R.O.O.S.T.E.R.

Some extra pictures.

that's a sweet looking bot

Very cool! That looks like it should be on the moon roving around

That arm is looking good :)

I'm really liking your bot! I was actuallyt looking at that platform a couple days ago. It's a little to expensive for my tastes, but would love to have one! Where did you get the arm? Can you post a link? Great work!

Oh thanks man! I've been working on it for quite a while now. I bought the robot arm from EBay. It's quite expensive though. But after doing lots of calculations and research I figured that if I'd just buy it as a set it would be cheaper for me. It depends in what country you live... If I buy something from outside the EU I have to pay 20% taxes over the complete amount I've payed including shipping when I receive it! If the object is over 20,-. And if I would buy it in parts I would probably go over that eventhough everything is cheaper outside the EU if you don't count shipping...

A few days ago my brother gave me a peace of LED-strip and a few LEDs, that gave me an idea.

Nightmode:

It's still in its testing phase and I still have cleanup the wiring, but it looks cool. I might even design a small board to distribute power from my Lipos to everything. More coming soon!

Latest update: I finally finished my robotarm. It now has 6 DOF! Under the existing arm I mounted a servo. It's a simple design, which I might change in the future to lower the height of the arm. I was planning to use a servo that could do 360 degrees, but I probably mixed something up and accidentally bought a modified servo... But It's oke... To fix this problem I'll mount in 1 or 2 microswitches to define a starting position.

Here some photos:

That is a real nice arm!!!

Maybe a 360 degree servo is a modified servo. I'll find out shortly too. I ordered one to see.

Project update: I have finished one of my mini projects which are for the main project. When I was playing with my robotic arm for let's say an hour I noticed that the heatsinks on the voltage regulators where getting hot so I figured, I have to fix that! Here is the result:

I've mounted the EZ-B on to an aluminium plate. On the side facing the voltage regulators I made 90 degree bent an added a 5v 25x25 mm fan.

Next update: It has to do something with a part that belongs on an airplane, but normal people will never see it.

Or something with batteries :P

To be continued!

Nice. Where did you find the 5v fan?

I found it on ebay. This seller has lots of sizes, but I thought this one would fit the best. Here is the Link

Thanks

This is spectacular. You should upload a video. I would love to see it in action

When I have finished my camerahead-tower/netbook-protection-holder-thingy and my power distribution board I will certainly make a video ^^. But not yet :P.

Behold, my latest micro achievements:

Direct hardwire USB control

A way how I could utilize the ping radar/ I made my wiring look more pretty

That is such a nice arm!

Thx

Update: It has been some time since my latested update... But I needed the time to rethink my robot as it was not going to work as planned. My initial idea was to add a laptop and use it as a link between another computer. But the total weight would get to heavy and it couldn't turn any more... So I'm switching to synapse, well as soon as I know what parts I need...

So the updated part... I finally finished my powerdistributionboard.

Now all things that require power will get power from only 2 batteries...

Next update: Redesign of the rotation platform for the arm.

It's an awesome bot. Love the lights for night..... :o)

I would love more info on the arm. Did you get the parts from a certain place or your design?

Samantha

Hi Samantha, Thx for the complements! Some time ago I bought it from some guy of ebay and it actually is link ,but mine didn't have the rotation pad, I made that my self (still working on it, a better, smaller and stable version). But the entire arm is based on the brackets like link or similar brackets(more brackets).

In the kit I got 2x 15kg/cm servos, 2x 3.1kg/cm servos, 1x 3.5kg/cm and the brackets. (note: weight / cm is at 4.8v so with the ez-b's 5v it's a little bit more) I haven't tested how much it can lift, but it's fun to pick stuff up with it.

Rest of the robot: Have been working on the wiring on the inside of the robot, it used to be a mess... No I've tie wraped it all up :P, but more will come soon as I've been redesigning most of it!

Small preview: It has to do something with fire and it actually freezes it self when you use it.

Oh I can't wait. Really awesome job u did first time. Can't wait to see ver 2.0

Behoor my latest update: A few months ago I tested the principle of my robot, the idea was for it to carry a netbook around. Here comes the problem. Wasn't able to turn anymore... So I removed the netbook ,but I stil wanted range, so I bought a synapse kit which gives my robot a line of sight range of 4.8km (about 3 miles).

This module plugs right in where the BT-module sits. Another module will be connected to a pc. I have to say that the connection is great. I could walk around my house and not lose connection.

Once my range problem was fixed I started to create some order to the wiring mess. It's afterall quite important to have them bundled nicely as crossing wires can create fires. Like the wires going from my batteries to my ESCs, those have a 40amp current over them.

Also I made some changes to the arm, as it was way to high and the rotationpad wasn't working as planned so I changed it.

I added a few wire guides and removed the rotation pad.

That's great.

