Robosapien

I picked up a Wowwee Robosapien at Wal-Mart last night. When they first came out, they sold for about $100 - I got it for $35. It is cute enough for kids, but sophisticated enough for adults.

Robosapien is the first robot based on the science of applied biomorphic robotics. Robosapien is designed by Mark Tilden. Tilden is a robotics physicist who has worked for NASA, DARPA and JPL through Los Alamos National Laboratory. He developed the basics for biomorphic robotics in 1988; Robosapien is the first commercially available robot based upon this principle. Tilden is best know for his BEAM robotics.

Robosapien is ready to go right out of the box (just install batteries). Robosapien can be operated or programmed via remote control. It has a set of pre-programmed functions or you can program your own sequence of functions.Robosapien is packed with many features (especially at the price). They include:

Fluid motions and gestures: fast dynamic 2-speed walking and turning; full-function arms with two types of grippers.

67 pre-programmed functions: pick-up, throw, kick, dance, kung-fu, fart, belch, rap and more; 3 demonstration modes.

Fully programmable by remote control: Up to 84 program steps with 4 program modes for advanced operations; programmable “reflexes” to sound and touch stimuli.

Fluent international “caveman” speech.

Extended battery life.

One of the best parts is that there are many hacker sites available for the Robosapien. Check out these two - ROBOSAPIEN.tk and Hack a Robosapien Instructions.

Note - Much of the info in this post is from the Robosapien site linked above.

New Robot Design - TRobot

My son just presented me with a new robot design. It is hard to tell from the drawning exactly what the internal workings are, but it does make noise. It is saying, "Tweep, beep, beep!" Looks pretty cool to me.

To hear the "Tweep, beep, beep!" sound, click below.
Gabcast! - Tweep, beep, beep!

Microbug - More Soldering Practice

One of the reasons I got some of these little kits for Christmas was to work more on soldering and construction neatness. Today, I assembled this Velleman Running Microbug (MK127), purchased from Electronix Express. I did this with three kids and the new puppy all playing around me - something I could not imagine doing a year ago.

I don't know why it amazes me, but, it worked the first time. The Microbug chases light with its two open chassis motors. Light sensitivity can be adjusted with the two pots on front and the LED "eyes" indicate driving direction. It runs on two 1.5V AAA batteries, can be switched on and off and stops moving in total darkness. The assembly instructions and a schematic are here. This little kit is only $12.75.

Christmas 2007

Apparently, I was good boy this year. I got lots of goodies from my wife and kids, even though the kids didn't know what most of it was. Everytime I opened a box, my kids would say, "What in the world is that?" to which I replied, of course,"It's cool robot stuff." Oh," they would say. Herbie the Mousebot is pictured above right. Here's the list with the links:

From Parallax:

BOE-Boost - had to try it out. It is basically a fifth battery holder for the BOE-bot that lets you run rechargable batteries (takes 5 rechargables [1.2V X 5 = 6V] to equal 4 [1.5V X 4V = 6V]alkaline batteries). I already have a 5 cell holder which I got here.

ServoPAL -can't wait to play with this. This maintains a PWM signal to servos, so the Basic Stamp Microcontroller can do other tasks.

SoundPAL and PIEZO speaker - for fun! This is small sound module that can play canned and programed sounds.

Educational CD - Basic Stamps in Action - to show kids for classes or Robot camp (and for me too!)

Plus, thanks to Parallax's agreement with Radio Shack, my wife also surprised me with another Ping))) Ultra-sonic Sensor and a PIR Sensor Module. These items are available in the part asile at Radio Shack anytime locally!

From Solarbotics:

Make Volume 06 Solar Roller Bundle - this was a BEAM Roller featured in Make Magazine.

Herbie the Mousebot Kit (in red) - a little mouse-bot and light chaser (shown above).

L298 Compact Motor Driver Kit - I may use this motor driver on Robot 1 (my first robot).

I also got some misc parts (capacitors, 1381 voltage triggers).

From Electronix Express:

Microbug Kit - this kit is made by Velleman and is a light chaser too.

A few tools like this Soldering Iron Tip Cleaner (and a replacement pad), 7" Curved and 7" Straight clamps and Lead Bend Gauges (one for 1/2 and 1/4 watt and one for 1 and 2 watt size).

My wife also found this Solar Panel at our local Academy Sports. Mine is a 6 volt model (the link is to a 12 volt model).

No coal this year! Needless to say, I'll be busy...

