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An introduction to ERIC.

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Mandy
(@amanda)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 74
Topic starter  

I love the DB1 series and see DB1 as a big brother to my robot. 

My robot project is called ERIC.  (Yes, it is a very clever acronym. No, I don't remember what it stands for now I'm sober.)

The unit is designed to fit into a 1ft (300mm) cube.

The main processor is a Raspberry Pi (RPi) connected to a custom built control PCB mounted on a piece of A5 acrylic with the power system mounted on the underside.  On the very top there is a pan and tilt head with  sensors.  The base has two geared motors driving tracks.

<if anyone can explain how to add a picture I will>

When Eric first powers up a Nano on the control PCB checks the batteries and, if everything is OK, it will switch the power on to the rest of the robot and then continue monitoring the batteries and reporting back to the RPi via I2C.  If the batteries are low or it detects other problems (over/under volts, over amps, over/under battery temperature) then it will not power up, play the Imperial March, then wait until things are put right, in this off state it will pull 40mA.

In the pan and tilt head we have inputs from a TOF laser range finder along with a non contact temperature sensor and the RPi camera.  In the main body the sensors include Gyro/Inertia/compass,  Air pressure/humidity/temperature.  There is also a Nano to control the motors via I2C.

There are more bits connected, OLED display, lots of LEDs and the servo controller.  The sonic range finders are being moved around (they were in the sensor head, I'm moving them to the body).

I don't have much money so I'm working with very inexpensive parts and I'm dealing with the inaccuracies of the hardware in software.  Eric is programmed to find his way like a drunk person, can't quite walk in a straight line, conflicting information coming in, he just needs to find his way back home.

At the moment Eric is in bits while I work on reducing the power consumption.  This involves removing all the parts I don't need, so, for instance, I'm removing the Nano boards and replacing them with just the chip and crystal mounted directly on the control PCB with the USB programmer an external, plug in part.  I hope that this way I can keep something running down to about 5mA @ 2.4V.  I also want to remove the WiFi and replace it with a low power radio option. etc.

There are days when things just will not go right, sensors don't work, the guy from the flat downstairs is banging on the door because I've set the smoke alarm off again, but then there are the days when, although I'm tired I get home, sit down and Eric trundles in from the other room, looks up at me and beeps.  It would be quite cute if he did not then send me a text to say he has found an intruder. 

I hope you're all having as much fun with robots as I'm having.

Mandy

 

The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot.


   
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(@twobits)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 113
 

My robot project is called ERIC.  (Yes, it is a very clever acronym. No, I don't remember what it stands for now I'm sober.)

I would go with Electro-mechanical Robot Is Confused. That describes most of my projects.

This post was modified 5 years ago by twobits

   
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Robo Pi
(@robo-pi)
Robotics Engineer
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1669
 

Hi Mandy, your project ERIC sounds great and I would love to see photos.

I don't see an obvious way to post a photo, but I just tried posting a photo in another thread by just copying the URL for the picture and pasting that URL into the post.   The picture was then automatically inserted.

So if you have photos of your robot on the web you can try just copying and pasting the url for that photo.   If you don't know the url but can see the photo just right-click on the photo and choose "View Image" then copy the URL at the top of that page from the URL box.   That should work.

I have no idea how to upload a photo from your computer.  So you'll need to have already uploaded your photo somewhere else so it has a URL associated with it.

Hope this helps and looking forward to seeing ERIC.

DroneBot Workshop Robotics Engineer
James


   
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Robo Pi
(@robo-pi)
Robotics Engineer
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1669
 

I just now noticed the "Attach File" option at the bottom of the reply box.  I suppose you could attach a photo of ERIC directly from your computer as an attachment.  I don't know why I didn't see that before.

 

DroneBot Workshop Robotics Engineer
James


   
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(@dronebot-workshop)
Workshop Guru Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1053
 

Hi Mandy

Wow, ERIC sounds like an amazing project, definitely worthy of several pictures or, even better, a video.

You can attach an image to a post with "attach file", however, I'll admit that it isn't the easiest or best method.

There is a plugin available for the forum software I'm using that should make it a lot better, I'm evaluating it now on their test forum and it looks like it will make the process of adding images (and other files) a lot easier.