I am having a bluetooth issue. I can't even really drive my dude around. My computer is in bedroom, with carpet. I thought I'd get a better range but as soon as he leaves the room he loses bluetooth connection and either just stops or runs away. He doesn't get very far though. he's top heavy and as soon as he hits more carpet. Plop....

Hi Samantha, I had simular problems, but the synapse modules fixed it, although it took me about 3 weeks to get it running and about 30 mails to solarbotics(that's where I got them). But now that I figured everything out it works great.

Rest of my update: I added a camera on the back, it sits on a "turret" from which you can look around from. And when I've build the weaponery shoot things like small metal balls or rockets.

Camera view:

Also I have been working on something rather dangerous, in my first post I said I would add a flamethrower. Here is my prototype:

These tests used lighterfull in gass form, when using liquid flames would get about 1 meter long.

Note: this is very dangerous, don't try it if you can't control it I did this on my own risk and it almost burned my room down because of curiosity... Checked if the fire was hot. And it was. It started an uncontrolable fire on a small piece of paper, which wouldn't stop burning.

When its finished I will mount it on my robot arm. The cool part of my design is that it has chambers that in following order to the nozzle each become larger. So the gass can expand in each chamber sucking warmth from its environment and thus freezing it when used long enough.

Next update: More things I can come up with, maybe even a video. And I might make a body to cover the chassis.

Oh S&*t. Careful now. Video would be awesome but not at the cost of your house. Not a fun thing (had a house burn down, faulty wiring) sucked.

I don't know enough about things like that to attempt it. This place has classes if you happen to be in the Bay Area.

The Crucible

Body kit build part 1: So I started with a body design

And then I started to cut plastic and glue them together until it looked like:

To be continued! I'll probably finish it in a week or 2.

That's gonna look really slick.

What type of plastic are you using? How does it glue together?

Samantha

@ Samantha

I'm using solid polystyreen sheet plastic which is working out pretty good so far. To glue it together I'm using a glue simular to Revell model glue. It dissolves the plastic slightly and makes it soft so if you apply it to an edge and wait about 1 minute and then hold it to another piece of plastic it will stay together. But it's fragile until it's hardend and if it can't hold by it's self you have to hold it in place with something. Like the 3rd hand thing in my picture in my previous post or tape, or dentel floss, just holding it for like 10-15 min will also work(it isn't fully hardened yet, but it will stay put). It depends on the situation :P.

If there are gaps you can fill them with with plastic sawdust or small pieces of plastic, add enough glue to cover the pieces you use to fill the gap and then wait. Usually it fills the gap completely and else it requires more glue + plastic. I usually use modeling putty, kosts less glue and less time.

Note: don't use to much glue on a flat surface because it makes the plastic soft so it will warp and in a worse case senario it will make a hole in the plastic.

I see, sounds similar to working with the clear plexi glass like stuff. I made a clear display case out of it but used that liquid solvent stuff. You put them together and then drag the liquid stuff across seam. All though you only have to hold it for like a minute. Does take like 24 hours to cure.

As far as a putty I really like this sculpting epoxy. Gets really hard and very easy to smooth out.

Thanks for providing more info.

So I just finished up the upperbody. So behold:

Next up:

• Fixing my synapse nodes (they suddenly stopt working...)
• GPS

Awesome job! I love the look.

So I finally made a short video of my robot.

Wow, that's really cool! And I love your slippers.

Hey cool, is fast and agile and yes, wild shoes!

Wow what features did you use to get him to travel room to room like that? Looks like he needs a rear rangefinder or somthing because he backs into stuff. Very cool setup! Looks like a personal mars rover!

The rangefinder on the claw is really cool.

Waw, very good ! Great robot ! Look that it can compete with the Mars rovers ! Contact Nasa, try to make a deal ! Van harte gefeliciteerd !

Mvg,

PhG

Hello budel0, Very nice robot. Nice wiring job! The arm is really cool.

If you get some free time could you give us a step by step instruction on how you got the synapse- long range system working? How to hook it up? I'm very interested but am a newbie when it comes to this sort of thing. I think it would benefit everyone here on the forum. :)

Thanks,

Rex

P.S. Can you provide a link to where you got the synapse boards?

Thx all I've been working on it for 1 year now. And have had many ups and downs. A few weeks ago both of my speedcontrollers found it funny to roast themselves and some other things. So I made the switch to a 25a dualchannel sabertoothcontroller, expensive but worth it.

@Jstarne I'm controlling it with my joystick. And my sabertooth is set in exponential throttle increase. So it's sort of sensitive. And I don't drive it around a lot, because I'm constantly taking it apart changing things and putting it back together.

Other stuffs I'm working on:

• weaponry (because I can)
• speedsensor
• lighting (step-up converter got roasted)
• External power for the servos
• compass
• camera

@rgordon It took me quite some time to get them working. I mailed back and forth with the guys at Solarbotics(where I got them) to find out what I was doing wrong. But in the end I didn't follow their manual closely enough and found out that I didn't connect the resistors right.

