Mechanical Bumpers for Robot base

@thrandell 

Looks good.

Probably if I had a 3d printer I would just use the same bumper solution used by robot vacuum cleaners.

One thought I had was to use a free running swivel wheel with encoders to show if it is rotating and read its orientation to the robot base. If it stops rotating then there is contact with an obstacle (even if your motorized wheels are spinning). The angle with the base shows if it is driving straight or at some change in direction.

Your infrared transceivers would have to be integrated into the bumper or have windows in the bumper for them to look through?

Posted by: @robotbuilder

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Probably if I had a 3d printer I would just use the same bumper solution used by robot vacuum cleaners.

I like the Roomba floor vacuum bumper too.  On the version we have it’s held in place by a leaf spring.  Here’s what I found in Sandin’s book.

I thought about doing something like that but forming spring steel takes a kiln or some way to heat the steel up to 1500 degrees fahrenheit and then you have to shape it into something that fits your bumper design.  I don’t have the tools for that kind of work.

Posted by: @robotbuilder

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One thought I had was to use a free running swivel wheel with encoders to show if it is rotating and read its orientation to the robot base.

I’ve seen implementations that use a free running wheel to detect whether or not a robot is stuck.

http://schursastrophotography.com/robotics/stasislogic.html  but your idea of using a swivel wheel to indicate pose takes it a step further.

Tom

@thrandell 

I thought about doing something like that but forming spring steel ...

If you look back in this thread my solution to that was to use push buttons. They hold the bumper out and also provide the on/off switch to signal a hit.

The easiest way to fix a direction (straight or curved) is a tricycle arrangement where the front wheel is both the steering wheel and motorized wheel. It was common in the earlier experiments in making a robot base but I haven't seen it used in the current batch of robots.

https://cyberneticzoo.com/cyberneticanimals/1979-robot-pet-frank-dacosta-american/