Tabletop Telepresence Robot

Two weeks ago I saw the Sparkfun new product post and instantly knew the Magician chassis would make a perfect telepresence robot. Now all of my parts arrived and I finally got it all put together! It’s basically a mashup of an Arduino, Adafruit motorshield, Pololu Wixel, iPhone with facetime, and, of course, the Sparkfun Magician robot chassis.

I’m using an iPhone with Facetime to provide the onboard video feed from the robot. I run the terminal alongside Facetime to provide motor commands over the Wixel wireless link.

As you can see, the Magician chassis is having serious problems on my carpet. I’m running four fresh AA batteries using the provided battery holder. It works fine on my smooth table but barely moves on the carpet and the bumpy linoleum in my kitchen. The chassis has limited power from the motors, one of the wheels fits on it’s axel poorly, and the bearing castor feels like it’s got sand in it, *BUT* I still feel I got my fourteen dollars worth. As a proof of concept (e.g. fun) this has been great. Some upgrades I’m considering are lower geared motors and an improved castor from Pololu.

If you want to know more I have some more pictures and info on my blog.