BTW, I added an image to this post using the "Attach file" option. It's not ERIC I'm afraid!

?

Bill

 

 

Rear Connector

"Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window." — Steve Wozniak


   
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mbogelund
(@mbogelund)
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Posts: 23
 

Hi Amnada,

ERIC sounds like a really great robot project, and quite inspiring!

Also, I see a lot of convergence here; many concepts of DB1, ERIC, and my own X-ALF are the same or alike.

We all seem to be using an RPi as main brain and sourcing lower level tasks out to ATMega328-based mC's, just to name the brains part.

My robot X-ALF will also have an RPi (3B+) as main brain, currently uses an Arduino Pro Mini for motor control and has the bare ATMega328 (with crystals capacitors, etc) on a perfboard for controlling distance sensors (both ToF laser range finder and good ol´ HC-SR04's), plexiglass chassis, MPU-6050 gyro sensor, and all tied together using I2C communication.

So I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of ERIC, and the continued development of DB1.

 


   
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mbogelund
(@mbogelund)
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mounted on a piece of A5 acrylic

BTW forgot to mention - I quickly settled on A5 for the size of X-ALF's acrylic base plate when planning version 3 of it. Nothing beats using open standards that scale well.


   
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jscottbee
(@jscottbee)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 107
 

Mandy seeing your "Let's make robots" Avitar and the name Eric for the bot I thought you were ro_bot_x building again!! He was an active user on the old Let's make robots site (in its heyday) His bot's where Eric and MiniEric. 

Anyway, would love to see your Eric!

 

 


   
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Mandy
(@amanda)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 74
Topic starter  

Lets try this:

Mandy

 

The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot.


   
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jscottbee
(@jscottbee)
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Posts: 107
 

Very nice!  Whats the chassis there you are using for Eric? 


   
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Mandy
(@amanda)
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Joined: 5 years ago
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Topic starter  
Posted by: Robo Pi

I don't see an obvious way to post a photo, but I just tried posting a photo in another thread by just copying the URL for the picture and pasting that URL into the post.   The picture was then automatically inserted.

Thank you, that worked.

The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot.


   
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Mandy
(@amanda)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 74
Topic starter  

And once again I make a mess.

I'm going to need more than 10 minuites to do an edit as that was just a test.

The above picture (that I can't now remove) is the assembled kit I was given for my 21st.  They are aimed at schools and I think that the photo it the publicity shot.  This setup has a number of issues I had to solve, ground clearance being the first.

The most recent photo I have at the moment is this:

Eric is in bits while I file a hole so I will update as soon as he is feeling better.

I hope it shows that you do not have to have a plan in mind when you start.  You can modify and improve as a construction process.  I suppose I could have created Eric from scratch but the original kit gave me a fantastic starting point.

 

The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot.


   
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Loyd
 Loyd
(@loyd)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 2
 

Hi Mandy, - just have to add my complements to the responses above.  Looks like you have been doing fantastic work.  Good for you!!  Keep us up-to-date on your progress.  I hope Eric gets to feeling better soon. ?


   
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Mandy
(@amanda)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 74
Topic starter  
Posted by: jscottbee

Very nice!  Whats the chassis there you are using for Eric? 

The original kit was from 4tronics:

https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/products/ultimate-initio-robot-kit-for-raspberry-pi

It gave me the kick I needed to start this hobby.

 

The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot.


   
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(@dronebot-workshop)
Workshop Guru Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1053
 

Hi Mandy

You said DB1 was like Erics "big brother", but I think you have that relationship backward - Eric seems far more developed than DB1 at the moment. DB1 can't even drive across the room on his own yet!

It's a fantastic project, and in a way, I'm glad the timeout of the forum was set too quick for you to delete the first picture - it shows the evolution of Eric.  I'd love to see more of Eric, I've updated the forum to allow direct uploads of images. And, of course, I still think that Eric deserves a video (you can embed those on the forum as well).

?

Question - what sensors do you have mounted on the pan-and-tilt assembly at the front of Eric.? I can see the Raspberry Pi Camera and Ultrasonic Sensor, and I'm assuming the blue module is one of those environmental sensors with temperature, humidity, and similar sensors?  But I can't identify the "purple" board.

Bill

"Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window." — Steve Wozniak


   
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