The Real Wall-e By Louis T

Louis T

USA
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Inspired by DJ Sures and many other Wall-E projects on here, i decided it's time to make my own Wall-E and he will be my first robot build. I wanted him to be as lively as possible. I give credit to Joc's and Glickclik for the geared neck tilt and wheels tilt ideas, i just made it my own using the same concept. I still have yet to fully understand ARC so additional help would be greatly appreciated. Here is what im at so far in the project, some of the parts are hand made from raw Carbon Fiber with only a dremel and i use some parts from a 450 R/C heli as well as bearings in some of the joints.

Done so far:

Metal gear high speed modified continuous servos for wheels. Micro metal gear servos for wheels tilt. Mini metal gear servos for vertical arms movements. Micro servos for horizontal arms movement. Micro metal gear servo for vertical neck tilt. Mini metal gear servo for horizontal neck movements. Micro servos for individual eye movement. Sub-micro servos/mods for eye's lid animation. Get rid of dummy cables in the head, run all servos/camera wires from head down the same way and use heat shrink/black nylon mesh for realistic look. Red laser between eyes. Mock up left eye's lens. Other things to be added/changed as i go:)

Yet to be done:

Light up solar panel (most likely, still thinking) Red LED in front in the black spot next to the solar panel (definitely) Make his wrist rotate (don't know yet, still thinking)

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Australia
#2  

It there a reason no one uses the motors that come in the wall-e with a h bridge ?

#3  

@bret.tallent Thanks

@Algeraist You can but there is only 1 motor, you will need two motors to control the wheel individually for turning in place, easiest way is using two servos for simplicity. Those wheel servos will be replaced with high speed/high voltage metal gear later to make him move a lot faster.

#4  

Wow I like how you got the neck gear to work! I cant wait to see this guy running around!

Australia
#5  

Thanks - Love the neck you have done a good job of cutting the carbon fibre it looks laser cut from the photo's.

Can't wait to see more updates on this.

My wall-e is in the post hopefully arriving soon.

#6  

@Glickclik

Thanks...I got the idea from Joc's wall-e but i used the bigger gears that was in gear box inside wall-e, not the gears in the neck itself, it's too small and flimsy. I mounted the servo that way because it would give Wall-E more natural look and room to tilt backward. Today i just added two bearings inside the shaft where it rotate making double bearings on each side of the gear for better support, without these bearings inside it would bind once the screws are tighten. Right now im testing all the movement with a servo tester, can't wait to put him back together, still long way to go:) but im enjoying all the thinking and fiddling, it is all about trial and error:)

@Algeraist

Thanks...i wish i have access to a cnc or laser machine, all the parts are actually cut by hand with just a dremel. I made the part out of paper business card first and use it as template for the real part, there was error in the cut i had to redone one of the part from scratch. Can't wait to see how yours will turn out, everyone has different thinking:)

#7  

As time goes on all of our robot hacks/mods are getting better and better!

#8  

@Glickclik You bet, i didn't know anything about making robot and yet here I am, learning as I go. How is your Wall-E by the way? did you finish him yet?

#9  

Nah. I got side tracked and bought the omni2000 and Mr Clock radio head. I also work. 72 weeks so not a lot of free time. I need to order DJs camera so maybe his receiver will work with my pencil cam. I also need to get a pan/tilt for the lower part of the neck. I wanted to make the arms extend but I havent found thin and flexible enough. Enough about mine..... Im totally impressed at your clean cuts and build of YOURS!! KUDOS! You set a higher bar!

#10  

Haha...Me too!!! I got addicted and bought Omnibot 2000, Buster, Robie Sr, Spy Gear 360 those are to be hacked. I have a larger robot in mind that i want to build from scratch but im not sure if i should get to that or go thru the others first, may be costly either way.

Thank you! I couldn't have done this without the inspirations from other projects, you might have noticed I don't use hot glue at all, i use screws where possible for durability. The tilt wheel idea of your was great! Shame you weren't able to finish him. Where did you get the flexible push rod? I might give that a try.

I can't wait to see what other cool project will pop up in here!

Sweden
#11  

Looks really good!!

United Kingdom
#12  

This looks like a great build. Welldone on getting this far. Liking plenty of photo's in your thread. I was also inspired by DJ's original real Wall-e and also Joc's etc etc and now your build:D I might have a suggestion for an extending servo. I'll post a photo and a link soon.

