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My home navigation bot.

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Spyder
(@spyder)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 846
 

That's an awesome project !

I have found you usually get a large pull in starts, due to the motors clamoring for current (stupid electricity).

I've been thinking about that and wondering if I should use 2 separate batteries, one for the motors, and one for the electronics, or, maybe even take it a step further and use one for each motor and a third for the electronics

The reasoning behind that idea is that the initial draw from the motors might be just enough to make the brain go all goofy


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

You are running into the bane of roboticist everywhere. Odometry, which is a $10 word for using from data from motion sensors to estimate change in position over time, leaves a lot to be desired.

There is a good chance that you will want to supplement your encoders with an IMU or camera.

 

 


   
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jscottbee
(@jscottbee)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 107
Topic starter  
Posted by: Spyder

The reasoning behind that idea is that the initial draw from the motors might be just enough to make the brain go all goofy

Thanks.

Yes, it's a pain to have a uC brown out and reset due to the robot turning 🙁

I will have separate power for the RPI and recommend that. 

Scott 

This post was modified 5 years ago by jscottbee

   
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wintech
(@wintech)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 32
 

Really nice!


   
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jscottbee
(@jscottbee)
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Posts: 107
Topic starter  
Posted by: wintech

Really nice!

Thanks!


   
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ShaneO
(@shaneo)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 9
 
Posted by: Spyder

I have found you usually get a large pull in starts, due to the motors clamoring for current (stupid electricity).

I've been thinking about that and wondering if I should use 2 separate batteries, one for the motors, and one for the electronics, or, maybe even take it a step further and use one for each motor and a third for the electronics

The reasoning behind that idea is that the initial draw from the motors might be just enough to make the brain go all goofy

I have successfully tested and have been using a kind of "UPS" for my Control Circuitry.  It's basically a reasonably sized Electrolytic Capacitor, behind a Diode, that provides more than enough brown-out protection.  The main purpose was for the Arduino to "Save to EEPROM" when the power supply was pulled.

I'll post a CCT Diagram if you feel you might be able to use it.

Shane.

 

 

There are 10 types of people - those who understand Binary and those who don't


   
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jscottbee
(@jscottbee)
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Posts: 107
Topic starter  
Posted by: ShaneOI have successfully tested and have been using a kind of "UPS" for my Control Circuitry.  It's basically a reasonably sized Electrolytic Capacitor, behind a Diode, that provides more than enough brown-out protection.  The main purpose was for the Arduino to "Save to EEPROM" when the power supply was pulled.
 
I'll post a CCT Diagram if you feel you might be able to use it.
 
Shane.

Yeah, I am a big user of bypass caps. I have them everywhere in my projects. They do help some on brownout protection and a lot on noise.


   
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triform
(@triform)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 324
 

The latest update on my bot: https://randomcoderblog.wordpress.com/

Have the camera mounted and did some sensor tests.


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

Nice project, looking forward to hearing how this works for you.  You say in your blog:

Posted by: @triform

Have fully decided on using the Pixy2 camera for sign navigation.

What is "sign navigation"?    You'll have to excuse me as I'm not up on things.  This sounds to me like you are going to use the camera to recognize signs that you have placed so that the robot can tell where it's at?  Is that correct, or am I totally out of the loop here?  I openly confess that I have no clue.   Although, I too am planning on using external markers around my home for the robot to reference to verify its location.  

DroneBot Workshop Robotics Engineer
James


   
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triform
(@triform)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 324
 

@robo-pi

Thanks, James.

That is correct. I'm starting with sign and or marker navigation. I will use mapping of some sort to start with, but exit finding will be via marker plates or small signs. These could be color blobs, arrows or graphs. I plan to have them about bot level and mounted with command strips so they can be easily removed and not mar the walls. They will tell the bot the room they lead to and the direction of the door/exit.  The bot could build a map internally based off of this and encoder distance.  I am basing this off what we do when we go to say an airport. We use the signs to give us enough information to navigate to our destination. I will use this as a start and evolve from there. 


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

I think that's a wonderful idea.  There's nothing wrong with having your robot do what humans do. ? 

In fact, I personally think that a very good way to go.   By the way, in the early going you might start off with obvious signs that are specific for the robot, but later as you refine the technique you could simply have the robot  recognize specific existing featured, just like a human does. 

When I walk around my house if I close my eye I'll bang into everything.  So I'm constantly using visual cues for orientation.   I see no reason not to have a robot to the same.

So I'll be very interested in your project as it continues to evolve.  I've bookmarked  your blog page along with some others who have websites dedicated to their robot projects.   This is one thing that makes this DroneBot Worshop Forum so great.  We can share with each other what we are doing on our robot projects.

I just started a GitHub webpage for my robot project.  It's pretty crude right now but I'll keep adding to it.  In fact, I'm already thinking of adding a "Current Progress" page.  We can not only share information with each other but this also help to keep us inspired and spending more time on our robots than on the things we really should be doing. ? 

Here's the beginnings of my GitHub page.   As I say, it's quite crude right now as I just started it and there was a learning curve associated with how to get the page up and running on GitHub.  But now that it's started I can add to it pretty easily.

The Alysha Project

 

 

DroneBot Workshop Robotics Engineer
James


   
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robotBuilder
(@robotbuilder)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 2037
 
Posted by: @triform

I will use mapping of some sort to start with, but exit finding will be via marker plates or small signs. These could be color blobs, arrows or graphs. 

Which is essentially the path I hope to take.

Long ago I had planned to build a mostly visually controlled robot (there was no hobby lidars back then). Not sure how long ago all I know is the first target image was taken by a gameboy camera. It was an actual target shape and could be tracked in real time. The size was an indicator of distance. The ratio of height and width a measure of angle to the camera. It worked exceedingly well. I also experimented with using a laser to structure the environment for the camera.

laserLine
target

Unfortunately when one of my robots motors failed I lost interest.
https://forum.dronebotworkshop.com/introductions/hi-2/

However this forum inspired me to make a smaller RPi and Arduino robot base and I hope to have another attempt at a visually guided robot. At the moment I am trying to get my robot base to run in a straight line and rotate a given amount of degrees with enough accuracy for dead reckoning navigation. An algorithm will use any wall contact or other means to reset the position.

Another suggestion is dynamic signs using LEDs which reveal themselves by turning on/off. 

 


   
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triform
(@triform)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 324
 

@robo-pi Thanks. That's good info on your project. I do still love wood chassis! 

@casey Nice project you had there. This is my second attempt at this in the past 12 years. The first I failed but learned a lot. I used reflectors and IR sensors as well as beacons. This time I want to do it as unintrusive to the home as possible.  My wife as no issues with what I have described to her, so I will keep it simple. With cameras being a lot better now and using glyphs, graphs, and colors it should be fine.  I may use two reflectors for the charging station, as that did work last time.


   
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triform
(@triform)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 324
 

Here is a picture of the mounts I made.  I will be publishing the servo and Pixy2 bracket on Thingiverse soon. My stuff there.

Screenshot 2019 07 20 17 13 12

   
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byron
(@byron)
No Title
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1112
 

@triform  -  I'll be watching out for the servo and Pixy2 bracket, they will be very useful.   I got a Pixy2 shortly after I saw the DroneBot Workshop episode, but I've not yet tried it out.   Once I get it mounted I can commence some experiments with it and its about time I got it out of its box ? 


   
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