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas! Hope you find something fun to play with, put together, program, or explore your world with under the tree. (I hope I do too!). If I do, you can count on a full report here - with pictures and links.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

By the way, this image is avaliable as a card here at Retro Junction.

Electronic Cricket - A Little Soldering Practice

Just for fun and to practice soldering, I put together the MK104, Electronic Cricket from Vellman Inc. The catalog says it can be used for fun (read practical jokes) or to simulate a hot summer night. It automatically comes on when it gets dark. The cricket repetition (time between two crickets), effect and tone are adjustable. The kit also has adjustable light sensitivity. A schematic and assembly instructions are avaliable here.

It has five resitors (only three are shown on the downloadable schematic), a photo resistor, a couple of diodes, an IC socket (for the IC, a CD4093), a transistor, four capacitors, four potentiometers, a piezo speaker and 9V battery holder - all mounted to a small (41 X 56 mm) PCB (printed circuit board). I can help be amazed that after you solder all that little stuff together that the thing actually works! Good practice and fun to boot. Whenever I turn it on and it starts chirping, my son yells, "How rude!"

To hear the electronic cricket and to hear the commentary, click below.
Gabcast! Electronic Cricket

Robotic Monk

I saw this article and photo on BotJunkie last night. Here's what it says, "This industrial robot, called Kuka, is busily writing out the full version of the Martin Luther Bible by hand. Or I guess you’d say by robot arm, but it’s actually doing very precise calligraphy with a pen... I think it’s pretty cool to see an industrial robot doing something so delicate and (okay, okay) beautiful. There are a few more photos available on here on flikr."

The company that makes Kuka has a nice website and it is linked here. Nice calligraphy, but can it chant? Or is it a beautiful as the St. John's Bible?

BEAM Trimet

Today, I made this little BEAM Trimet (a symet, short for symmetrical, would have 4 capacitors). It was featured in Volume 6 of Make Magazine. I got all the parts from Solarbotics. The Trimet link is here. It was a fairly intricate soldering job, but it works great. Attached also is a schematic that shows how the charge, trigger and discharge works for the voltage triggered 1381 based solar engine.

It was my first time to try "freeforming" which is soldering the componets directly to each other without a board. The solar cell is attached to the postive supply ring (a paperclip) will some tackless poster sticky. This lets it be removed to look at the circuit. The motor runs intermittently - charging the capacitors and dumping over and over. There is no on/off switch.

I left it sitting under a light most of the day just going around in circles. I love the idea of this little thing scooting in cirlces all alone by itself when no one is around.

The Spider by the Bathroom Window

This morning while I was brushing my teeth, I saw a little spider by the bathroom window. It was very small, maybe a sixteenth of inch long. I put my finger down next to it and it backed away. That little spider is more complex than the most sophisticated robots around today. It is completely independent and responds to all sorts of conditions in its environment. It feeds itself. It has multiple and sophisticated sensors and is even able to reproduce. Will we ever achieve anything so fantastic or beautiful?

It's Alive!

This uOLED from Parallax (4D Systems makes the unit) is really cool. The demo programs are amazing and the color is brilliant. My only surprise was that when I had the uOLED plugged into the breadboard on the Basic Stamp BOE, the display was upside down. You will see the rigged-up connection I made so that I could really watch the screen. Hook-up was a breeze and everything worked perfectly the first time (except the upside down part ;-p ). The connection diagram pdf is here. Now on to figuring out some details. It is hard to get a photo that shows how great and bright this little display is!

Robot Face

I just started a new project. I want to make a robot face using the new Parallax's new uOLED (micro OLED). I will draw bitmaps and will switch between bitmap drawings of a face as relates to what is happening with the robot. Say the robot bumps into something, it looks startled or it blushes.

For my proof of concept project, I am using Sonny's face from iRobot. The bitmaps will be 128 pixels square (screen size). I chose a black background to minimize power usage. I may mount it to a bracket with a Ping))) ultrasonic sensor, so it turns and looks with the Ping))). You could even add speech with a synthesizer and match it with mouth movement.

Here is a copy of the blank face. I know I want to make one where Sonny winks, and the blush. A friend suggested that it yawn when inactive for a bit. Other ideas?

Laws...

Three Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Jesus’ Summary of the Law

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

There's a sermon in here somewhere...

Fearlessness

One of the things that I like so much about the people who are into hobby robotics is their fearlessness. There is virtually no fear of failure among the group. They are adventurous and willing to try new things. A failed experiment is just as good as or better that a successful one because it teaches something. They are willing to abandon an old idea when a better one comes along, even if they have much invested in the old one. They are willing to share all of this information with others admitting to both triumph and disaster. When something works, they give the answer away unselfishly. When something bombs, (sometime literally going up in smoke) they continue to work undaunted having learned at least one way that will not work.