Anyway, keep up the great work and keep up with the great updates to the thread.

#13  

Thanks guys...this vibes keep me going:)

@John...not looking to extend his arm, but im looking to make the hand rotate or finger(s) move, can't find a small enough servo and strong enough to fit inside the arm. For the fingers, i might get by with flexible push rod which i can't find any yet. Geared motor might work for arm rotating but i don't know what i need, i know i will need a motor controller of some sort. Aggr...only if i can get my hand on Wall-E Ultimate for cheap, it's larger to work with.

United Kingdom
#14  

OK - Understood.

I bought a couple of these small linear servos

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I wasn't expecting them to be up to much, and thought that I might use them in the arms or adding Wall-e's eyebrow covers. They only have about 10mm travel with the EZB:( but that might be enough to operate the thumb/finger. Here's a photo I took for you with them resting on the Wall-e arm. I also took another photo of another small servo I had, to help you out.

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#15  

Thanks for photos. I have similar servos here but i think its too weak for constant load of just the hand parts. I'll see what i can come up with later or just leave it be.

#16  

Got some more work done on the eye over the weekend, boy it was extremely difficult and lot of fiddling to fit the camera and a servo into one eye and still use all original parts with minimal hack and slash while keeping it clean. Just one eye for now (sorry Wall-E), the other eye shouldn't be as difficult. I will not be putting LEDs in the eye because original movie Wall-E doesn't have any.

Camera PCB mod: added diodes for powering directly off EZ-B, removed internal battery, usb jack, on/off button, antenna socket to be rewire inside Wall-E body in the back.

I'm waiting for smaller servo wires, i'll be changing out the wires because standard servo wires are too thick and unnecessarily, i want to use smaller braid and get cleaner route thru the back of Wall-E neck and down into the body.

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#17  

THIS LOOK GREAT!!!! The servo still fits too!!! Love the braid idea.

#18  

Thanks...was a bit of headache trying to fit everything inside with camera centered and still want to keep original look and putting everything back together was a paint too, i would say the eye is the most difficult part of this project. Next up is the other eye and tidy up the wires.

#19  

You did a really GREAT Job on this Article.

Bravo!!!

Mel

United Kingdom
#20  

I agree. a great job on the eye. Looks really dificult, to get everything in there and spot on. Welldone ! This is turning out to be one sweet build.

#21  

You could really make a good "Instructable" once all is completed. Keep taking pics on the progress!

Australia
#22  

Why do you need two diodes ? Sorry noob at electronics guess that why I love the ez-b as you don't need know that much.

Love your work by the way.

*Edit what are the plan for the antenna or are you removing it completely.

#23  

Thanks guys, that's very encouraging:)

@Algeraist The diodes are for dropping the voltage down powering the camera directly from EZ-B, EZ-B output 5V, camera battery is 3.7V, don't want to take any chance to fry it. For the antenna, i will test the range first without the antenna (i just need Wall-E to move all over the house without losing signal) or i move it to the back of Wall-E. I'll be doing a bluetooth antenna hack as well on the USB dongle to increase range.

#25  

Some more things I've done:

Replaced wheel servos with high speed/high voltage metal gear servos, now Wall-E goes way faster:) Cut off the custom arms used for body tilt at the bottom for more body tilt angle. Mod and installed servo servo in 2nd eye, made CF arm for eye tilt.

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Wall-Enator:)

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#26  

Attempting the animated eye's lids...wish me luck!

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#27  

What did you use to make such clean cuts??

#28  

All the cutting are done with a 5 years old dremel only, the key is to keep your hand steady, no sudden movement, draw the line before you cut it so you have something to follow, set slow on the speed or plastic will melt, cut a little stop cut a bit more then stop and repeat, don't rush!

#29  

I may have the wrong bit in there for delicate work. :/ I thought of your idea but didnt think I could get it to work. Im glad you did ! ! It looks VERY clean.

