4WD3 it is ~! Hooyarr!
hmmm a combined hexapod and rover… To be honest I figured my hexapod would be an epeditionary vehichle that rode on my rover , kind a like a sea doo on a yacht
but a combined unit could balance and do cool stunts on 2 wheels . As for advanced terrain traversal the torque could be sensed on the wheels as the legs climbed then the legs could have an algorithm to sweep back and up for storage until needed again.
I have been dealing with Robotshop.ca and I must say the level of service is awesome. I placed an order this afternoon and should have my parts in a few days.
- 4WD3 kit
- Lynx 6 arm for PC w/SSC-32 + software
- Sabertooth Dual Motordrive (for differential tank style control)
- (2) 7.2 2800 mAh NiMh batts
- a fancy charger
- battery/charger quick connects
- (2) Maxbotix Sonar modules
I am tempted to immediately port the serial connections on both the SSC-32 and the motor controller to ethernet so I can have everything communicating on ethernet, anyone know of low powered ethernet switches for robots?.
So I should wire these batts in series to get a little more juice for the motors? I didn’t upgrade any motors - I am expecting the lynxmotion 4wd3 kit to be designed for at least grass and concrete.
I like the idea of a basket on the back of the rover. That way I can use reverse more appropriately.
I think the rover and arm will keep me busy and allow me to get to the functional purpose of the bot sooner. I have video processing technology to implement as well as speech recognition to and 3 dimensional mapping to play with. The architecture will be most interesting - either I will end up with a fair bit of server side processing or a mini ITX on the rover.
now about data / audio/video telemetry I am uncertain… go bluetooth/ or good ol WIFI 802.11 for data? if bluetooth is power friendly it may be the way to go.
TCP/IP cam or CC RF for video?. I have seen some good reviews of the little X10 kits for model rockets but I am sure there are better products out there somewhere.
Thanks for you help so far, do I need some sort of power regulating ciruit on this bot? I have 3 processor to power up initially and may want to explore solar cells.
Neil
Neil