For those of you who are registered at CochranRobotics.com, I have opened up a Rafiki build Status page. This shows photos of the build process of the prototype. The goal is to be able to start programming of the robot functions in about a week. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts.
http://cochranrobotics.com/RafikiStatus
BTW, this is where I have been since the summer. A lot of working on this project and not so much time to talk in the community. I sure miss having time to hang out here.
By CochranRobotics
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Hey David... I get a message saying "You do not have access to view this page within the website"... I thought I was registered on your website...
let me make sure I set the permissions correctly.
try again. it should be good now.
Fantastic David... I am definitely ordering one from you when you start taking orders... Probably a question too early to answer but do you have any idea of the cost and the kits that will be available? Also... Are you planning on having some sort of user programming "hook"? Like using ARC or ROS so users can add their own custom coding of sorts?
I dont know the cost yet as we will have to negotiate with parts suppliers. I can tell you that the prototype cost about $5000 to make (including 2 pods). This is in no way representative of the actual cost as this cost includes everything including 3d printer and every tool used. Also, mass production costs will drastically reduce the cost to build. All of that is waiting on my team getting the the prototypes complete. I have a meeting on Nov 21st and Nov 22nd with my investment team who will then go negotiate contracts and all for the components.
The way that this works is really cool IMHO. The EZ-B and ARC will be available for the user to do whatever they want to do with it. There are other controllers that are proprietary that will contain all of the code to make the core functions work. They will be communicated with from the EZ-B via serial to tell the controllers what to do. Really, this could be anything that can send serial but I am making it include an EZ-B. The software calling these controllers is not relevant as there will be commands that can be passed to start and stop other functions of the proprietary controllers. This allows things like SLAM and mapping to take place off of the main controllers.
The PC will contain not only ARC but also the Rafiki client that will be used to communicate with everything else like external sources of information and other services. These will basically be web services that can be called from ARC and the information can be returned to ARC for use. Also, these services are pretty agnostic as to what calls them. This allows you to call these services from other devices like phone or computers outside of using ARC. The language used to call these services is not important allowing these services to be used with anything that has a web browser and understands REST type connections and either XML, JSON or some other simple data formats.
Man David... This is brilliant.... I was hoping ARC would be involved. This will hide a lot of the complexities from the user which makes is as simple or as complicated as the user wants it to be... Everyone on here is going to want one... I think you have a winner here...
Thanks Richard. I am at the part that I really dislike but is needed. The fit and finish of this prototype is really important and it brings me back to the days when I was rebuilding old cars. I can't wait to get back to programming again. Hopefully the bot will be able to have its final assembly in about a week or so. If that happens, I will be a very happy man as the programming can start up again. This is the part that I really enjoy.
One more piece of information to pass along. The head is in 2 pieces. The bottom and top are held together with magnets. This allows easy access to the EZ-B and allows the user to add whatever sensors that they want to add to the EZ-B. This allows the platform to be very expandable which is a major goal of mine.
LOL... I am the opposite... I like the build part more than programming... I like programming too but I think I build better than I program....