United Kingdom
#30  

Ooh - that looks dificult. I am going to wish you luck....but it looks like you doing a great job. I have even more respect for you attempting this. Keep up the good work. Are you going to run out of ports on the EZB board with all the servos ? LOL:)

#31  

@Glickclik I'm using a heavy duty cutting disc, its brown color, thinnest one you can get at home depot, its in a round tube pack of 10 or 20 don't remember. I was thinking the same, but i like challenges and really want Wall-E to look alive and have more personality so i went...ahh screw it! Lets do this, then i sat there for hours starting into the eye stress thinking of a solution, thought if i make a mistake with the cutting I can still make a new eye lid by cutting and bending one of the thin aluminum sheet I have. Turns out I didn't have to but still got the other eye to do...crossing my fingers! no room for mistake:)

@John_S4x4 Everyone needs luck sometime! even if you think you can do it, sometime things don't go as you plan. I hope not, i think im up to 14 ports now including camera, still need to add sensors/compass, hope i don't run out of ports:). What i have done so far are just mechanicals and don't mean a thing if i don't know how to set up the software part. I'll try my best first but still need major help in that area!

#32  

Ohh i didnt think those could work on plastic. It sure does! I will definately use it next time.

#33  

The good news...after staring into the eye of Wall-E for several hours and almost got hypnotized!!! Still have headache left from yesterday! I got the thing to work good!!!

Everything still fit without cutting more of Wall-E lens assembly! But this isn't over, still got the other eye to do and can't make mistake or I have to redo both eye lids to match, crossing my fingers!

Cutting camera PCB to fit, don't worry it still work:)

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Sub-micro servo and custom mounts cut from delrin block, drilled with hand drill.

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All mounted! has one pressed pin on one side because can't get tool in there to screw it in.

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Hinge cut from delrin block and custom servo push rod from paper clip

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All mounted

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Eye's lid close

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Eye's lid open

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Rewired with common ground and smaller wires, enamel coated copper wires used for extending antenna socket, not sure if has any negative side effect?

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#35  

@Glickclik...it does just don't go high speed on it, i usually at it at 2-3 at most, higher for thicker plastic, lower for small part, thin plastic. Doing the start stop cutting method helps too! If you leave it there too long it will melt the plastic and the cut will not be clean! and go easy on the pressure too!

@MovieMaker...thanks

#36  

I just might hire you to build me a robot.:D

#37  

I updated the last picture, forgot to solder wires for antenna.

Glickclik...It will be my honor:)

United Kingdom
#38  

Welldone. Another hurdle completed ! Can't wait for the video:)

How many more servos have you got to fit after the other eye is done?

#39  

Thanks John...After finishing the other eye, i think that's all for servos, then i'll need to add sensors, red LED in front, light up solar panel, compass, and if i have any free ports left, i may attempt to do the rotating arm or add another servo right below the eyes for another degree of movement.

#40  

I did some more work on wall-e. I reinforced the hinge for eye's lid with some JB Weld and some other joints, partially finished the other eye, i still got to do a mock up lenses to make both eyes appear to be the same. Then i gotta make a clear lexan cover for each of the eye. While i opened up the neck to make holes for the wires to run down into, i took some pics of the geared tilt part if someone are looking for more details on that part. Then i put him together quickly for a first glance:) still no arms or wheels yet.

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#41  

Im always impressed with your workmanship. You're going to have a really NICE Wall-E when you're finished. Could you shoot us a short vid of the head tilt and eyebrows in action?

#42  

Thanks...as soon as I get a chance I will do the video, but my wires are all over with bare leads on the other end so I can't do any testing at all for now. I'm waiting for a few more parts to come in and will wire everything up for first test in ARC.

Australia
#43  

Beautiful work Louis!

You're giving me some great ideas for my Wall-e. Very inspiring :)

#44  

Thanks...im glad to hear that, can't wait to see yours:)

Australia
#45  

Louis, your attention to detail is amazing - this Wall-e will rock so I guess we are all hanging to see him zooming around as a complete unit. Awsome effort and well done.

#46  

I KNOW! Isnt he good?! Imagine what he could do with a Omni2000 or any Omni for that matter.

#47  

Thanks guys...if it wasn't the inspiration of the others, i wouldn't have come this far:), i think omni 2000 is my next project but might do R2D2 first since he's quicker to complete:)

Netherlands
#48  

Wow, nice work. That is really looking cool.

United Kingdom
#50  

Nice update - Great work on the eye lids

#51  

Hey guys...so im up to 18 digital ports already, i have to pick one of these options to use the last two ports, which one would you prefer? Any idea to reduce ports?

