Hi everybody, a new member here. I have been using the Boe-Bot for a while now, and I’m ready to get into some more advanced stuff. I can’t really decide between a hexapod or a biped, but that’s another topic
My questions here are regarding the BRAT. Is it worth upgrading the servos to 645s, or would an upgrade to 475s be strong enough? I will not be making a monster out of it, but I was thinking about adding a pan and tilt head, etc., so some extra weight.
Also, how long does the 1600mAh last with the 6 bigger servos? Would I need to upgrade it if I add one or two extra servos?
I have a Brat and I added arms, grippers and a custom aluminum head which is not pan and tilt. I recommend using the strongest servo you can afford for at least the ankles, because the brat’s limited degree of freedom prevents it from shifting is weight while keeping its torso parallel to the ground. The Brat has to tilt its entire mass all on the ankle servo. If you plan to add features to your brat I would use 5645s min for the ankles. My brat uses 5645’s for the legs (6) and the rest use 475’s the head can use 422’s
I have never messed with the hex so I can’t offer much opinion on this type of bot.
I have a video of my Brat on my personal web page. Click the www button at the bottom of this message.
He’s using 5645’s for it, but I think you could do the same thing with 645 servos. The 475’s offer improved performance over the 422’s, but with the 645’s you can add a lot of accessories.
Thanks guys, I guess 645s it is Btw, Mike, this is an awesome BRAT! Love the head!
Looking into the future, and being a complete noob when it comes to humanoid robots, will it be fairly easy to extend the legs into a Scout setup once I get a hang of it? And will Atom Pro handle the additional servos easily, or should I get the SSC-32 as well?
I didn’t buy the camera, I found it at: www.supercircuits.com it seems that they no longer sell them. Vision was one of my to-do things but I just never got around to it.
Jameco sells a small color camera that is probably a better solution since it uses 9v and it comes with a wireless reciever to send images to a PC.
Well, I did some more reading, and took the plunge - ordered the BRAT, with 645 upgrade, and bunch of extras. Just couldn’t convince myself (and the wife…) to spend $1,300-1,500 on an upgraded hexapod. Why do hobbies have to be so expensive
Besides, I am really looking forward to start playing with humanoid motion, etc. The few cool videos of different BRAT-based projects really sparked my interest. I have the Parallax BS2 version of CMU Cam, and I think that will be one of my first mods. It shouldn’t be too hard to adapt it for some simple object tracking.
Congrats! you will like the brat. Because it uses the SES brackets you can convert it to a biped pete style bot later. I have used the basic atom pro as well as the basic stamp bs2px and they both work well. We will be here to help you along the way if you need us.
Thanks Mike, now that the Cardinals lost, I really need my robot to work, since I’m the only Cardinals fan around here… I have only used the BS2 chips so far, so anything over that is an upgrade, and an Atom Pro is like going from an original PC XT to a 386, at least it seems like it, so I’m looking forward to all the power.
Believe me, I will have a ton of questions, so get ready Ultimately, I would like to get it to scout level of DOF, but that’s only because I haven’t seen BRAT in action yet. Hopefully soon…
The Atom Pro is a top performer. There are many differences from Pbasic to Mbasic due to hardware features not found on the stamp. The learning curve is small since the two languages are near identical except some syntax diferences in addition to the new hardware features. One thing you will appreciate is the program space on the Pro is not divided into slots like the stamp.
Well, I got my BRAT, put it all together, eyeballed the servos with the program, and loaded the walking demo. And for a first walk, it sure did ok! Now I have to readjust everything precisely, but I gotta say that the kit and the instructions were great! Can’t wait to mount some sensors and start playing with it.
