnibot...

#358  

yep only a vacuum motor and casing,cam almost make one using a motor and a tube

#359  

@Josh,

Watching you work close here! Great job. I am looking around and seeing that I may the parts to build one simular....Love your design so far!

v/r

Kevin

#360  

Ok I tested track system on carpet , after doing one 360 degree turn with weights the rubber treads derailed. Power/torque appeared not to be the issue. It appears for carpet use tracks are not not not the way to go , I'm reverting back to normal Omnibot treads . Failed tests do not mean we are set back , they are but the stones paved in the road to success. - J starnes

The beginning of this project I had the goal of a omnibot vacuuming and cleaning my house. So I began cutting down the shark vacuum (which are top performance to dollar ratio by the way!).

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#361  

i have all tiles on my floors,so when i get a chance,looking in to a design to clean and wash mine i know my girlfriend will love that

#362  

I'm obviously not there just yet but I'm thinking of that too , having a sqweegy of some kind behind the brush and maybe a liquid sprayer or steam sprayer as well. Most likely I would use the shark cordless steamer for that as well lol. Unless anyone has any better idea

@ kkeast. Thankyou for watching and your support , the greatest form of flattery is imitation , so I'm definitely good with you utilizing design ideas:)

Since I'm not using the Dagu rover 5 robot chassis (i have two) after these test I have two up for grabs , I will stick them on eBay if noone says they want one. I would sell them for 30 each , unmodified like New in the original box.

#363  

i am going to use the swiffer design,since i have extra one and looks very easy to attached swiffer doesnt take much current also

#364  

Are the Rover 5 tracks one piece? Or are there links like a roller chain?

#365  

@Josh,

I will take one if you don't mind!

email me if that is cool: kevink.34@gmail.com

thanks!

v/r

Kevin

#366  

N David , they are one piece and.they stretch.like they are made of latex.

I took a night off for the sake of planning , I want to filter the exhaust of the vacuum , maybe.route it inside the torso and have a vent that releases the filtered air? Hmm , if this works well I may get another vacuum and do a similar mod to the big omnibot 2000 as well:). I may post better details based on.measurements and Photoshoped pics to see what it looks like.

#367  

Much needed venting modifications , How to !

Most robots need venting to maintain proper temperature. Fact is the hotter electronics get the more watts they draw and in some cases can overheat. For the.longevity of your equipment you should plan to add proper venting. Venting can be done neatly and in such a way you blend them into your project, this is the standard size most the electronics industry uses.

Step one! Find a power supply or case that has the standard honeycomb pattern vents. Also pick out a drill bit that will slide through the hole but its super important there is zero play.

Second step - use vents modestly , they only.need to be slightly larger than the fan that will be drawing air through. , find a good place for your fan on the inside of the case.

Third- like up your honeycomb template over where you want your vent , be sure to count the rows left to right and vertically so you won't have any stray holes accidentally drilled. sing masking tape works well I'd you need to make more than one vent.

Fourth step- carefully line up.the holes to be horizontal against any edges on your robots body. Hot glue it in place with several large gobs. Don't worry these pop right off si smooth plastic. Drill your rows of holes and make your desired pattern.

Extra step! For those who want max airflow , on the inside of the case you are venting you can UAW a unibit or counter sink bit to make a cone shape on the vent on the inside , this decreases resistance and is proven in increase airflow by 15 percent (that's a lot guys) so you get the most out of your tiny fans...

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My biggest challenge is making the left and right side appear to perfectly match , fortunatly this pattern provides a optical illusion , as long as there are the same amount of rows horizontally and vertically your eyes don't pick out that they really are not the same and maybe not.perfectly aligned the same.... This turned out really well I think:).

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Ok here's the final product of the rear vents , I was really sweating this and gritting my teeth hoping I would make a dumb mistake as this would be visible.lol . I will do a couple on the sides as well as I need a 4 reasonable sized intake vents. What do you guys think?

#368  

venting mostly depends on how much heat there is,if using a ITX board you need some venting,some motors might need venting and regulators what i do since i have equipment is to measure and monitor the temperature of inside of the robot design and add as needed on motors its very good idea to add a temperature cutoff circuit to it,fairly easy to do with simple diode as a temperature device and comparator circuit,motors over heat,sometimes of beening on to long,or stall conditions

JOSH it looks good,i use them also as templates

#369  

This looks really good Josh! And good tip as well!