Make wrist rotate (take 2 ports for both hands), can make him wave. Make both larger fingers move (take 2 ports for both hands), just for looks. Add red laser between his eye (take up 1 port), can make him chase red dot.

Update: I think im going to attempt the wrist rotation for the last two ports. I may add laser with manual on/off switch.

#52  

Well, i decided to add the red laser between wall-e eye just like in the movie, i bought a laser pen and gutted it, the laser is to be controlled manually with a switch and/or digitally. I also did a mock up camera lens for the left eye, i used a Jelly wide angle lens for cell phones and hack it up. Turns out great:)

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#53  

Louis, you were BORN to do this. You have the Gift. Just like D.J. has a gift. Very Professional Looking I must say!:D

#54  

Thank you...I'm flattered!!! but im no where like DJ, he's multitasking superman trying to take over the world with robots...in a good way:)

#55  

Louis, he is right. You really are great at this. Is your job related to hand work? If not you should be. Maybe special effects models? Not only are you good at your handiwork but you are a creative thinker too! btw I will be visiting TX in Aug in case you wanna say hi.:)

Australia
#56  

Louis - Can't wait to see your hard meticulous work in a Video of the Robot in action. You have really pushed the boundaries of the EZ-b and attention to detail in this Robot. You're up there with the best.

#57  

Thanks guys...I can't wait to put him back together, but I will need a lot of help with the software part to get him fully functional, right now he's only as good as a static model:).

@Glickclik My work isn't all related to hand work, but i used to do a lot of video game console case modding as a hobby, then i build R/C cars/helicopters as hobby and it became my business. I love drawing/painting when i was younger, I did some paintings in high school got a few awards at a school district local art show, still have all the paintings, those were good memories. I just love building/modding/crafting/tinkering with things, i think building robots really got me going again. What part of TX are you visiting?

#58  

Austin and then 6 flags for the kids.

#59  

Cool...Road trip? it's hot here, will be way hotter by then so get ready for some sweating and drink a lot of water. I'm 4 hours away from Austin:(

#60  

What is the best focus distance do you guys use for the wireless cam? I want to make a final adjustment before closing up Wall-E eyes and move on with the build, once I mount the head on the body I will not be able to open it back up. Originally i want to be able to see far away as well as close up but just realized that's not possible with manual focus, i know I can use two cameras but don't feel like hacking up the other eye, it was really difficult with the first one.

#61  

Not hotter than here. its regularly 110-122 here!

#62  

Wow that's hot!!! AZ? guess won't be a problem for you:)

#63  

Oh, Im working as a contractor on an airforce base in Qatar.

#64  

Oh my bad, i assumed you're in the states since you have USA listed. Well hope you will have fun here with the kids!

#65  

I had Qatar there once but I guess I forgot that I changed it back

Czech Republic
#66  

You have the same web camera covers, where did you by them ? Thanks ?

#67  

I took it from a another camera:)

#68  

Do you realize that when youre done Im going to send you a fresh wall-e head to modify and some $$$ for the parts and service?:D I love looking at the workmanship on the neck and eyebrows.:)

#69  

I'd love to help but im all tight up with work and projects, plus who's to say I won't make any mistake with yours?:D. To be honest with you, after building this Wall-E with all the small parts and concentration on the cuts, i must say it is a very time consuming process. I don't think i want to do this all over again, in fact i can't wait to finish it so i can move on to the next project. I did enjoy building and thinking while i was at it even though it usually resulted in major headache for the day:)

#70  

So i got Wall-E's head all back together and was testing out motion/color/face tracking. I could get color tracking working very well, but motion and face tracking are definitely not working with this latest ARC, i tried everything, every settings, quadrant size, sensitivity, the motion tracking went crazy when you increase sensitivity.

In DJ earlier video, face tracking works very well correct me if im wrong, but for me it is not seeing my face at all or barely, Wall-E head is simply not moving one bit, tried playing with the camera color settings too without luck. May be there is something wrong with the latest version. The color tracking works great, so my setup on servos are good. Any idea what went wrong?

Czech Republic
#71  

It is not good message for me. I ordered EZ B a few days before confused .