The manual: Link Everthing you need to know is in this manual. And else you can ask me anything, I'll do my best to respond to it.

Where I got it Solarbotics

Thank you. I will look into it.

budel0 hello! you said it is working on the compass, and is mounted and working? I am sure that like me, many want to know how it works, please let me know if you have already experimented with the compass, and if so which model, thanks.

@R2D2 I have the compass sort of working. It works for a short time. Then the LED on my EZ-b turns off and my robot stops working. So I've figured that its browning out. And because of that I'm working on an alternative powersource for my servo's. For now I'm awaiting parts to build it.

Finally finished up my lighting system.

I used to use the cheap arduino relays from ebay to turn them on and off. But when a friend of mine needed to order something I ordered some MOSFETS(IRLML2502PBF) with him. And made my own switches which are way smaller, faster(atleast 5MHz), quiet and very cheap(total price like $0,50).

Still on my ToDo list:

• speedsensor (75%)
• wireless camera system (20%)
• Other stuffs (e.g. making wiring pretty)

Looking really good!

Nice! Bot got Bling :)

Can you provide a schematic on your little switch, please?... I have been looking around and have many options, but would like to try making something that I know others have used with the EZ-B.

@Gunner Here's the scheme. I have to say it's really simple. Depending on your application you might want to add a diode between(did that to idiot-proof mine, just in case) the + en the load(application).

Hallo budel0,

ik ben self net begonnen met mijn robot. 6 wheel thumper, en van daar uit zal ik wel zien wat de robot kan en gaat doen. net gisteren de 3 hbridges geinstaleerd maar vind dat die niet echt veel kracht aan de wielen geeft?! what beruik jij om de thumper te besturen?

heb wel 4 batterij packs geinstaleerd, stuur wel even een foto door.

ik zit in Salt Lake City, Utah. maar ben in Hoorn geboren. sorry voor de spelling fouten maar zit al 12 jaar in amerika.

groetjes, Ray.

sorry for the Dutch, i just introduced myself in our native language.........

Raybot ,

Hope you don't mind but I did a little translating on your message. How close am I?:

I myself just started my robot. 6 wheel thumper, and from there I'll see what the robot can and will do. just yesterday the 3 hbridges geinstaleerd but think that not much power to the wheels gives?! what budel0 you to the thumper to drive?

I have 4 battery packs installed in your PC, send it as a picture by.

I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah. but I was born in Hoorn. sorry for the spelling mistakes but he is already 12 years in america.

Regards, Ray.

Nice job so far to both of you. I love the lights budel0 Nice wiring job Ray.

Dave Schulpius

that's about right, looking at your screenname i guess dutch yourself?

Somthing I would recommend is to run an individual ground to each controller to your battery. Bad grounds are know to cause issues and restrict power.

@Raybot Cool, leuk om weer eens van iemand die uit ons kleine landje komt en toch ver weg zit. Oh en weetje wat toevallig is, ik woon in Hoorn ! :D

Voor de rest zal ik het in het engels houden zodat de rest het ook begrijpt ^^.

I'm currently using the 25A dual channel motor controller from Sabertooth and it's working out pretty well for me. Eventhough the manual and specs don't support nor recommend connecting 3 motors per channel, it does work. One of the disadvantages of how I did it is that I connected the motors parallel. And by doing so I increased the amps per side to 18A instead of 18v. I did this because I don't want to use converters or other things to power my other contrapsions that I tend to attach to my thumper. But if you increase the amps you need thicker wires and I've noticed at my work and on internet that no one likes using thicker cables. With high voltage you won't need thick cables.

But to be honest I'm not really an electronics expert, but I do great with mechanics ^^. I always look at what others do and if I think that'll work I'll try it myself. I used to power the wild thumper with 2 rc speed controllers. But after 1 year of abuse the cheap Chinees stuff failed on me, so I switched to the 25a dual channel sabertooth, looked at vids and reed reviews and thought it was the best option. Though it is very expensive (paid like ?120,-) I believe it is worth it. It has a 50a burst per channel so I think it can only die when you: put water on it, throw it of a cliff, connect it wrong, or set it on fire.

Your best option is to try what jstarne1 said, take another look at your wiring. Because what I see in the pictures is that the motors are connected parallel. To control the thumper with the 3 h-bridges is by connecting each motor to a channel on each of the 3 h-bridges(3 h-bridges/6 channels), I think that was the plan right? You should get more power when you have that.

dschulpius You are really close :D

Small update of what I've been busy with: For the last weeks I've been having shortage problems. I managed to burn through 5 fuses that are on the EZ-b, for those that didn't know, there is a fuse between the 2 heatsinks(the yellowish thingy). And from this I've learned that anti-static foam is a very good conductor and should never be used as an isolator. But got most of my custom build things back to work and my EZ-b still lives eventhough I almost fried it.

