Who is anywhere near a finished robot?

Not me! ? 

I'm doing tons of work toward that goal pretty much daily, but no physical progress yet.  Of course, I'm also studying AI and working with Speech Engines, and trying to make robotics videos, etc, etc, etc.   So while I don't seem to be getting much of anything physical done toward a robot, I'm certainly learning various aspects of it.  Hopefully someday it will all come together in an actual physical robot.

Tonight I was working with Bill's DBI Arduino Shield.  I've been testing out the WiFi capabilities.  This required "re-learning" everything I thought I knew about the ESP WiFi module.   I had to write a new program for it, which meant that I had to go back over my old program to figure out what I had done earlier. 

Now I need to go in and tweak the Arduino side of things because this uses a different serial port than I was using before.

This new board we just made for the Arduino sure makes things nice and neat.  I'll need to buy some more of these!

Not me either !

Robots are for later, when I have a "proper" workshop; for now I'm into setting up my new house, and delving into domotics...

I like robots also, here is one I am working on: Eyes, head mouth move. Using a Arduino with the Arduino firmware from ARC

with a "talk servo" from ARC - https://synthiam.com/  

I am using also the A.I.M.L. bot program(I modified)

EzAng

@robo-pi

The esp 8266 that I have doesn't seem to scan wi fi very well I don't think it has a very good antenna.

@angelob

Awesome ! Just need some space age clothes for it ?? 

After 8 months I have lost all interest.  With regards to DB1 or similar efforts I wonder what they will really do when completed to be worth the money required to build them.  The only practical robots I see that are within the price range of the average person are the vacuum robots. The more advanced versions use some advanced navigation and mapping techniques and I see them as a benchmark for any budding robot builder.  They do something useful and demonstrate life like characteristics such as feeding themselves and reacting to and acting upon their environment.

There are many other other RPi and Arduino projects to exchange ideas about that forum members have shown an interest in to hone their electronic and programming skills and perhaps build something of practical use to keep the forum active.

lol space age clothes , maybe

thanks

Been following and acting upon the DB1 thread pretty much ever since it started, and I'm even more excited about it now that I was back then. Certainly, progress is best measured in geologic time, but that's about right for the speed at which I can absorb the theory and practice behind everything, electronics being a whole new set of dance steps for me. So, as a learning experience, which is just what I wanted, DB1 is a great success.  I feel especially well-versed in the I2C hardware, which I'm now building for the 3rd time and will eagerly start wiring as soon as Bill posts the schematics.

I'm aware that my circumstances probably aren't typical, but then everyone's are a little different.  I'm old enough now not to be in a rush about anything, and I certainly don't want Bill getting discouraged.

If I've attached it properly there should be a pic showing of my little effort so far...a slavish copy of Bill's DB1, but a thing of beauty and promise to me.

My pre-electronics hobby-obsession was making model engines, so the machining that will likely be necessary to manufacture the robotic arm(s) is something to which I'm greatly looking forward.  I'm just not expecting to be teaching my Basil to swing a bat any time before Christmas.

@michael-t

Impressive professional looking db1 base so far.  I will follow with interest.

@casey

Thanks, Casey.  Me too!

My first is built and gone 🙂 Well, mostly a bump and go really 🙁

Made huge progress on the code for my second this week, but still have a long way to go. A mixture of C and Python. 

@michael-t

Very nice work Michael.  You're almost looks to be coming along faster than Bill's   It's very impressive to be sure.  I'd probably be that far along with it myself if I could afford the parts.  Unfortunately it's not in the cards for me at this time since I've been too busying buying Jetson Nanos. ?  Can't have everything.

You should get the Gerber files from Mike @huckohio for the Mega board shield board we just made and order some.  They haven't been fully tested yet, but everything I've been able to test thus far is working.  Bill has one of these boards (or should soon have one).  He'll then be able to test out the other connectors.

Here's a thread where we designed the board.  PCB Design if you read through the thread you can see how we designed it along with a lot pictures and schematics.   I have one of these boards and it's really nice.  Way better than building a perfboard ratsnest of wirewrap wire. ? 

Here's what the finished board look like:

NOTE: The WiFi module that sticks up is an optional addition that isn't required for the DB1 project.  I threw it in just because I could. ?   I use the WiFi on my robots.

@dale

Nice job Dale!  That's a very well-built little robot.  I really like your set-up using the ringed bumpers and micro switches.   Very clever!

You can certainly say that it's a "finished robot" if that was your goal from the start. ? 

Nobody ever said that a finished robot needs to be like CP30.  ? 

@casey

That's why I put the 3d printer the stereo sound system and four  usable computers on duce just for that reason so it gets used but I built duce so I could learn on it and have some fun though I didn't start out with ai goals the infrastructure was there so I got sucked in but I agree with you these things get expensive with no real end game but this is the last robot for me it should be fun for years to come who knows maybe I'll actually get it to do something interesting .