Australia
#73  

Don't panic, I know the face recognition and color tracking works because I've had "Bob" follow me around the lounge room - both face tracking and using a red plastic bag. At first, we had problems too. The main thing with this stuff is to be in a well lit room - you need plenty of light. The camera that comes with the kit is limited (I'm not sure if DJ uses the same one in his demo - hopefully he does) but it will not work in dim light. You also need to play around with the position of the red cross lines that come up on your viewing screen. Ultimately you could get yourself a higher end camera that is better at handling low light levels we experience indoors. Hope this helps

#74  

Actually played with the time frame, red crosses, servo increment some more and got everything to work, motion could use a bit more work but im happy face and color works now. I'm still playing with scripting because i haven't got a clue how to put everything together for what i want Wall-E to do. Would you mind sharing how you get Bob to follow you around? script example would be great. I like how you build Bob out of household stuff, im thinking of building similar robot out of a round trash can as body, two small speaker shells for the head.

Australia
#75  

Hi Louis, great to see things are working. We have the servo Movement Panel hooked up to the radar scanner - obstacle avoidance - for him freelancing around the room. If you go into config in the camera settings you can tweak the settings to the servo's used for motoring the wheels. With the camera your face or colored object has to be in the correct frame of the camera, you can only move slowly. I had my son Austin viewing me through the camera and correcting me so I stayed in the frame zone - and it followed me-- as soon as I moved out of frame it stopped. I'm sure a much better camera would deliver better results ( less light needed and bigger frame zone). I've not run it through a H-bridge to wheel motors yet but it should work the same.

#76  

Yep, i tried to get things working one at a time, slowly but getting there. Thanks for the tips, i'll try that when i have wheels on, right now Wall-E just have a head and body, no hands or bottom:(

I'm having a bit of trouble with the servo movement scripts. I want to make Wall-E head move up and down in a natural motion like this real Wall-E when he says his name, watch his head move up and down:

But setting servo into specified position make Wall-E head notch really fast up and down, not very natural looking at all. I'm limited to programming so I can only depend on script. Any inputs?

#77  

to replicate that typwe of motion you will hae to use relative servo control use both neck servo and eye servo make the ratio like 1.5 or somehting...

so when the neck moves up and down the eyes move too....a the same time.

you have to combile many or the servo controls and ge creative witht he servo commands....

#78  

Also you would also add the body tilt. I could not get my relative servo to work quite right when I had my wall-e together. That would really look great if you could get it to work. I mean you will eventually because you have all the joints you need. Do you have your current script uploaded on the cloud? It may help someone if they could see the min and max movement of all your servos.

#79  

Ok i have almost got him to move like i wanted by combining relative servos with external control and the following codes:


stop()

# Play track say name
ControlCommand( "SoundBoard", Track_3)

# Set the servo speed to a nice slow smooth motion
ServoSpeed(d9, 2)

# Move the servo to the low position
Servo(d9, 25)

# Pause for 0.5 seconds while we wait for the servo to move into position
sleep(500)

# Move the servo to the high position
Servo(d9, 65)

# Pause for 0.5 seconds while we wait for the servo to move into position
sleep(500)

# Move the servo to the low position
Servo(d9, 25)

But i don't want external control on everything relative to servo D9 on the other movement, how can i enable it for only the SayName function? then disable it at the end of the script? I'm not sure if this is even something possible yet.

#80  

write a specific script for it, name it, then in speech commands type in commandcontrol(scriptstart, "whateveeyounamedit") for whats your name.

and yes you can disable the script by using the command control feature

commandcontrol(pauseon, "weyni")

this is all off the top of my head so please refer o the exact list of commands on the left hand side

#81  

controlcommand is going to be a usefull tool....esentially any wondow opened within the software can be turned on off pause on pausaed off anything....

#82  

I understand but im trying disable a function within the Relative servo window "Response to movement for external controls", i don't think there is any ControlCommand for that, can't find it.

PRO
Synthiam
#83  

The next version of ARC will allow you to pause and unpause the relative servo control

PRO
Synthiam
#85  

Might be out tonight - not sure yet. There is a big new feature i'm adding and it's not fully done yet.... But i'm working on it:D

#86  

@DJ, That's awesome! I also found a problem but not really sure if it's a bug or if it's suppose to be this way. When i set the speed of the servo, after the script ran, the speed is kept in memory, when i run another script with the same servo, that servo is using the speed set in the previous script so moving slow instead of regular speed.