Since the incident I have placed fuses between my sabertooth (40A), my surround lights(3A) and to the top half of my robot(the arm, lights, camera, sensors, etc)(10A). Since then no more things got fried.

Also I changed the angle of my Synapse tranceiver with 90 degrees sideways this optimises the transmission bubble (as I call it) to around te robot instead of just over the front and back. It should also increase the signal strength and range. This will help me with my wireless camera tests. As I have a 10mw camera but it uses the same frequency(2.4ghz) as my Synapse tranceivers, but the tranceivers use DSSS so they shouldn't be bothered by it, but you never know for sure... In the end its 2 devices screaming very loudly and the one screaming the loudest will win. I hope my tranceiver does, I dont mind some interference with the video images, but if my controller keeps disconnecting every 2 seconds it'll be annoying. But that is still work in progress, still have some electrical problems, so those first then fun stuff.

@budel0 i will look at my H-bridges and wiring next days of. One of the H-bridges isn't working anyway. Waiting for the new one to arrive. I did connect two of the motors to each H-bridge, But i will ground them separately as @jstarne1 is saying. 6 channels one for each motor. for now i will play with the H-bridges (spend enough the past month in getting all the goodies to start my new hobby) swapped my Jeep Rubicon for a robot hobby.

That's funny you live in Hoorn. I was born (Wever in de risdam) and raised there. Bunch of my friends still live there. I normally get back home every two years. Will be back in September for my wedding and my parents 50 year anniversary.

I see that you are using a different camera the the one that comes with the EZ-B kit? is that for any specific reason?

Thanks for the response and i will keep you posted.

Ray

@Raybot When I started my robot project, EZ-Robot didn't have a kit yet, so I found one myself. When I bought it, it came with a crappy receiver that broke after a while. Searching the web for a new one took me a long time (http://www.fpvhobby.com / note: that you can't connect them directly to your pc, atleast most of the receivers don't). But in combination my camera and receiver they get me about 30m range thrue walls and stuff, maybe more(didn't test it further than that).

The main reason for buying a new receiver was that I wanted to test the combination of my Synapse tranceivers(the red and green thingies I use to connect my robot to my pc) and a wireless camera system that works on the same frequecy(2.4ghz). Usually combining the two will cause problems. But as my tranceivers have DSSS they shouldn't have any problems. But until now i have had problems, but I still have to do one more test to see if it's going to work out and else I'll switch to a 5.8Ghz camera system.

The thing I changed between last test and the one I still have to do ,is that I changed the angle of the tranceiver on my robot. So I should have a better signal.

Once I've tested the combination and it works I'll buy 2 camera's(like 720p), 1 transmitter(2.4Ghz) and something that I can use to switch cameras with. I'll place one on the front and one on the turret. If the test doesn't work out I'll first try it with a 5.8Ghz system(transmitter,camera and receiver) and then add another camera(if it works).

My goal is to get great range, something like 100m and I want to have a good quality video on my tv or pc (once I have an AV to usb converter).

After testing the antenna changes I can conclude that that a 2.4ghz camera wont work in combination with the synapse modules. This unfortunate, but sort of expected. Now better news. Since someone shared the link of the video with a MyMindsSi 6wd chassis, I've been blown away. It looks cool, works great.

So from this point on I will be converting my dagu wild thumper in to a 6wd car with front, back steering, individual suspension and powered by to motors. This will be a great challenge and I'm looking forward to starting designing the frame. I've already picked up 2 Rc monster trucks for parts and very soon there will be a new R.O.O.S.T.E.R.

at one point i will do the same, but will do it from scratch. i will keep my thumper as one project and start a 6 wheel project in the future. I did receive my robot claws. so that is the next step.

last upgrades, pictures to follow; head lights front and rear. still working on "bobcat" controls.

;)

@Raybot After some thinking, calculating, I figured that buying 2 cars was cheaper than buying parts(depending on brand ?50 - 150,- per wheel(complete suspension with all the bearings and stuff)). I didn't want to completly design all the parts, because there are quite a few, I also figured it would take a few weeks of milling to make them all. And I'm to lazy to start from zero.

At this point I'm designing a base plate where I'll attach everything to. After that I need to design some more parts and send them out to be CNC'd.

Some pictures:

My robot in peices:

My new suspension: With some awesome purple anodized parts

My base plate rev.AA 1/6 of the way:

May I ask what kind of 2.4 ghz camera are you using? Analog cameras that operate on 2.4 ghz are a wide band and cause interference. Have you tried EZ Cam? Also the easy cam has ten channel options and wifi routers usually 16. As long as they are not on the same channel everything is peachy. I will say that the more a signal is amplified you get more spectrum bleed over. This causes interference on other channels of 2.4ghz. Specifically if you don't want to use ez cam (which is a good little camera by the way) then make sure whatever cam you use is a wifi ip camera and be sure that the antennas are not near each other. Once example would be a rubber 6db antenna on one side and identical antenna on the other side 10 to 12 inches apart. - Josh S.