Without fear, without selfishness, there is only the love of the work itself and the learning. Failure teaches as much or more than success. Failure seen this way is success, for it moves the process toward the goal along its way.

Many of the folks who share their ideas on web forums have mottos attached to their signatures at each post. Things like – “There's nothing like a new idea and a warm soldering iron,” or “Never give up when things go wrong.” or "The first rule to being successful is 'Learn from your mistakes', The second rule is 'Be willing to make mistakes.'"One of my favorites is – “lets see what this does... KA BOOM (note to self do not cross red and black)”

Fearless! I find great hope in trying to live this way.

By the way, this is what is attached to my signature line - "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

HEXBUG Micro Robotic Creature

I was on a trip this weekend and my wife picked this up for me at RadioShack. It is a pretty neat little toy robot. According to their website "HEXBUGS feel their way around sensing objects in their path and avoiding them. And they can hear! You control where they scurry through a hand clap, loud noise or table slap." The website also has some video. As you can tell from the description, it has working whiskers which are wire springs mounted around a post. When the whisker bumps something, the spring deforms and touches the post, switching to backup mode. Also a clap is registered through the bots "ears" and it backs up too. When going forward, it crawls fairly quickly on its six legs.

There are five different models. I have the "Alpha." Pretty amazing for $9.99!

Mythbuster Robotic Hand

I was watching Discovery Channel's Mythbusters last night and saw Jamie and Adam build a really neat robotic hand. It used motorcycle chain for the joints. I found a great link to a video of the hand on YouTube. What an elegant and simple idea. One day...

The Class that Will Be Soon

In about a week, I will begin taking some classes at Louisiana Technical College. I'm starting their Industrial Electronics Technology course. I'm doing this just to help with my robotics. My first class will be Comprehensive DC Circuits (ETRN 1140). One of the things that I looking forward to the most is really learning how to use an oscilloscope.

The teacher knows why I am taking the courses and says we will tailor things to help me learn for my projects. The school offers classes in AC circuits, semiconductors, transistor circuits, digital electronics, introduction to robotics and much more. I can't wait to start.

The Class that Wasn't

This past summer I hoped to teach a Robotics Camp at my children's school. I was going to use the Parallax Scribbler and a simple mouse-type bot.

This was the course description as advertised -

Gatorbot – Robot Camp – for Middle Schoolers (entering 6-8th grades)
lead by Fr. Whit

July 16 – 20, 2007, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon (with a mid-morning snack and break)

Gatorbot Robot Camp will teach the basics of Robotics. Robot builders will work with two robots, a mouse-like Weasel Robot (which each student will keep) and the Parallax Scribbler. Learn simple kit construction and elementary programming. It will be a great week that we hope will grow into a Robotics Club.
For more info, see the following websites and movies:
http://www.robotikitsdirect.com/movies/weasel.mpg
http://www.scribblerrobot.com/
http://www.parallax.com/dl/mm/video/ScribblerLine.wmv

In the end, I had decided to use Tamiya's Wall Hugging Mouse instead of the OWI Weasel Bot. Unfortunately, the class was cancelled. Not enough students signed up.

Oh well, at least I got two mouse bots and a Scribbler! Attached also is a sketch of the Gatorbot which still may be the logo for a robotic's club at the kid's school whose mascot is the Alligator.

My First Robot - Robot 1

I started this Robot around the first of 2007. I wanted to try to build a robot from scratch (not a kit - partly because I was trying not to spend too much). I knew it's brain would be a Parallax Basic Stamp 2. For a motor, I used an old Black and Decker 3/8" drill. I kept the motor housing and ground it down. This let me keep what gearing it had to slow it down a little. I also kept the battery holder. It uses two VersaPak NiMH Batteries (3.6 Volt, 2.0 Amp Hours each - that is 7.2 Volts total). The body is plywood. It uses Dubro foam airplane wheels and a Futaba S3003 servo for steering. It is basically a copy of Roger Arrick's Arobot featured in the book, Robot Building for Dummies. I ran it around outside. It was fast so I first tried to slow it down by using one battery and then a 1.5 Volt "D" cell - just to see. Then I started researching how to do these things electronically.

