I finally got around to designing a good, solid line and ledge bot. This little guy is set up for lines, mazes and ledges (deskbot) with its 5-sensor bar up front. Three sensors are mounted together in the center, spaced to match the width of electrical tape. Two more sensors are mounted to the far outsides. These two extra sensors are slightly wider than the wheels and thus, can detect an edge with plenty of time to stop or change direction. They are also super handy when used as a maze-solving robot --the 2 outside sensors are just what you need when following courses with 90 degree turns.
On top of all this line-follow goodness, we add a Dagu Micro Magian Board:
Atmega168 (Speaking Arduino)
On-board USB
Sweet motor driver (with brakes)
3 axis accelerometer (not only a "tilt" sensor, but can also detect impacts as well --Create a bump-and-turn bot without the bump switches!
On board IR sensor --Control this bot via IR with any Sony or Universal TV remote control
There is even a cut-out for a micro servo added to the chassis if you ever want to add a "head" or pan and tilt kit to your bot.
Included in the Kit:
Laser cut acrylic chassis
All hardware needed for assembly
120:1 geared motors
60mm wheels
4 AAA battery holder
Line Follow sensor bar
All wires, jumpers and doo-dads needed for assembly
Micro Magician board
**Available as no-solder kit!
Disclaimer:
This robot can be used as a "ledge finder" and/or "deskbot". This means, of course, that this robot will be around ledges. It is a true possibility that this robot may miss said ledge and take a tumble to the floor. Good code and observation will prevent this from happening.
It is your responsibility to protect this robot from falling. Code well, test your stuff. Do not trust code from RBS or others to "just work" --You must do your testing and homework before you let this guy roam your desktop.
If for some reason you do break something, please email me. I am a very nice guy and will probably take pity on you. I will be sure you get replacement parts and I won't cost you an arm and leg. Promise.
Line Follow, DeskBot, IR R/C, Bump-n-Turn
Actuators / output devices: 120:1
Control method: autonomous
CPU: Dagu Micro Magician
Power source: (4) AAA
Programming language: Arduino
Sensors / input devices: (5) QRD1114 line sensor bar, 38kHz IR, accel. sensor
It is the accelerometer that is on board the Micro Magician. It works great, will give you tilt or impact data, and the library takes care of all the hard stuff (code wise) for you.
First thing seeing the video and that huige beard “OMG what’s that Chris?” But a second later my attention was drawn to the robot. It’s a nice little bot with a lot of potential. Chris knows what people like and you can see that in his designs. To prepare a “eye servo” hole is already a good thinking.
I could not agree more, Oddbot… …and I have to revert to the “no videos via ‘advertising’ in the forums” argument.
This keeps coming up, for me and others, we gotta figure something out (maybe LMR v++). I have no problem stating clearly that I am advertising, and I really want to keep order 'round here, but that lack of video thing is a real deal breaker.
I am willing to comply! I want to comply!
I just don’t know what to do. Maybe rework this post into more of a tutorial/build post and link to the “advertising” post in the forums? If I do this, does this post become “sneaky advertising” then? --An advert disguised as a regular robot post?
I want to have this conversation, I don’t want to be “that guy”. --You guys know me.
Bought two of these. One for me to play with. I am a programmer and wanted to play with code more than building for now.
I bought one for my daughter age 12. I have been sitting on my hands letting her do the build from start to finish. No hands on is hard to do. Other than pointing out some alignment holes on the motor pieces she did pretty well. I walked into the kitchen to find enough black tape lines to cover most of the floor. I hope to get her familiar enough with the Arduino IDE to do updates for the behavior.
For mine I lost the screws for the battery plate.(to lazy crawl on my hands and knees). Didn’t stop me. I have a 9V Velcroed to the top. Only issue is I had to slow the beast down in the software. The desk top programing defiantly needs tweaking. The device was moving so fast that it would fall off backwards on a sharp turn. Slowing it down helped a lot.
Note Missing a part on delivery. Chris jumped over backwards to make things right. Will defiantly order more from http://rocketbrandstudios.com in the future
** Dagu Micro “Magician” serial port returning garbage**
I am unable to get text back through the serial port. I have 2 different Dagu Micro “Magician” but both give garbage back when testing. I have used multiple sample programs as well as multiple baud rates and still get the same error. . It might be the Arduino card I am using for selection in the IDE Arduino Nano W/ ATmega 168. I am using the Arduino Code 1.01 and have also tried 0023.
(right after I get some money for that wiicam board!)