I don't know how "techie" you want to go but you can make a narrow field antenna , like a sat dish sitting on top of a servo. , use a few adc ports to make you a custom signal tracking turret that always point "home" to the signal origination. Its somthing the military uses all the time as a adhoc connection verses having to actually use a sat link is space for communication. Doing this you can get much more range from a lower transmission power. Lower transmission power and a direction antenna means less interference for other equipment. My roomate operated and built equipment like that and he was a journeyman Radio tech in the united states air force.

@jstarne1 If I don't have to buy new equipement, in a way like switching to 5.8ghz ,I'm up for anything. But I think it'll be quite a challange to make it point to my pc at all times, but sure it's cool, so thats another reson to do it. But I first have to finish my little "suspension project", before I start with something else.

Uhm about the camera... Well I think it's the most cheap Chinees camera one can find, it might just jam everything... My asus eee pc 900hd used to lose wifi if I powered the camera. The specs should state that it's a 10mW camera on channel 2, but thats about it... Don't know the rest.

@budel0

can't you use the RC car frames and mount them back to back, AKA use the front where the steering components are of each car and fabricate a mounting plate to mount them together. Cut of one set of rear wheels and use one complete frame and one just for the front (what becomes the rear steering setup)

does this make sense?

Ray

@Raybot Well that mostly was the plan, but I figured to design my own base where I'll mount everything to. I'm thinking aluminum, maybe anodized because it looks cool.

About 3/5th, its missing a few holes (like the complete mid-section)

@budel0 looks great, i don't have those design skills / software so i always think simplistic I'm an Executive Pastry Chef for a living so all i do is handy work i do have some friends that have CNC routers and Laser cutter do........ which i will put in use in the future.

Ray

@Ray Well I'm an engineering student, I call myself sort of a "Pro"(I have been able to draw everything I needed) with Autodesk Inventor or Solid Works, so if you need help let me know.

But when it comes to machining stuff I let that up to others, except things that can be made on the lathe, I can do that. But drilling holes is something thats just not meant to be done by me... I always endup sanding T.T

Latest update:

Finished up the design of the central differential. I reversed engineered it from the rear differential of one of the cars I bought for parts. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to make it, either CNC milling or 3D-printing.

The design of the base plate is almost finished, still have to do a final check if all the holes match up with the existing parts.

To be continued.

A small update on the project. Got my dual output differential housing from shapeways. I decided to 3D print it.

Only need to make a few adjustments to it, paint it and then it's finished. Once thats done I can finish the baseplate design and get it manufactured. After that Phase 1 is complete :D

Will be watching

Incredible, you could easily make a robot hand with this printer, I have seen some designs to download.

Are the parts that are 3d printed very strong? How did you design the differential? Did you just send them a part and they copied it?

@jstarne1 It should have a tensile strength of 48MPa / 6962Psi (48N/mm), it's made of laser sinthered nylon. But after I've painted it with an acrylic paint it should be stronger. Now its completly poreus. If I would fill it with water, it would slowly leak.

As for the differential itself, I designed it based on the existing differential. Started with a caliper in one hand and the existing differential(the black one) in the other and measured everything. Well actually I was designing and measuring at the same time, took about 3 hours to design. I usually design my parts in Autodesk Inventor or Solid Works, I used Inventor for the differential.

Once I checked all the dimensions I converted the file to an STL file and send it to ShapeWays. Note: always check the unit where you are converting your file to, I had a conversion problem and it ended up with a model 10x smaller (they couldn't print it) but everything worked out after a few e-mails and new converted parts. Got my parts in about 4 days, which is pretty quick, so I will order other things there aswell when I need them. They aren't to exspensive, you pay a standard startup fee and the rest of the price is the volume of the required material.

That's really cool. I should get solid works

Little update: I've finished up the differential. And I have to say it's looking great. Most important part, it even works, it just needs a little more grease.

For the next update I'll befinishing the design for the base.

looking great!

So after 6 revisions of the base plate, I have finally finished the design. It took me about 20 hours to complete, but after so much work you'll end up with the ideal design. The plan is to get it CNC'd out of a 3 or 5mm thick sheet aluminum and annodise it black. I had thought about 3D printing it, but 3D printing metal is insanely expensive($700,-...) and plastic isn't strong(only 43N/mm^2) enough.

I tried to shove everything together as much as possible, it's about 6cm shorter and 2cm less wide than my earlier versions. This saves weight(it should be ±200 grams) and costs.

So to get an idea about how big this is going to be, I placed everthing where it should be at about the right distance from one another. It should become about 500mm long, increasing the length of my robot by 80mm. Which is more than enough space to place the arm on and move the EZ-b away from the camera turret. Hopefully this will help with my jamming problem or it'll just make space for something else (maybe the cannon I've been playing with).