Update: Found another problem, sometime wall-e head will move up and down correctly but sometime it goes all the way down pass the limit i set which i don't want. I'm not sure of the reason. I'm going to make a short clip to show you that in a moment.

Here is the video:

I used both Relative servo and code below, note that i have to reset servo speed at the end of the script, if not when i says Wall-E look up after this script ran, he will move up slowly and not the normal speed, not sure if this is a bug or not.


stop()

# Play track say name
ControlCommand( "SoundBoard", Track_3)

# Set the servo speed to a nice slow smooth motion
ServoSpeed(d9, 2)
ServoSpeed(d5, 1)
ServoSpeed(d7, 1)

# Move the servo to the low position
Servo(d9, 30)
Servo(d5, 36)
Servo(d7, 68)

# Pause for 0.5 seconds while we wait for the servo to move into position
sleep(500)

# Move the servo to the high position
Servo(d9, 65)
Servo(d5, 50)
Servo(d7, 50)

# Pause for 1 seconds while we wait for the servo to move into position
sleep(800)

# Move the servo to the low position
Servo(d9, 40)
Servo(d5, 36)
Servo(d7, 68)

# Pause for 0.5 seconds while we wait for the servo to move into position
sleep(1000)

# Set the servo speed back to normal
ServoSpeed(d9, 0)
ServoSpeed(d5, 0)
ServoSpeed(d7, 0)

PRO
Synthiam
#87  

The limits are per control basis. So if you set a limit in the servo settings, the camera does not use that same limit. This is each control can have it's own limit for it's own behaviour.

The servospeed is meant to work that way. Setting the speed of a servo is global until you set it again, or reboot. Much like if you set the status of a digital port, or the position of a servo. It's global.

#88  

I forgot to update these pics last week i made the lens cover for Wall-E eyes. These are made from thin lexan sheet and i cover the front with iPhone screen protector cut out because lexan can get scratched up easily.

I ran into a small problem, the screws holding the two carbon fiber neck pieces together keep unscrewing after a while, need to find a way to keep them in place, i think they screw may be too long that it push itself out due to all the vibration from movements.

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#89  

@DJ I understand that, but if you watched the video closely, the 2nd time it ran correctly, not moving down pass Servo(d9, 30), but the first time it went all the way down Servo(D9, 20), but i didn't set this anywhere. Why does it do that? I don't have anything else running.

Got it on the global servo speed part, but sure it will be much better if it's not global or have option to be global or not:)

#90  

Hey, Does the servo speed control only work on ldigital servos? or can analog servos play too?

#91  

Works for both, I have Analog servos in Wall-E eyes

#92  

@DJ I found what was causing all the servo glitches, i had all servos set on auto release after 5 seconds, as soon as I paused the auto release, everything works as expected, doesn't matter if i increase to longer time. I would really like to keep auto release on to save battery but how do i get around this issue? Tried controlcommand("Auto Release", pauseon) as well as ReleaseAll() but as soon as the servos are released from their positions, the first call of the scripts will make all the servos glitches, just like in the video where D9 should move to 30 but it went all the way to 20 instead, the 2nd try works correctly because it still hold position and I did it within 5 seconds of Auto Release.

#93  

Found out what was causing all the servo glitches, it wasn't auto release after all, it has to do with the servospeed and pause is critical in between, needs to give enough time for servos to reset back to normal speed at the end. I'm very pleased with the progress so far. I will have another video up soon with Wall-E head movements all working properly with motion/face/color tracking. I'm having trouble with the arms servos as the servos im using don't want to release from their position, they're noisy digital servos once locked in. Need to find different servos for arms up and down movement.

#94  

How did your track tilt work for you when its driving? I didnt use carbon fiber so there is a bit of play in mine that made it drift off to one side.

#95  

I haven't attach Wall-E's bottom yet...that sounds funny...hehe. I'm working on his head movement and arms one thing at a time, get all the expression and scripts figured out. I think the tilt servos are too soft, in a sense that Wall-E kinda sag on its own when the servo are released from holding position, i might have to go back to this later, the servos are rated 2.5kg.cm @ 5.0v, do you think it's too weak?

I'm having trouble with arms servos won't release so i need to change them out, but I like these servos and since I have everything in place looking so well so instead of changing them out I was thinking may be I can use PCB from another servo and hoping auto release will work and get rid of buzzing. I'm not sure if this will cause any negative effect or servo burn out. What do you think?