#370  

Thanks Brett! I imagine you could do this in a couple places on your base to ensure really good airflow for that new monster motor controller! I bet that rad base can get up to 5am draw per motor on carpet turns. Anyways I found this to be a clean way to make them. Have you bought the 10a controller like I have yet?

#372  

one mine using a 30 amp controller ,using a stronger motor to carry items,it handle easy 70 lbs ,plus will have a feedback called magnetic quadrature encoder design i made,how far it goes in feet and how fast and forward and reverse

the robot in my AVATAR uses optical quadrature encoder,plus a few other designs i made,but in the small robots kinda hard to use a optical disc

magnetic encoder is a hall effect sensor plus a magnetic disc for quadrature encoder you use 2 of encoders at 90 deg to each other,can use one,but with 2 you get foward and reverse counts

JOSH is your vacuum you are using have a 12 volt motor,took 2 vacuums apart and they using 120 volt ac motor,i guess not all vacuum cleaners are a like since i have many many parts from the NEATO XV-11 robotic vacuum cleaner ,might look at using it,plus so many of the IROBOT ROOMBA vacuum cleaners over 25 of them is another idea too

another idea i have for my friend JOSH i have many dirt detectors can give it to you free,analog output,they use them on the bottom of the roomba brush for detecting DIRT

#373  

@robotmaker yes its a 12v motor in the.cordless vacuum , I picked cordless because they give a mix of real suction power with real spinning dirt brush that has several times more power than a roomba. I don't know exact current draw but the 1.8 ah battery that.it comes with runs it for 20 to 30 minutes , it has a low battery cutoff circuit so once the battery cannot maintain full speed on the motor any longer it trips a tiny relay to turn off the vacuum. This is a feature.of shark vacuums I found useful for robot applications that prevents over depletion of battery:) @robotmaker. Dude I would love to have some free sensors and stuff ! Dirt sensors are a great idea!

Update on incoming items : I have 4 mg645 servos and lynxmotion pan brackets I'm using for omni 20p0 shoulders.

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Two of these on.the way...

#374  

thats the lynxmotion pan and tilt i posted awhile back ,much much stronger the pololu pan and tilt mg645 servos are great,i am double the power o5 the mg645 servo for my arms roomba's are very weak,but the NEATO XV11 is about 3 times or more suction then roomba or shark just like the motors are more then double the torque

on battery protection super simple to make a low battery detect using analog input first circuit draws extra current,plus no a great to switch power off with a relay,thats old school design mosfets are the way always to go

i saw a shark vacuum cleaner at target for $85 ,does have a fair enough vacuum,not great small problem with using the NEATO VERY powerfull vacuum cleaner ,you do need to make a canister for the dirt

on the sensors let me double check them for wiring hook up first,since no specs on roomba or neato stuff

#375  

@robotmakerI tested the vacuum under regular use and it did really well , the shark I mean. hats your email again/

#376  

that model vacuum cleaner over $100 unless get lucky at a yard sale or thrift store.and it will be very hard to tell if has a AC MOTOR or DC MOTOR,i took 2 apart and found out both had AC MOTOR,all type of cordless has them but very high cost or not much suction whats "hats you email again/" meen

since i got another omnibot my 3 one,looking to use the swiffer ,since all my floors are tiles,had carpets before and found them ,first hard to clean even with the best vacuum cleaner,i had DYSON till sold it ,the best ever on the market and well worth $300 paid at that time for it,tiles cant trap in dirt like carpets can,then i have throw rugs as needed in my place,easy to clean and wash

#377  

I said what's your email , the vx800 I have sells on eBay for just 40 dollars , I used it a couple months before I cut it up. It worked well enough I had no reason to use my regular vacuum , but half my house is tile or hardwood anyways.

#378  

I can't wait to see how well those shoulders work! I've got an omni on the way and will follow your progress and best tips.:D

#379  

ebay does not have any right now,not even new or parts stress new is $129 on amazon

email is jamericanfreddy@yahoo.com one i did bnoticed about putting a vacuum cleaner on a robot,it wont get under tables or couchesn like very low height NEATO XV11 does,can do any area but i buy mostly for the LIDAR lasers to sell for robots,one of the best navigation sensors you can get,most over $1000,neato LIDAR near the same accuracy i sell it with a special cpu tracking usb board and python code that was made for it

#381  

$i see that for about $70 with shipping and another $70 free shipping and one for $119 on that model still very high

you said your tracks not good on carpet,they should work perfect on carpet if motors have the right torque (very important) and tracks have good grooves in it,for gripping power i made a ROVER bot with tank treads and they go over sand ,rocks ,carpet and logs thats main reason they use them on tanks

#382  

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Venting the back of the torso , most holes came out perfect only in two spots the holes were too close together because of the angle I held the drill through the template. So I may fill just those two with Bondi gold and redrill so its perfect before paint. These two vents are tall enough to mount 4 fans , I'm thinking of continue the holes down another 4 or 5 rows which should be plenty of room for two more micro sized fans.

