Lookin’ good!
Pretty slick way of putting together a head for Walter. It would be good to see and hear about some details of the mount you have that allows the tilt and pan. Have you thought about telepresence, having a camera on Walter and maybe mic and speakers to talk to folks Walter may meet? Walter the conversational bot?
wow! the epvc thing looks
wow! the epvc thing looks very nice! great work. Are you using some kond of mill to do those very neat and precise cuts?
How can Walter be a hacked
How can Walter be a hacked gadget? He wasn’t a gadget in the first place.
Mike
Mr Tuna…
Actually the epvc is the kind we use for exerior trim on houses so it can be cut and milled like a regular piece of wood. 95% of the cuts were made on a table saw and chop saw with a planer to thin down some of the pieces down to 1/4". The last of it -the lcd window and servo arms were done on a scroll saw. It’s a really good material, doesn’t gum up blades or anything.
Chris Carpenter
Any relation to Karen?
What are you using for the
What are you using for the base of the chassis, motor wise. Because I just won two wheelchair motors and wheels from ebay, and I was maybe making something simialer.
Karen Carpenter…
Ok, that’s a pretty good one…
Spectacular
Chris, this bot is shaping up extremely well. I’m genuinely impressed!
In your writeup you say “Basically, the head rests on a 2-axis pivot allowing for up, down and tilt as well as a combination of all three”–what did you use for the 2-axis pivot mechanism? I’d like to find one (or something similar) for a project of my own.
Keep up the excellent hackin’!
Dude that is Freakin Awsome!
Dude that is Freakin Awsome!
The new vid is looking very cool, I cant wait for future developments.
You being able to record the movments of the "little head" then translate into Walters movments saves a ton of programing.
I couldnt imagine programing every movment.
Dan (the 2nd?)
Pivots and programming
Hey folks,
One of the best things I have ran into is a VEX robotics kit I got in trade for doing a little handyman work. Really, I got this $300+ kit for just an hour or two of work. Since then, and to this day, I am still stealing parts from it. The VEX robot system is really a bunch of crap in that you can really just make a remote control car out of it but if you just use the parts and add your own brain, it is a godsend. All of the neck parts are from this VEX kit and have allowed for the solid joint you see. Everything else is custom made.
In terms of the programming, I started trying to program moves manually (sorta using some math to do it). It was a real pain, but more to the point, it used 7 byte variables and 3 word variables which was just not acceptable. With this "real time" system, I am down to just 4 --3 bytes (one for each servo) and one word for the main "counter". Simple is the best! --Not to mention, I figure that if you want a robot to act like a human, it seems having a human to program the moves is a good way to go.
mini me motion capture device
I guess you got tired of remming those numbers through the keyboard huh! Great improvement! (And cool tripod)
WHoah! back the truck UP!
Why do you need a static tripod when there is this awesome 3-axis camerarobot in the house!? Motion capturer and everything!
Latest video: Brilliant!!! 
Latest video: Brilliant!!!
Recording
As well as recording head moves on min-Walter and eye moves you should also record your commentry and sync that in.
Mike
Wow man, that’s awesome.
Wow man, that’s awesome. This is a robot that will really have potential for some personality. I love the idea of using a display as his “eyes”, very clever. And that little mini-head for input is damn smooth. Is it not feasible/practical to update the servo positions in realtime as you’re recording, so that the real head mimics the mini-head? It seems like the feedback might be helpful. Or maybe it’d just be distracting since the mini head already provides a sort of direct visual feedback, but it’d look damn cool to see them mimicing each other, at least 
Dan
TCG
I’ve thought about that. I simply have not tried to run the head at the same time as I am “recording”. It is some super simple code to stick in there, I just haven’t done it yet! I’ll give it a go.
Awesome moves!
CtC, that is really cool, teaching the head moves from a mini head. You just developed a form of a teach pendant for Walter. Ought to make some pretty cool animations, and interactions.
About the Vex System, you’re actually using the microcontroller part on Walter already, which is programmable. The Vex options are here, but there may be some hacked cables and languages toprogram the on-board PICs much more cheaply.
The mini-head is inspiring.
The mini-head is inspiring. I think I’ll do that to program my acrylic arm.
The world’s best motto: When all else fails, use a bigger hammer.