For now, To be continued.

After a few days, I finally have my baseplate/chassis. It still needs some external changes (paint or annodizing), but it's looking great already and it's super shinny.

Behold: Just after it had been machined(took about 7 hour of milling)

After a quick wash and deburring I had it machined at tristrambudel.com

For the next update: ASSEMBLY! And maybe a video with a test drive, but I might need to design some more parts for that.

This is so cool!

So impressive. I wish I had a clue on how to do that, it would make a lot of things I plan to do so much easier.

Great work!

This is a great build! Very impressive!

Thanks guys for the complements, now behold THE (partly) ASSEMBLED MACHINE

A few interesting notes: As with all prototypes nothing will ever fit in one shot(if it does, something else won't fit).

• The servomount wouldn't fit, 2 holes were to small, some cutting in the mounts fixed it.
• The motormount doesn't fit at all, spent so much time on(hours of measuring) it and it still doesn't fit. Solution: new motormount.
• The suspensionsets wouldn't fit, after applying some brute force they did, some holes were about 0.01 to small...
• All the other parts fitted right away.

Next project update(s) *Designing/Fabrication:

• Axles
• Motormounts
• Mounting plates
• Spacerblocks for the Dagu frame
• Connecting blocks for the Dagu frame

• More Assembling!

• TEST DRIVE! :D

Small update:

I've made a design based on the axles that came with the RC cars, so I figured to recreate them, but then shorter and made of steel. The plan was to make them myself, I have a lathe so I figured, I can do that!

But after about 6 hours working the lathe I had enough of it, it took forever, so I had them CNC'd by my brother. It's just insane how fast those machines work... It took me over 4 hours to adjust the diameter of one axle from 10 mm to 6 mm over a length of 70 mm with steps of 0.2 mm at a time. And it had to be done manually... But doing it with CNC lathe took only 30 minutes per axle ... And then the axle was actually finished, complete with everything, it would even be polished... Lets just say I was sort of baffled when I saw the result, it just looked amazing. With the polished finish it looks like there is another world inside.

They are so shiny: I know it's a "little" dark but I was so excited to share this, that I couldn't wait until tomorrow.

To be continued

love this project so far! like the idea of adding shocks and multi steering axles.

Why couldn't I think of that! hits head on desk

@Technopro Ah thanks man, I appreciate it. I got the idea from the MindSI 6wd robot, but when I saw the price tag I thought, I can do that, maybe even better and atleast for way less money.

Today is tomorrow, so here's a better picture:

They still are so shiny :D

Another micro update: My axles are finnaly finished. The pins in the end pieces weren't added yet, but now they are so this means they can be installed. And therefore I'm giving a headsup for a testvideo. I will probably make one at the end of the week(friday/saturday), if everything goes well. I've already tested the motors in combination with my dual output differential, so I'm not expecting any resistance. (Personal Note: my god this thing can go fast, expected speed: "35+ km/h" )

In the upcoming test I will only be testing the "Suspension Upgrade" no EZ-b involved yet. I haven't made the parts yet that connect the old robotparts to the "Upgrade".

Plans for the very near future:

• The final parts, about 3 more to go.
• The final assembly.
• FPV (First person view, aka wireless camera).
• More stuffs.

As promised, a video of the upgrade:

First Test

Drive around

Great! I like ROOSTER. It's a very cool concept.

crap, i don't even have my current thumper up and running the way i want and now i want to copy ROOSTER :D

Aw man, that's so awesome! Are you a mechanical engineering student?

Thanks guys, I'm doing my best and I try to work on it as often as possible, even though school and my internship are eating all my time...

@Raybot Well if you really want to, I can provide you with all the CAD files and the parts list of everything I used. I might even be able to have some the parts manufactured for you, though that might become (very) expensive. Mine where made at my internship (www.tristrambudel.com) and some I made myself(got all the blueprints, or I can make them).

@Niek Yea, I'm a mechanical engineering student, currently in my 3rd year at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam(HvA).

Here's another update,

After I had almost completely finished the new drive system I noticed that some of the plastic parts of of my suspension where a bit too flexible. So I figured lets exchange them with aluminum parts.

The new parts include:

• Aluminum Shocktowers
• Aluminum Suspension arms
• Aluminum Gearbox mounts

On the ToDo List:

• Parts that connect the old Dagu 6wd frame to the new drive system.
• Reinforcement parts for the differential gearboxes.
• Other stuffs. (maybe even some 3D printed stuffs, have been designing/building a printer at my internship and it has to be tested one way or another, it's some awesome timing with the Revolution and all >.< )

Another update: Approaching the end of the upgrade of the propulsion system used in this project. Today I had the time to install some new parts, that I designed:

Only a few (2 new ones) more parts and then I'm finished with this part of the project. So... I'm already thinking about new things to desgin and add, maybe a brushless gimbal, just because they're awesome and I'll have smooth video once I've added a wireless camera. And I'm thinking about adding a rotation pad for the arm, also thinking about a stock model of the arm with another EZ-b and potmeters so if you'd change the position of the stock model, the arm would copy it. But I'll keep thinking about it, in 1 or 2 weeks I'm starting an rc tricopter build as "mini" project (no EZ-b involved, maybe in the future) based on the Rotor Bones Batbone from FliteTest.