#384  

TINY update - parts are in.the mail. Shoulder servos and pan brackets , a 250watt mk4 dc pc power supply , a 45amp charger /power supply 12v to keep at my desk. I ordered the new PSU because.it would save me 5-7 pounds on total weight.

@robotmaker read that post again , yes I love tracks but the ones I bought for the project were too stretchy and once I added 20 pounds of weight the tracks would derail off the drums , I'm not abandoning the idea just going to work that into the project later when I get segmented tracks that will not stretch and derail off the drums under tension. I'm considering using 2" width lynxmotion tracks and sprockets so I don't have the flexible "stretch" issue.

Venting Progress! (and no.I'm not mad at anyone:P ) more pattern drilling to give flow to.dual.80mm silent fans probably the led blue lit ones:)

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The vents are two rows wider that the actual 80mm inlet to give mounting play from left to right. The front slot is going to be closed up and only sensors exposed , I want this robot to look.professional from first look and wonder if I bought it instead of made it;). - Josh

#385  

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They are not perfect vents but look great none the less , I count three holes off.position a bit but not enough to frett about.

#386  

lyxmotion was the one i mention awhile back that would work great for tracks,i use them alot for my projects and has 2 different sizes,i made a johnny five kit ,but a better model then one the sell and over twice the price of $1000 for the kit and added a computer on board,second one was new one working on about 3 times bigger ,custom made parts then there is the full size JOHHNY FIVE tracks are much much better and $500 to $700 each one

in venting or adding fans,what i do is take tests with temperature meter inside my robot with all i want to put inside itand run it for a few hours and monitor the temperature,this tell me if i need one fan or a 20 fans ,and not to do a OVERKILL mostly why my projects take a very long time to build,i take many many tests,battery power,torque power,heat,how long i want it to stay on till recharge,and alot more it save a lot of mistakes and changes i need to cover up and repair

#387  

@robotmaker the tracks I would buy the tracks and sprockets only , anyways I agrees with you on fans , the ones that are slated for install are for sure needed. I found it was a bit stuffy in the omnibot base

#388  

i mostly buy only the sprockets and tracks seperate too,mostly can design any type track system with it dont wont to OVERKILL or add to much or you will be recharging your robot alot of times i look at low current sensors ,cost more but worth the price in battery life,same with fans,or other sensors and add-ons

also on the sensors i have for you,i have a short trip this week for work to cleveland,ohio so wont be able to test them until monday ,they are very flat ,analog with is good for EZB because you can set the level of dirt there is on the floor,need set at a about a half of inch to carpet or floor

#389  

I love your vent holes Josh - boy that sounds weird. But they turned out great. And I love the idea of tracks. You should also check out making your own tracks. Large scale RC tank builders make their own and some are pretty inexpensive and pretty cool. There is a site on the web that has that info. I will see if I can find it for you. Also, I'm sending your servo and sensor today.

#390  

@brett ha.ha , I'm.glad some one likes my vent holes lol. I'm.not.giving up.tracks but I.am going to.focus.on.getting.this.guy functional , I already paid.my painter and he's doing paint this week , then once.I get parts back I will continue fabrication of non case parts like tracks n stuff.

Netherlands
#391  

Damn, i replied at about page seven and since then i've been getting all of these emails for every reply in over 30 pages...

Is there an unsubscribe button:D

Not that i don't like your omnibot, in fact i love it but these emails keep filling up my inbox you know :)

#392  

I can't wait to see the paint! @Niek - I had to set up a filter in my email for these. Check this site out: Building Tracks

#393  

@bret i saw that site before and save it in forates ,good site for building tracks,saslooking at is while back for my FULL SIZ JOHHNY FIVE design ,but needed closer design tracks to look like the tracks used on johhny fivve,thatwhy using MATTRACKS ones that are using for input-inc design comming out soon,first ever full size JONNHY FIVE robot with very full detail and working ERIC ALLARD was the guy who made the johnny five in the movie and is helping input-inc with the design and blueprints

#394  

@niek sorry man I have no.idea how the subscribe stuff works. Anyways I.should get the lynxmotion shoulders with hitec 645mg high torque servos. Each shoulder will have two servos and one on.the elbow , two in the neck , the claws will keep the little dc motors because they are pretty strong. I have riser cables for video card on the way and hopefully I will make short work of.placement...

