This thread will allow the build team of Jklug80, rik, Calculon320, slick, Edgee, CaptainTune and robologist to start working on the project and figure out what it is, what it will do and how to build it.
Currently the goal is to decide what the project is (what jklug80 proposed or something else), then we need a name for the robot, then we need a name for the group of 7 who are working on the project. We need a list of desired features, a list of REQUIRED features, and who will do what. LETS GET STARTED!
K guys what project do we
K guys what project do we want to do. Do we want to do the project I proposed where we have a web controlled bot that stacks blocks or something else? IDEA TIME!
Stacking?
What’s our most important goal?
-To make a robot project that is the most innovative? (Requires us to learn and apply the most number new ideas)
…or…
-To make a robot-controlling website that lots of people want to use?
Obviously there will be some overlap in these goals, but I vote for the latter. Anyone else?
something easy enough to get us started
And then build on that. So I guess expandability is a requirement.
And because we want to spread the building and programming among ourselves, we also will need modularity. So that three people can build different modules and the fourth can put them together at his place. The same principle might work for software.
Include a DAGU Mr Basic?
just wondering
I figured we would work on
I figured we would work on it like developers do code. One guy creates a module or function that does X and sends the data to Y. The guy at Y knows to expect certain values or variables so he can make his piece before X is done. We would do the same. We all make a module that expects X and spits out Y as output. Then one or many people assemble the entire product.
After we figure out the WHAT the project will be we need to work on what is important. Make it cheap to reproduce? Make it easy to reproduce? Make it fast to reproduce? Maybe 2 of the above? What is our goal? To make it cool and easily replicated by others? That is what I was thinking. Make something cool that people will want to play with but make it cheap enough for someone on a modest budget (say $300 or less).
Robot building a mate
Make the blocks look like robot parts and make the robots mission look like it is trying to build itself a mate. Fun and artsy. And a tea spoon of april’s fool humor. Make the blocks look really believable as parts and tell the visitors it is up to them to help poor lonesome robot to create his wife-bot.
Very philosophical.
I send an email but didnt
I send an email but didnt get a reply. I did think of that but we would all likely need one so we all have the same materials.
It would be fun if we took a
It would be fun if we took a pic of the bot when it was done and put a part of the image on each block so it was a puzzle of itself.
My idea.
Persuant to the previous post about what I think the goal should be, I propose the robot:
Web-controlled almost-real time robot that is essentially a battlebot. Only simplified.
-It’s a giant simple roller. (I’m thinking like those heavy-duty carts they use to haul produce around, with a big high-torque dc motor. Like Walter only bigger and simpler.)
-Attached to the top is a giant high-powered hammer.
-The robot’s playpen is an area cleared out of a junkyard, in which you control the robot and his massive hammer. I think a massive hammer would be easier to make and funner to use.
-We have several webcams all around the playpen, showing the carnage from different angles.
- we could try other things: chainsaw, potato gun, flamethrower …
wife-bot
a search for a wife bot would be funny as hell. It would have to be programmed with ATOM.
Sounds fun but I doubt all
Sounds fun but I doubt all of us live near a junk yard and have access to those materials 
yeah
Definately would be difficult to recreate …
Just sent an email too,
Just sent an email too, could be an interesting platform.
Fristl : Get a Grip
I like the little grabby bot Fristl made for here. It had a bit of personality, but I don’t know how much staking could be down with it. The gripper section could conceivably be put on the DAGU MrBasic. Maybe an added section, of forklift mechanism to grip/lift at different levels for stacking?
One thing that is simple and easy to find, is to have basic wood blocks, to let people spell out things. Not incredibly intersting for a long time, but intersting enough for a bit of entertainment.
To further customize the
To further customize the project it would be fun to try to make a gripper out of scrap parts (coat hanger, plastic gears, etc) instead of buying something premade. One goal I try to do on my bots is to make it cheap so others can copy it even if they are on a budget. Of course for this project we don’t have to follow that, but if we want to get creative one person can be responsible for making a gripper since it will need to move up and down and be somewhat gentle so it doesnt slam the block down and knock the rest over. Yet another challenge with a block stakcing robot you have to allow the user to make gentle small movements…
Some other things
Got to thinking about other web controlled robots. One recent that appears to be taken down is the BPExploer, that had several little Surveyor robots running around a sort of diorama, crossing a bridge, etc. It was kinda fun for a few minutes. An old favorite was the Telegarden, a robot arm palnting and caring for plants. There was this article about a web controlled paintball tank, that I remember seeing video of, but did not run myself. They seem to have expanded into a different site with mini-tanks controlled online, but not getting anything to load.
Thinking of this last web-bot, the Mr Basic sorta seems to me like a trebuchet base in shape. Wonder what it might be like to have a web controllable, loadable, auto-trebuchet (aimed at pictures of Frits!) ?
That would be cool if it
That would be cool if it could collect the ammo and auto reload. One thing I want is for it to be self sustaining. When it needs a recharge it goes to recharge by itself. It requires no hands on intervention…
Different shooters
Hmm, not seeing an easy way to reload a trebuchet, too many loose fiddle-dee-bits. But something like this weiner-dog excerciser might be workable. Possibly loadable with Frits Grippy robot arms. Think it’s too much to have folks drive the robot to an ammo ball, and load it over the net? Then getting to aim and fire?
A guy I worked for had a robot soccer project, 2 little robots inside an arena to be wirelessly controlled by joysticks. When the joysticks were at rest after a time limit, the robots autonomously did a wall finding/following algorithm to get to their corner chargers. That seemed to work pretty well, or a beacon system could be tracked alternatively. The contacts used were floor and overhead (for the robot) that seemed to work, I’d think a simple dual verticle pole contact would work too, with a couple of wire bumper sensors used as charging points.
Soccer layers seem cool too
Soccer players seem cool too but they woul dhave to stand up on their own. You also have to think about how someone would try to break your robot and prevent them from doing it.