To be continued.

Sweet !

It has been a while since my last update. But the project hasn't stopped, it has only been on hold for a while. Since my last update I've made a lot of changes to the R.O.O.S.T.E.R. and most of them aren't visible.

It now looks like:

The entire drive system upgrade has been succesful. After a long time of testing and tuning, everything works, from the axles to the gearboxes and front and aft stearing.

So what am I now working on? Well, some of you might know that I have bought a Kangaroo X2, to controll the sabertooth that drives my motors. To use a Kangaroo X2 you need either analog sensors or quadrature encoders as feedback. For the last few days I've been building a circuit to condition the signals coming from 4 IR reflectance sensors.

I started of with building the circuit on my breadboard and testing it.

It all seems to be working as planned, so today I started with stuffing it in to something smaller. And after some midnight soldering it looks like

So far its only half done. I still need to add the components of the last 2 channels. But I was proud enough that I thought I'd show it before it's done. Never had any education about this, just the internetz.

I'm going to try to finish it tomorrow or somewhere next week, so I can test it with the Kangaroo X2.

@budel0 hay i like to make this to but will u please tell me that what parts r u using on this? full detail BOM

and please tell the full procedure to with photos or diagram if possible.

cool!

awesome looking bot

@Mohanish Well thank you, it's been my long term project and one of the prides of my home projects. I need to continue with it, it's been standing still for about 3 months now. I was having some issues with my DIY encoders, so I bought some but haven't made anything to mount it with.

As for a BOM, it might take some time to make. I'm also going to warn you that some parts will be extremly expensive to buy if you don't have your own (CNC) mill and a lathe. For instance the frame(chassis) is milled from a slingle peice of aluminum almost 400mm long. But if you do have the equipement or acces to it, it'll be cake.

As a preview of the list of items, here's what I used: 2x HSP 1/10 monster truck 4x4 (all the drive gear for independant wheel suspension) 1x Dagu wild thumper (a frame for on top of the suspension, etc.) 1x DFrobot 5DOF robotic arm 1x EZ-b v3 (upgraded with Synapse modules for longer range, probably getting a v4 in the future, adding a cam is so much easier with that one). 1x Dimension engineering Sabertooth 2x25a 1x A whole lot of upgrade parts from HSP 1x Laser cut battery tray 2x CNC'd axles 1x CNC'd chassis 1x CNC'd other parts 1x 3D printed EZ-case 3x Lipo 2s 4000mah 25c 1x Custom electronics for lights 1x more stuff

Hmm I should continue with this project... I now also have a viable ignition for the flamethrower I made >.<. I'll probably continue with it after I've finished my "artisticle" project.

As for the BOM, maybe next week.

Cheers

PS. A full manual, not going to happen, I might add a small exploded view as I dont have all the parts in CAD.

@budel Thanks! i'll wait for that but i like to tell u that i need only Electrical parts list only means what kind of motor u use which Board and what motor controller which sensors u used that only i need it other then that all mechanical parts like chassis , Brackets and suspensions system all that ill design my own i need only electrical parts list

So it has been almost 1 year since I actually posted progress on my robot project. I've been working on it every now and then, maybe once every few months. I spent most of my time on school, actually graduated last month and started A company. And now that I have more time I thought the moment was there, after almost 2 years of watching the revolution pass on I decided that I was going to order a v4 aswell.

And guess what, I got mine yesterday.

Luckly enough I didn't have to pay taxes cheers 70 ,- in the pocket. (for anyone who cares ((142 (EZ-b + cam) + 15 (standard customs fee) *1.12 (customs taxes))*1.21(VAT)) - 142 = about 70,-).

Future plans for the ROOSTER:

• Finish of sensors for the kangaroo + sabertooth (I made a different one than I have in my previous posts)
• Drive some around the house.
• Add a second cam.
• Add navigational features, gps+compass (have it on my tricopter, so must have it on my rover aswell).
• Add more "things"

Welcome back. I'm looking forward to seeing your new progress. I remember this build. It was gong so well. Hopefully the new V4 will make the difference for you.

A few months later... So I had this idea to make a new rotation platform for the robotic arm. The plan was to have it as low profile as possible so it could still reach the ground. I also wanted to include a few ping sensors for range detection. I'm planning to make my robot fast and I want a "constant" stream of range detection in front of it so it wont crash.

So here's the plan: A servo powering a set of pullies which rotates an axle that rotates the arm. Everthing will have bearings to ensure smooth and rotation.