#395  

My creative workspace just got more room;)

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#396  

like the fish tank,i have 3 of them and a very large one with leopard gecko,4 tanks total,working on a very large cage for a rare ring tail lemur

#397  

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I have two tanks down stairs , one coral and.this.55 gallon.will be a predator tank.

#398  

55 gallon is same i have,plus another 30 gallon as a big fish tank plus 2 others.looking to get another big one just for large saltwater fish

#399  

@jstarne looking at your omnibot 2000 wiring circuit i see you are using 12 volt to 24 volt dc-dc psu for your computer board,NOT a good idea because your 12 volt battery wont last long,mostly made for ac adapter or car battery running and trying to use a boost converter to boost upto to lets say 19 volts or so also not a good idea,first lots of power loss, bosst up and then down second is the cost more then double,third the weight from having a 12 volt dc-dc PICO PSU i found my mistake awhile back and bought one made for batteries like gel cell one you need is this one M4-ATX PSU 250 WATTS

THEY DO MAKE OTHERS ,one i got is 125 watts 6-24 volts input 250 Watts (300 Watts peak)

  • 20/24 pin ATX, 6-30V wide input
  • Programmable timing settings via USB
  • Intelligent shutdown controller
  • ON/OFF motherboard control
  • Survives vehicle engine cranks
  • Battery deep discharge prevention
  • High efficiency, 250 watts output
  • "Anti-Thump" Amplifier remote control
  • <1.5mA standby current
  • VIA, Intel, AMD CPU support

i tell everyone testing and research is the most important thing to do,to save money and time

#400  

I don't know where I.put that in . This is a all 12v wiring. The two gel cells are parralel for double amp hours at same voltage. Yes the M4 250 watt is what I have on the way. It cost about 80 dollars but from specs looks very ideal for my project. Thankyou for recommending it I'm more confident in it now. The original PSU I was going to use was 160 watts but because that video card draws max 116 watts (though it would never see max load) I felt that's cutting it too close so I opted to get the bigger M4 atx PSU.

#402  

but you are using PSU rated at 12 volts on a 12 volt battery,it wont work as the way you think it will.i had one almost same as yours just lower wattage and found it it didnt work on a 12 gel cell battery,doesnt matter if you have 2 or 3 in parallel still wont work made for a car battery or ac adapter,i found this out by using it while back and lost money on it,i called the compant and toild what i have and he said i needed one at 6 to 24 volts or one they make at 9 to 12 volts works great on car batteries because always charged or 12 volt adapter thats always putting out 12 volts

#404  

I did and lost,i learn my lesson about 5 years ago but josh my friend it can be fixed without buying the right on some power loss ,but ,just need a 9 volt to 19 volts or 9 to 12 volts regulated adaper rated at the current or since you are using two 12 volts put them in series and run 24 to your PSU adapter and tap off 12 volts for the rest of your circuit ,thats your best choice without any power loss

#405  

Speaking of you said you had sensors you could hook me up with? Dirt sensors?

#406  

@jstarne my friend i didnt forget you,right now in cleveland ,ohio for a job work ,getting home saterday night so monday will do a little testing on it,will take photos of it too,very thin

#408  

Yea man I did yesterday , thanks

#409  

So robotmaker why will those PSUs work on a car battery and not a gelcell ?:)

#410  

because car battery is 13.6 volts without load and stays regulated near 12 volts with gelcell battery voltage starts at 12 volts then drops to about 10 volts.so you only get if lucky 15 min of use from 10 amp gel cell battery then PSU will stop working,with a car battery witch is made for always at 12 volts they have a alternator that keep it charged

ask any of the PICO PSU companies that sell them and will tell you the same

#411  

Actually I think they are both about the same voltage off the charger. They are both lead/acid batteries. The main difference is plate design. Auto batteries are made for very high current draw over a very short time. Gels are made more like a deep cycle battery. Lower current draw over a longer time. The acid in a gel is thickened with a gelling agent like fumed silica. A auto or gel resting at 12V is about 1/2 discharged. One at 10.5 is considered completely discharged and probably slightly damaged from doing so. The 50+ gel cell batteries I have charge to 13.5 volt. I think 14.1 is the most you want to hit them with to keep from drying them out. The oldest auto type battery I own is in my tractor . It was made in Jan. 2004 :O! I have some gels that still hold a good charge and they were made in 1999.:) Now if you are using that PSU in a car (running) it would be getting 14 volts or so. Or if you were drawing more current then the small gel cell could provide then that would be true .