PRO
Synthiam
#96  

How loud is the buzzing? They must be struggling to hold the weight of the arm. I am using standard servos for my arms - of course i have the room because my Wall-e isn't as featured packed as yours!

#97  

When I had my Wall-e running it would drop if released. Im sure yours might too specially if driving on them.

#98  

DJ...They're rated 3.5kg-cm on 5v and 4.2kg-cm on 6V, i think the same or stronger than standard servo, they're mini servos not micros, I'm getting used to digital servos buzz when they're idled, but this one is rather loud rattling sound is annoying, sometime it stop sometime on its own sometime it won't until i give it a nudge. What do you think about switching PCB out from another servos? could i turn it into analog servo? They're cheap anyway so i don't mind experimenting.

Glickclik...I will see what happen when i get to it. If they get too hot holding, i will change to stronger servos, which mean redoing carbon reinforce plates im trying to avoid.

Czech Republic
#99  

Digital servos are buzzing as they are seeking to accurately keep a specific position. Digital servos should be faster, more accurate and adhere to the center position. However, they also need more amperage and thus more capacity and heavier batteries because of their (digital) servoamplifier . Moreover, they are more expensive than analog servos and in my RC models I noticed almost no difference from analog and digital servos. These are the reasons why I equip my other RC models, only the analog servos (also without buzzing).

#100  

I put Wall-E together but come across a big problem. The wheel bottom tilt pivot being held by the servo horn, leaving the top free to move (originally there are two screws holding the wheel assembly in place), the weight of Wall-E press the wheels assembly inward, when the tracks run, the tracks pushed outward and came off on their own. I think i need a dummy pivot on top to keep the wheel from moving inward and track from coming off, not sure if that's what i need to fix it.

#101  

That really sucks. I liked the way you did yours too.:( You're pretty creative so I know you will figure a solution.

#102  

Thanks...I hope I can fix this, if not i might have to get rid of tilt:(. I was very frustrated as i was driving him thru the camera view then my dad goes: hey Wall-E, your tracks came off! I was like what??? haha...But at least the servos held up fine while driving.

#103  

Here are pics of Wall-E arms in place and hacked back cover to fit a 3000mAh 7.4v Lipo pack. I will be using rare earth magnets to attach the back so i can easily open up to recharge.

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#104  

nice robot iam looking forward for making a cleaning robot using rad 2.0 using ez-b it will be awesome ........................ and your robot is really great good job :)

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#105  

Sorry guys there has been no update lately as I haven't had much time to work on Wall-E. I'm getting ready for a trip to CA at the end of this month. I figures it's time for a break:) but i will try get him done once I get back.

Thanks robothacker...A cleaning robot is awesome, I really like M-O from Wall-E :-), there is a great vacuum bot project here which has over 100 pages of details that may help you with the build, check it out: https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/530

#106  

where in cali!

if your visiting so cal, let have a beer.

talk robots n junk.

#107  

@hoolagen1 We're going to Garden Grove area visiting some relatives then we're heading to Vegas right off so i won't be in CA for long, got a lot of photo shoot to do so little time, i love doing photography and videography, i won't pass up a chance to go some place nice though :-)

#108  

malibu hermosa beach, manhattan beach, redondo beach and Palos verdes cliffs. all within a few miles around me.. well, maybe not malibu.

just a thought

#109  

Rad base.is a cool one for.sure. Are you.wanting the robot to only clean or also be a entertainment not?

Canada
#110  

Great detail with the photos and descriptions... I can feel myself learning already:) But between spending time reading posts and dreaming about ideas, I think I am becoming sleep deprived:P

Incredible job Louis!

Gunner

#111  

Didnt I tell ya he did a great Wall-E?

#112  

Wow this is great! Keep up the good robot working!;)

#113  

Thanks guys, i did really enjoy working on him so i hope my details can help others working on the same project, i've got overwhelmed with work so im going to try finishing him soon. I'm hating this flu i just caught...uggrrr!

PRO
Synthiam
#115  

Your walle is absolutely stunning!

Canada
#116  

Looks awesome!

#117  

Thanks DJ and Lumpy:)

@DJ...Thanks for fixing that audio problem so quickly.

@Lumpy...Did you ever find that piece i was looking for? i'm so eager to get him to run without the track falling off on its own.

