Group,
I have made some fun progress on X-BRAT. Here is a short video with the new black guns. Sorry he falls ove at the very end but I’m pushing the limits of balance…I still think he is doing quite well. Tomorrow I hope to get his guns shooting and the ammo hoppers installed!
Mark
Great work!
The last video didn’t work (probably unfinished processing on youtube?). But the first video gave some impression, very nice! Moving the turret while standing on one leg! awesome!
Give it a bit…it still says processing on youtube…should come though soon.
Mark
I just completed the instlation of the pico-switches and hook-up of the internal switches and X-BRAT now has fully functional guns.
I will post a new pics and video of him shooting today. Next will be to add the CMUcam2.
Mark
Hi Roboteer.
I like the way you are making robots. Form the beginning, I am the great fan of the robots specially those which are made to walk or run on the other planet surfaces. It is difficult to make the robots which work far away from us and which are controlled through the controllers from the earth. This is the place where the knowledge of maker is truly evaluated.
I love the challenge of making autonomous robots…thanks for the kind words.
Mark
Very nice. It works really good. The last video when it fell over it seems one of the sequences needs to happen when the brat is in a better position. It was hard to figure out what it was trying to do. It sorta looked like it was tring to “kick”? not real sure.
Sorry I was not able to see your video sooner, my desktop at home finally burned out after about 4 or 5 years of never being turned off except during power failures. I need to get a new PC, probably a laptop, which means Ill need to get a USB to serial adapter from Lynxmotion.
Anyway the xbrat looks fantastic and the black guns look awesome. Are you using a BB2?
Mike…he fell over when I was just goofing around…that is not an official sequence I just found a way to make him do that do to a bug in the code. I thought it looked kind of cool like part of a Monty Python silly walks sketch. I thought it was interesting to show how well I have him balanced now.
I just shot my first video of him shooting and it is uploading to youtube now…I will have it posted shortly.
Also yes, I’m using a BB2 and Pro 28.
Now I’m starting to work on the autonomous firing code. Also I will need to add a dedicated ‘tilt’ for the guns since at the moment I only have hip movment for the tilt. This means that when the guns are pointing to the sides the tilt is going the wrong direction. I could write some sophisticated code with lots of trig, but it will not work as well as just doing the tilt right. I have an idea in mind on how to install tilt servos.
Mark
Here is a short video of X-Brat firing his right gun at short range and knocking over a few targets. The target in the center is a ‘sticky target’ which is really cool as the bb’s stick to it and then slowly roll down and get caught in the tray at the bottom…very nice for target practice.
Note: The video is still processing so it will not work until youtube finishes…probably about an hour or less
Mark
Wow…that was fast…video is working already!
Note I had the ammo hopper loosly taped to the gun and it fell off at the end…you can hear the bb’s bouncing all over the floor!
Mark
LOL! that was funny! 
It shoots very well!
Yes I tested the guns for acuracy…they are not all that accurate at long range.
I will know soon how well the auto-targeting system works…can’t wait to test it out! I need to first make a mount for my CMUcam2…Now the real fun part starts!
Mark
BRAT’s will rule Mech Warfare! Whoohooo! Looking good Mark!
[sarcasm]I hope it can handle the extra weight of the camera and score keeping circuit boards.[/sarcasm] LOL
The CMUcam2+ that I will be using is quite light.
I measured the weight of 2 ammo hoppers full with 1000 rounds each. Based on my expereiments so far I think this will work fine.
Right now X-BRAT is using all 645’s. With all the weight I suspect a considerable advantage using 5990’s with the servos having 2 mounting points each, that along with the added servo precision will probably add significantly to the stability when the robot is fully loaded.
My next problem is which servos to use for tilting the guns. I have decided that adding tilt has too many advantages that I MUST do it!
Mark
As you can see…the wiring is getting a bit crowded…I liked the way the nylon jacked came out for the gun cables though.
Those photos look awesome. The black chrome head looks great with the black brackets.
I notice you posted the images seperetly, did you know you can add more than one image in a single post?
Yes…I knew that…it was just a bit easier that way…I’ll try and get them all in one post next time…I’m just not very good with the upload attachment yet and then if you make a mistake you loose the entire post…know what i mean? But yes…I do know how to do it.
I just shot new video of more and better shooting with 2 full large ammo hoppers that I will likely be using in competition…there is still a little more weight to add but X-BRAT should be able to handle it no problem!
I’m running a 2 Cell Lipo pack…2250maH 20C batteries from one of my RC heli’s…I only need to charge it once every few days so runtime will most likely not be an issue…
New video coming next…stay tuned…
Mark
You can do it any way you like, I was just pointing it out just in case you weren’t aware. 
I’m looking forward to seeing the new video.
