I'm pretty much new to building robots and am looking for a litlle advice. I already went through all the available programming boards such as arduino, parallax etc. but I am wondering if I can simply use and old laptop that I have lying arround. I noticed parallax has a servo controller that connects straight into USB. Had a bit of a problem finding a brushless motor controller that I can hook up to a computer and ofcourse I'm wondering on how the different sensors will hook up to the laptop if possible at all (for a novice). I did some basic programming in the past and can script a litlle (I work in IT).
Or am I just better of going for the arduino? Or maybe even the robot control board that parallax offers? Seems everything is on there including brushed motor ports (in the brushless age, makes me wonder how long it has been arround?)
If want to use the Laptop you will need something like a Serializer or Phigets boards to interface all your robotic parts. The Laptop will be big and generate heat. Also you will need to learn to control the board you buy either with Robotic Studio from Microsoft or something else.
Also there are full PC like computers on one board that run an embedded OS that are made for robotics.
If you go with a Parallax solution, I recomend the new Propeller based board called the Propeller Robot Control Board for a begginer. It is easy to program in the Basic like language called SPIN. It interfaces with both 3.3V and 5V sensors and is an 8-core processor. Don’t waste your time with the other more expensive microcontrollers that Parallax sells.
You can also buy Parallax Propeller based robot boards and kits from 3-Party vendors like Gaget Ganster, the Spin Studio, and Morpheus [that runs a Unix clone OS]. All of which are cheaper than the Parallax one.
Bottom line: Whether it is the Arduino, PicAxe or Propeller, you would find it easier to use something designed for robotics than a standard laptop if you are a beginner.
I kind of like the Serializer, it is also compatible with robotics studio (which might be a pretty big advantage for a beginner as you say). Parallax has also something like that (I think its called the USB servocontroller). With one of these attached to a laptop/pc I have something specially designed for robot control I would guess? Except for using an intel/amd based processor opposite to the arduino or parallax chip?
I kind of stripped the laptop, it boots from usb stick and has all hardware and casing removed, since it runs windows many power consuming components (like nic and video can be disabled). You need to hook it up to a mouse/keyboard and monitor to access it. To big for a desktop robot but small enough for one that rolls arround the floor. It’s just for the test anyway, you can get the really small laptops (or ebooks) for about twice the price of the parallax boards (and some components). But these include color display, wifi, umts/G3, 1gb of memory and 160gb of disk space and more “cool” features at about 1 kilograms. Since my old laptop is stripped I’m looking into buying one of these ebooks anyway so it wouldn’t really add up to the cost. Maybe just a small docking station for in the robot
I guess the main reason why I would like a laptop controlled robot is that it will be very easy to access, it runs windows xp so it hooks up to the local area network wireless. Webcam, comms (tcp/ip support), lot’s of diskspace, lots of processing power, gps capable etc. All in one package. I’m just guessing that putting all of this toghether based on arduino or parallax it would take me considerably more time to get it right. Windows based PC’s hold no secrets for me however.
On the downhand, there’s quite a lot to find about arduino projects but a lot less about computer operated robots. But so far this looks a lot more complicated to me then controlling hardware via PC.
Maybe I’m not making sense because I really don’t know much about it yet so please correct me if I’m missing things. Thank you so far!
Well, If you are good at .NET programming [specifically C#] then you’re probably on the best track with MS Robotics Studio. For a robot that heavy you may need some strong motors like these and controllers like these with a 12V battery like a Gel Cell battery used in Alarm Systems [7Ah should do for starter]. The best thing about the motor controller is that they only need one servo pulse to keep moving and you only have to send updates when you want to change the speed or direction. It simplifies things greatly. If you want to make a small RF remote, you can use the Propeller PropStick and XBee transmitter for a small hand held design.
I am building a larger robot that carries my Laptop and tools around. It is a work in progress but it has proven that it will carry the weight at a very good speed. I played with it at a skate park to see how steep an incline it would handle. The little motors surprised me at their power! You can check it out Here.
P.S. I am not familiar with .NET programming and gave up on MS Robotics Studio as too complicated for a beginner [Me]. I had bought the BOE-Bot with MSRS from Parallax to learn just what you are trying to do. That is why I moved to the Propeller
I checked out your Tobi, really cool! I also work as an IT consultant (MS infrastructure, exchange etc) hence my affection towards laptops.
I’m in doubt now to be honest, I am not a very skilled programmer so I would be relying heavilly on whats already available. Robotics studio appealed to me because it has a visual environement (which might compensate my programming shortcommings, well at least I hoped). If you where unable to do so I might run into the same.
Nice wheels by the way! I was thinking of having brushless controllers (as found in RC models) and brushless motors (just to start at the beginning, a rolling vehicle). Seems they work fine with standard servo signals (www.hobbycity.com) you can get some real bad engines for few bucks down there.
I chose the Propeller because it was like Basic, easy to understand and object oriented. Many objects for common hardware are already created and uploaded with instructions at the OBEX site. Like programming you simply "include" any object you want and then you can access the subroutings that are in it and pass data to and from objects.
I found that there was not very much available examples that I understood in MSRS vs. an ever increasing abundance of objects, example code and tutorial videos on SPIN. That and the 8 microcontrollers in one feature sold me on the Propeller. BTW if you order the ViewPort Ultimate for the Propeller, you can create a direct link to the Prop to control it from a PC and debug in real time. You can view and change variables in real time. Process video with OpenCV.
The Prop can output stereo audio, composite video, VGA video as well as interface PS2 keyboards and mice for inputs and standard digital in/out. I have bearly scratch the surface of the Prop with TOBI.
I programmed in Visual Basic but most examples were in C# so I was totally lost and did not want to spend most of my free time learning it. SPIN was much more understandable to me. Also when MSRS 1.5 was upgraded to 2.0, it dropped all support of my robotic hardware that worked with 1.5. One other thing that killed me was MSRS compatibility with Visual Studio .NET. When I got MSRS 1.5 the only VS.NET version that could be downloaded was 2008 and it was not compatible. I had to find someone with VS.NET 2005 before the demo code worked on my BOE-Bot
One way or another you have to learn 2 things. Basic Electronics and Programming. I am strong in the first one and weak in the second one.
EDIT: BTW the motors in TOBI turn out to be standard automotive motors for power windows.
Ok, thanks. I’ll probably go for either parallax or arduino. Planning to take it 1 step at a time. If I can get a chassis to drive arround my room for starters I would be very satisfied.
I went into things a little more and am probably being silly now. Then again for now it will suit my idear.
I ordered 2 nice little gadgets from http://www.pc-control.co.uk/digibee_plus_info.htm being the digib+ and the motorb. Both are controlled by single USB port. This allows me to control 17 servos and 4 dc motors (and very easily without programming for starters). My bot will carry the laptop, is connected to the internet (wireless router) and as such can be controlled with rdp (remote desktop). This should give me complete control over the both and will give me access to al the good stuff windows has to offer (webcam, joystick support etc).
So far for plan A.
The bee board has some imput channels that support sensors but for now thats plan B.
Started on the chassis, now trying to find some suitable geared motors that use 600mah continuosly with a 1.1amp peak.
