I moved to semi-retirement a few months ago (a very non-electronics related field). One of the goals I had was to formalize my knowledge of electronics and apply that knowledge to some projects (I've always loved tinkering with electronics). After building an electronics workshop I decided to build a robot. I learn by doing, so jumped right in.
Starting with a power wheelchair base, I built around it. So, I learn what I need to in order to accomplish the task at hand. I jump from learning the basics to advanced, sometimes in the same day. Every time I watch another of Bill's videos, I try to build it, or some version of it!
Thanks for including me. Looking forward to learning from you all,
Don (SecondLaw)
Starting with a power wheelchair base, I built around it.
I wanted to build a robot using a power wheelchair as a base but was never able to find a suitable (price, small size) second-hand one worth using. Small robots can be used to build and learn about sensors and programming. They can even be used as telepresence robots but physically they are limited in what they can do. Even a new powered wheelchair would be much much cheaper then building your own from parts. Economies of scale.
Anyway, I for one would be interested in anything you have done or would like to do with regards to such a base. My last effort (over 10 years ago) used 24 volt electric windscreen wipers with a laptop controller. The laptop is also the most cost effective control device with its speed, memory capacity, software tools and so on. On the hardware side they have a built in camera which I was intending to use with vision software.
There is a "Other Robot Projects" section in the Robotics forum.
@robotbuilder, Love your Robocart! Very ingenious. When I began to price DYI robots, the cost was way outside my budget. So I decided to build the best robot I could for the amount I wanted to spend. I made two quick decisions, stay under $1000 and make it "experimental," so I could try out whatever I was learning on it. I found two power wheelchairs, one working, one not, on eBay. The guy lived nearby. Planned to fix one and sell it and use the other for the robot. Well, I did fix it and it sits in the garage waiting.
Here is where I am so far.
It, SAMer, is remote controlled (FS-i6x) though a motor controller board (Sabertooth). The motors are 24V 50A, with two Acid-free batteries, a bit more power than a robot should have in a workshop! The body is Steampunk themed on top of a mannequin frame, powered by two actuators (arms) and four servos (hand and wrists) which are controlled (generous use of the word) by an Uno, front lights are "Kight Rider" style LEDs controlled by a Nano. Nothing does exactly what I want, but hopefully soon. Ha. Doing everything from scratch makes every project challenging. But that's the point I suppose.
Thanks again for your comments and I apologize for over-sharing!
Don
You are going down a slightly different path than I was 🙂
SAMer would fit well into a dystopian science fiction movie.
On my robot base the laptop is the main controller so I simply used a wireless keyboard for remote control.
The wireless keyboard could also be used to type complex commands like "move 3 feet, turn left, move 3 feet" or even more complex plans (in the future) like "get me a beer from the fridge". I could also (in the future) use speech to text commands instead.
The wireless keyboard could also be used to type complex commands like
Out of curiosity, what program language are you using and what type of controller is sending those commands to the wheel's motors? Seems you can more easily perform autonomous tasks.
Interestingly, I designed the hands (claw) to be able to hold 12 ounce cans and the wrists to turn 45 degrees to hold and pour a beer!
I am using FreeBASIC which I have been using for 11 years now as a self taught hobby programmer. It allowed me to compile very fast code to do visual processing which was one of my hobby interests and to grab images in real time from usb connected web cams.
I used the k8055 i/o board at the time but now I would use an Arduino replacement. It was slow but the only option I had at the time.
https://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?country=be&id=351346&lang=en
https://forum.dronebotworkshop.com/user-robot-projects/k8055-robot/#post-4174
@robotbuilderVERY COOL. Thanks. It will be fun to follow your evolution to to Arduino. Does that mean you will need to also transition languages to IDE?
@robotbuilder Wow, excellent. Right when I think I know something, I realize how much there is to learn. So fun talking with people who don't start every robot conversation with, "Tell me again why you want to build a robot?"
I used FreeBASIC because it was the only language at the time that was easy to use however today there are better choices like Python.
https://www.instructables.com/Interface-Python-and-Arduino-with-pySerial/
And another well supported language Processing 3
https://processing.org/
https://maker.pro/arduino/tutorial/how-to-make-arduino-and-processing-ide-communicate