Some Inventor hours later:

Next step was to order parts and 3D print the sensor frames, the frame for the whole and the arm. The parts took about 10 hours to print and another 2 hours to cure. I printed them on an Atum V1.5 (DLP resin printer).

Also made a tiny axle:

Afterwards I assembled everthing with some adjustments here and there to the printed parts(made a mesuring error on the thrusted ball bearing... Fixed that on the lathe).

And tadaa:

Next step will be making something that connects a servo to the frame and to the remaining pulley with some kind of timing belt tensioning contraption.

Bude,

Awesome bot. I like the idea of it being able to reach the floor to pick things up. Is it moving autonomously in your room? I've never seen one move that quickly.

@ EEGbiofeedback The plan is to have it move autonomously, but it's not that far yet. I still need to finish making the encoders and apply them to the drive system. But yea, it's pretty fast. I haven't ran it at full speed inside, well not when the wheels were touching the floor. When I have everything up and running and added a gps receiver then I'll drive it outside.

Nice! Here's one I made that goes about 1/3 the speed of yours. It has 3 ping sensors continuously scanning with a tank chassis:

Looking forward to your updates,

Bill

oeps video is privet

For the last year I've been working on and off on getting a Kangaroo X2 up and running. The problem was that I never managed to get any of my encoders to work. They would either bang around too much or wouldn't fit at all.

So here's attempt number 3:

I'm using 2x ams as55035 8bit hall effect quadrature encoders and 2 diametric magnets. The first sensor took me about 3 hours to get it working... Lets just say I couldn't make a board on the mill so I had to solder pins to it and they wouldn't stick or fall off... And a certain smd almost received some free flight lessons... If you catch my drift... On the other hand, they work great and are small enough that they fit in line with my motors.

Next step is to test them in the robot.

Today... Today... Today... Approximatly 1 year, 4 months and some days after starting my Kangaroo journey I finally managed to get it working with my Sabertooth and my DIY sensors. After many attempts in making my own Quadrature encoders, I did it with just two 8,- chips en two diametrical polerized magnets...

The autotune took 3 attempts, in which I had to change from mixed mode to independant mode. This was necessary because both of my motors are connected to the same drive axle and in the final stage of the autotune in mixed mode it would try to rotate each of them in a different direction which results in it standing still. I also needed a larger tune area in my final tune then set to independant mode , but 3rd is a charm and it gave a succesful tune.

After the tune it gave me the best thing ever: That yellow/orangy light on the Roo... Not blinking, but solid...

Next step: making it work with the EZ-b and waiting for the USB to TTL to arrive. So I can use the DeScribe software to find the control values.

It has been a while since my previous post, I do have to say a lot of things have changed. Most of my time is now going in to my sub-project: Ping Navigation Plugin. And I found out that I couldn't continue any longer with the plugin without a platform to test it on.

So I wired up all the ping sensors and installed an arduino nano to continuously read them out.

The sensors will be read every 29ms and on request of the EZ-B the arduino nano will transmit the measured distances. This means every 145ms all measured distances could be transmitted. Which is great, but I'll most likely request it at a much slower rate to prevent flooding the channel. I'm most likely to add another arduino or other microcontroller to talk with this one. I want to have sub systems each with their own job to improve the overal speed. I.e. if I add any process which takes longer than 29ms to this one arduino I have to stop the "ping sensor read" loop to do that process and restart it afterwards, thus adding delays and introducing slower responsetimes. But I could add another 6 ping sensors to this nano before it's full :D.

Furter more, I've completely redesigned the rotating mechanism of the robotic arm. I found out that without a propper belt tensioning system and a stiff enough frame, it's not possible to rotate the arm without having more than 5 degrees of play. So I took that belts and pulleys out and replaced them with a set of tiny worm gears and a pile of tiny ball bearings. Instead of using a servo for rotating, I've chosing to use a tiny motor which has a set of planetairy gears and plenty of torque to rotate the arm. I only have to hook it up to a tiny speed controller and the ez-b. There's still some play, but it's way less. The gear can slip on it's axle, which is fine, it prevents other parts from breaking. It will only slip if you hold the arm while the motor is on.

Next part of my project will be about finding and implementing a microcontroller that is small but also has multiple uart ports, besides another EZ-B. And I think it will be a Bluno with I/O expansion board. It'll add a ton of I/O and 5 uart ports. Not sure if I'll need the I/O but other wise I'll have to see if I can find something simular, which has multiple uart ports.

Wow 4 years and still going strong. Very impressive. It's a very nice design. Sweetly completed. ;)

nice, a lot of metal !

Regarding your encoders, how many ticks per revolution ?

Thanks guys :D.

@ptp I'm using 2 AMS AS5035-ASSU encoders. Here's the datasheet:Link. They should have 64 ticks per channel, 256 edges per revolution, which equals 1.4 degree's per step. Or so the datasheet says.