What to expect

[cdavidshaffer]

My highschoolers chose the “Basic” DFRobot Rover (RB-Rbo-33) for participation in the Trinity College Firefighting Home Robot. I’ve ordered it 2nd day because, well, the contest is coming soon. I’m just wondering what to expect because I’ve seen some variations in posts etc. Specifically:

]Will the Rover be shipped in the next day or so?..or is the manufacturer still behind?/:m]
]What version of the control board is shipping? The schematic on the store page says 1.1 but there is a lot of discussion of 2.0./:m]
]The schematic has encoders listed but recent posts seem to indicate that those are still in beta. Will this come with encoders? If not, any suggestions for an off-the-self solution?/:m]

I’m very excited. This is a bright group of kids and, while I think a tracked robot might not be great for Trinity, I’m certain that they’ll produce something cool. Any tips would be appreciated.

David

[cbenson]

Will the Rover be shipped in the next day or so?..or is the manufacturer still behind?

We received the shipment of the V1.5 boards late last week and some were shipped Friday while the rest will leave today.

What version of the control board is shipping? The schematic on the store page says 1.1 but there is a lot of discussion of 2.0.

The kit is shipping with the V1.5 board. We have not yet made the V2.0 basic kit available for purchase.

The schematic has encoders listed but recent posts seem to indicate that those are still in beta. Will this come with encoders? If not, any suggestions for an off-the-self solution?

DFRobotShop Rover encoders can now be purchase (RB-Rbo-122). At the time of this post, we have the encoder PCBs in stock as well as the encoder wheels, but not the cables (separate shipment). The basic kit does not include encoders.

… while I think a tracked robot might not be great for Trinity

Tracked robots are great for climbing and uneven terrain. The DFRobotShop Rover is not a “fast” robot by any standard, and so to maximize the speed, reconfigure the tracks and use AA batteries.

For a firefighting application, you would likely need distance sensors as well as infrared / thermal sensors (a flame sensor is ideal) and perhaps a pan/tilt.