#412  

big problem with gel cells they dont stay charged,with car batteries they do,most spec on PSU SAYS NEED A AC ADAPTER

#413  

Checklist before paint - Cut shoulders and neck off Drill holes for IR cliff detectors Epoxy in front acc door Drill front radar holes and rear radar holes Drill mount holes for running lights

WiFi antenna mount Mount fan controller , DVD drive and ARC reactor....

#414  

I'm telling ya:) they both do that. I got some gels that will put out 400 amps ! Voltage drops like a rock though to 10.5! I'm starting to like lithium type batteries more though . Ones like A123 are really safe and can deal with different loads. My stock Ducati battery weighs 13 lbs. They make one from A123 cells that weighs 2lbs! Amazing !

#415  

thats why they are bad for PSU ,VOLTAGE DROPS VERY FAST at 400 amp must weight a ton i have 2 gell cell rated at 12 volts at 35 amps each and they weigh 25 lb's each so at 400 amps looking at 250 lb most robot builders use LI-POLY because of the weight i had a 12 volt 10 amp hook up to PSU and less then 30 min when dead on the same battery using 6-24 pico-psu lasted over 4 hours but using the same load

get a half a day off saterday ,going to cleveland zoo and gardens and then late flight home have 2 robots waiting for me when i get home that i bought,one $40 and one $1000

#417  

SPEECYS SPC-101C THAT GOES FOR ABOUT $2500 GOT IT FOR $1000 SPEECYS SPC-101 AND TOMY HEAROID OMNIBOT $50 including shipping

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its my second one i bought of him

#418  

Those Omnibots in blue are wild looking. I can see why you got them.

#419  

250watt PSU and the 45 amp ac to dc power supply. I got the bright idea that my robo needs a voice , I'm adding in two USB powered speakers and molding them in somehow.

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#420  

I need to order a wireless speaker for Buster to. If I use an mp3 trigger then I won't need it.

#421  

@robotmaker

Nice bots you got there. I have two bots on the way, one is Robie SR by Tomy which i think is the RadioShack version of Heriod. The other one is a brand new Buster, just had to get him. I'm excited to be modding them.

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#422  

Update on video card. Ok great news , the riser cable came in and gives me room to play with on mounting positioning. I still have the original drawer so I believe I will use it somehow. Here are a couple pics...

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#424  

Ok I may need to mount the videa card fanside down on the floor , I can vent the area where the fan is , then the drawers will fill the rest of the gap in.the back. It appears I will have space for a 3rd 12v battery there, I may vent that area as well right above the card....

#425  

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Ok I used permatex CA glue liberally around the edges of the door , I had to assert constant pressure to align it as closely as possible because it really does not line up right while on the mounts it came with. I scuffed it with 80 grit sandpaper and applied one layer of body filler , I will scuff this layer and do one more. Once it cures I will start drilling the holes for sensors ect.

#426  

While I was waiting for this Bondo to fully harden enough to sand I vented the area over each motor in the gearbox. 40mm 12v fans , they will pull hot air away:D

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#427  

Ok I started placing ultrasonic sensors , one radar up front , a backup sonar distance sensor, a depth perception sonar in above the camera. I'm thinking about placing one faced up so it can detect doorways , or if its outside or something directly overhead like a table. I believe I will have 4 IR cliff sensors . I have one pyro sensor in the chest and and plan to add two light sensors , one on top of the head other forward facing , maybe on omnibots face. Here are update pics of the three sensors I did in the last hour...

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#428  

Next step , mount sonar upward maybe , mount the IR sensors , mount two light sensors , drill out holes for led illuminators in the head. 4 white running lights on the front of the base.

#429  

Wow dude, you are making some major progress! I got my motor controller yesterday but haven't had time to work on him yet. Hopefully this week.

#430  

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Ok update since I had some sleep... I used led holders and mounted 4 accross the base as sort of headlights. The head has a top sonar so it knows if it is under something like a table but edge would be too high up. Also I added led holders on the ears of the head forward facing as well. I gave him some deep blue eyes and there's a sonar for depth perception between the eyes so robo can determine range of the object its following.

@brett. Thanks man! Regardless this project feels endless lol , I'm just trying to get the body ready for paint and ill cross my fingers I can get it to my painter tommorow.