I got bogged down in the electronics, especially the microcontroller. I knew I needed an H-bridge and then to understand PWM. So, I backed off and got some goodies from Parallax - starting with "What's a Microcontroller?" I have really worked hard to catch up on that end of things over the last 6 months. I will return to this bot and finish it up with the new stuff I have learned, but for now I continue to learn more electronics and control.

The pictures show the basic platform (top and bottom) and one of the platform with a BOE (Board of Education - Serial) and expansion board. Knowing what I do now, I will probably add a co-processor - something like this one from Blue Bell Design.

It is now not what I would do, but it represents where I began and it helped me identify for myself what I needed to learn to continue. It will always be special because of that. Plus, it worked (well, sort of, I got scavenged and purchased parts to scoot around). Mostly, I learned a lot - some ideas that worked and a bunch of things that didn't. Maybe it's always like that.

I still like the yellow and blue!

Robot Lab

My robot lab used to be in the bedroom. I discovered one of my best times to work is once the kids go to bed, but then shortly after, my wife goes to bed. So, my workshop needed to be moved (if I was going to work at night). I now have a little corner off of our den. It is near my computer work space. It is a nice well-lit area. I just about have all my stuff in the space now and it is a much better work space. Here are few pictures. Now the big question - robots or sleep?

In Case You're Worried About Me

In case you are worried about me - don't! I'm covered. See this information on my new insurance policy.

Something New

Most of my time is spent as a father and a priest and all that ministry entails. My hobbies for most of my adult life have been connected in one way or another with my vocation. For a while, I have wanted a hobby so I could use my hands and brain in some new ways. Now, I enjoy learning new things and I've found something I really love - believe it or not - Robotics!

I started reading about hobby Robots on the web in October of 2006. I got my first small robot-like gadget (Solarbotics - SolarSpeeder2) for Christmas along with a subscription to Robot Magazine. The day after Christmas, as I sat soldering in my bedroom, my son Thomas walked in saw the smoke and electronic gizmos and said, "I like your evil robot lab." I was hooked.

This website will chronicle my adventures as an amateur roboticist and will help me keep up with my work (both successes and failures) in that new exploration - along with some personal reflections on trying new things.

The photo is from the great 1927 film, Metropolis.

My Robots and Projects

Note: Obviously, this information has not been updated in some time. I will either eliminate this link soon or update it. Sorry! - Whit+

This post (dated on my birthday) will always have the most current list of robots (or projects) in my collection along with a little info about each one. They are posted with the most recently acquired or completed robot or project at the top (i.e., reverse chronilogical order).

CBA Robot - The CBA (ChiBot Alpha) robot kit is a club robot for the Chicago Area Robotics Group (ChiBots). It is sold through BudgetBot.com. It was designed to be a suitable beginner robot. I wanted to get so that I could get the experience of putting the components together myself (especially the PCB). It features a Parallax Basic Stamp 2e OEM, so it is compatable with all my other Parallax goodies.

Herbie the Mousebot - This was another Christmas present - Assembled January 1, 2008. It's the Solarbotics, Herbie the Mousebot. Originally invented by Randy Sargent, Herbie was built from spare parts as an entry for a robot competition. Herbie is such an elegant, clever design using very few parts, it's been featured in as a construction project in "Junkbot, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels", "Absolute Beginner's Guide to Robots" and "MAKE" Magazine. When I connected the battery after assembly, nothing happened. I began to look the little bot over and disovered that I forgot to solder the tabs to the 9-volt battery hook-up. Oops! Two quick solder connections and everything worked perfectly.

Solarbotics has enhanced Herbie a bit with functional whisker and tail sensors, so it doesn't get stuck in corners while it chases around. Herbie the Mousebot is a 9-volt battery-powered robot that loves to chase flash light beams. If there are several Herbies in the same area, they can be configured to chase each other! (I did not install this feature yet, as it uses additional power and can shorten the battery life a bit. It basically involves installing and infra-red LED on the back of Herbie as a tail-light, which another Herbie can chase). Solarbotics says, "These little robots are so quick, you have to run to keep up to them!" They are not kidding!

Herbie documentation can be found here.
Note - much of the above is taken from the Solarbotics site at the link above.

Robosapien - I picked up a Wowwee Robosapien at Wal-Mart on December 30, 2007. When they first came out, they sold for about $100 - I got it for $35.
Robosapien is the first robot based on the science of applied biomorphic robotics. Robosapien is designed by Mark Tilden. Tilden is a robotics physicist who has worked for NASA, DARPA and JPL through Los Alamos National Laboratory. He developed the basics for biomorphic robotics in 1988; Robosapien is the first commercially available robot based upon this principle. He is best know for his BEAM robotics. The full post can be found here.