#118  

I really envy your Wall-e. What part do you need?

#119  

I appreciate it ;-) its the part I posted earlier that you said you already used it on yours.

#120  

ah yeah thats right. Can you craft a similar one? Have you checked servocity's inventory of aluminum parts that might work? I remember mine had a problem too with threads. I got mine to work better by adjusting the driving servo but the flex of my plastic and joints were also a factor. I've not gone back to it since my omni2000 arrived in the mail.:)

#121  

I suppose it could but it'll be a lot easier just to go with the available parts. I almost gave up but i thought it would be suck because I already did all the modifications to get the tilt to work, so either I can lock up the wheel back to stock or fix it and so i played with more ideas and finally found the solution.

I've got Omni 2000 to work on as well, he's just sitting there now but for some reason I got attracted toward a spiderbot for my next project, like a quadruped or a hexapod. I'm leaning toward a quadruped because I would end up with more ports on EZ-B for some sensors and lights. My goal is to scratch build from ground up, not using any kind of frame kit which is very expensive. Will see after Wall-E is roaming:)

#122  

Here a video i just made to show you how i fixed the track problem or half the problem because only one side is fixed:)

#123  

WOW that's super solid! Yours truly takes first place for best hack!

#124  

Thank you! Now that you brought it up, I think DJ should have a robot building contest here, i think that is something missing from this community and need to have, may be given a project theme and dead line, 2-3 projects a year would be great given enough time for building, and of course a prize for the winner(s). I think this would really push for more robot buildings and get more attention to EZ-Robot.

#125  

Impressive. You could extend out that arm so you have more up and down track movement. You could make it look like walle is balancing on one leg!

#126  

jstarne1...Thanks man. That's a great idea but if i extend it it would look odd having a bar/arm on top of the wheel, just trying to keep it look stock as much as possible, im just so happy i got it to work with just enough amount of tilting than non at all:)

#127  

really great work 100% GREAT @Louis T and i ust want to tell you how did yo connect the two cameras at the same time? and is the two cameras really work together ? and what kind of the camera did you really use? :):)

#128  

I believe that only one camera was used. He only makes it look like two if you look close. He certainly does excellent work doesn't he!

#129  

yes of course 100 % excellent work

#130  

@DJ sures when were you talking about the building an autonomus wall e

you are gonna need to build wall e

My Autonomous HomeMade Wall-E Robot by djsures

  • 18F4685 microcontroller @ 20 mhz for brain so i want circuit diagram and what's to for make the circuit ? and i want make wall e talk so where can i get it ? and when you was need wall e command from ebay you need the body or the oard that makes wall e talks or the both
#131  

@Louis t

can I ask you......the wall-e head you built looks very intricate....do you ever have an issue with initial power up? meaning do the servos twitch when connecting power to the board? if so, does this mess with the set up in the eyes? (will they flip out to the point of destroying the set up?

if not, how do you do it?

in my wall e I have 4 mini servos controlling the eyes. 2 servos per eye. they are set up very close to each other....but power up causes a jolt that breaks the set up.

so I have to re do the whole head every time I power up the board.

just trying to figure out how to minimize the power jolt.

@rich and @dj sures are helping but I figured would hurt to ask you since our project seem kinda similar.

thank you.

#132  

@hoolagen1

I don't have any power up issue with the servo going all over the place, it does twitch a bit but not to the point of destroying the servos or the setup. What you need to do is setup an initial servo position for each and every servo on your Wall-E so that they won't go out of place on first power up. So basically you want to tell EZ-B to execute that set of codes with different servo positions on start up go to those positions. I can't tell you what position because each servo is different and your setup is different. Hope that help.

#133  

I never get tired of seeing this awesome build.

#134  

Hello Louis. awesome Wall-e ! What model of cameras you used? same model in two eyes? i have wall -e toy and want to make my own robot follow your job. Best regards José the new v4 cameras fit good in wall-e?

#135  

I will be following...as I am obsessed with all things Walle.  I hope you keep posting more.

#137  

No...thats great.  Thanks!

#138  

I'm currently finishing work on my own hacked WALL-E. Let's just say, the treads falling off is an issue on many different WALL-Es. Mine is more like the original DJ Sures version, except held fully together by hot glue. You and Sures were able to make an animated character with the WALL-E toy. I need to find out how to make mine an animated character.