Running Microbug - I got this little kit for Christmas to work on soldering and construction techniques. On December 27, 2007 I assembled the Velleman Running Microbug (MK127), purchased from Electronix Express. It worked the first time. The Microbug chases light with its two open chassis motors. Light sensitivity can be adjusted with the two pots on front and the LED "eyes" indicate driving direction. It runs on two 1.5V AAA batteries, can be switched on and off and stops moving in total darkness. The assembly instructions and a schematic are here. This little kit is only $12.75.

BEAM Trimet - I made this little BEAM Trimet myself (a symet, short for symmetrical, would have 4 capacitors). It was featured in Volume 6 of Make Magazine. I got all the parts from Solarbotics. It was a fairly intricate soldering job, but it works great. Attached also is a schematic that shows how the charge, trigger and discharge works for the voltage triggered 1381 based solar engine. My full post about the BEAM Trimet is here.

HEXBUG - While on a trip, my wife picked this up for me at RadioShack. It is a pretty neat little toy robot. According to their website "HEXBUGS feel their way around sensing objects in their path and avoiding them. And they can hear! You control where they scurry through a hand clap, loud noise or table slap." This model is the Alpha. The original post is here.

Mars Line Chaserz - I got this at Walgreens Drug Store on sale for $7.49. With the Mars Line Chaserz, you draw the track and LineChaserz uses optical sensors to detect and follow any track you draw. The kit comes with vehicle chassis, body, a two-sided activity mat, dry erase marker, eraser and small accessories (some flying saucers and Martians in this case!). One side of the mat is plain and the other side is a Martian landscape. How could I resist?

Parallax Scribbler - I picked up the Parallax Scribbler in preparation for a summer class I was going to teach in robotics. The Scribbler is great starter robot from Parallax. It is completely assembled and ready to go. It uses a Basic Stamp for a controller. It comes with 8 demo programs and can be programed in PBasic (Parallax Basic) with the BASIC Stamp Editor or with a very nice Graphical User Interface (GUI) programming software (for details see here).

Tamiya Wall Hugging Mouse - This mouse was also assembled in preparation for a summer class in robotics. This is a very nice, simple kit that operates well. Similar in price to the OWI Weasel Bot below, this is a much nicer little bot. I ultimately decided this was the right bot for the class. I like the simple clear body and the whiskers.

OWI Weasel Bot - The OWI Weasel Bot was purchased at a local hobby shop. I put it together as to see if it might work for a summer class in robotics. The class was for sixth, seventh and eight graders. I wasn't particularly impressed with it. It was fairly difficult to put together (I was worried it might be hard for the age group) and it didn't function very well. I ultimately picked the bot above, Tamiya's Wall Hugging Mouse.

Parallax Boe-Bot - For my birthday in 2007, I received a Parallax Boe-bot and lots of accessories (like the IR Remote for the Boe-Bot Parts Kit and Text, PING))) Ultrasonic Sensor, PING))) Mounting Bracket Kit, QTI Line Follower AppKit for the Boe-Bot, and the PIR Sensor) . In my opinion, this is the best way to learn about all the aspects of robotics. The kit and its parts are extremely well made, the documentation is fantastic (much of it is free to download) and Parallax's customer service is second to none. They have an excellent user forum where lots of knowledgeable people interact and help each other out.

Robot 1 - I started my first real robot around the first of 2007. I wanted to try to build a robot from scratch). I knew it's brain would be a Parallax Basic Stamp 2. For a motor, I used an old Black and Decker 3/8" drill. I kept the motor housing and ground it down. This let me keep what gearing it had to slow it down a little. I also kept the battery holder. It uses two VersaPak NiMH Batteries (3.6 Volt, 2.0 Amp Hours each - that is 7.2 Volts total). The body is plywood. It uses Dubro foam airplane wheels and a Futaba S3003 servo for steering. It is basically a copy of Roger Arrick's Arobot featured in the book, Robot Building for Dummies. My full original post is here.

Solarbotics' SolarSpeeder 2 - The first robotic-like gizmo I ever built was the Solarbotics' SolarSpeeder 2. Solarbotics (along with Parallax) is one of the very best hobby robotics' companies. Their products are high quality and have excellent documentation. The company was started by Dave Hrynkiw and is based in Canada. They specialize in BEAM robotics. The little SolarSpeeder was easy to build and is very fast. See what my son said as I sat building it here.