'Nother new bot
 
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'Nother new bot

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robotBuilder
(@robotbuilder)
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@Spyder

Telepresence would be a worthwhile project for the forum and highly advanced versions would have kept our economies going during this corana crisis. 

 


   
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(@starnovice)
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@spyder I did, I changed some code but still had to buy a better controller.

Pat Wicker (Portland, OR, USA)


   
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Spyder
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@casey

I very much like the simplicity of that design, although, from the size, I suspect it's power is a bit limited

They only want $18K from indiegogo, which they haven't raised yet, they want $600 for a finished product, their website doesn't work, the bidding is closed, and it looks like it didn't actually launch

Other than that, it looks like a fine product that I'd be happy to build if I could find software for it

EDIT : Which I may have just found... Maybe

https://github.com/beduffy/origibot2-interface


   
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robotBuilder
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Posted by: @spyder

@casey

I very much like the simplicity of that design, ...

It is called KISS (keep it simple stupid).
This is a later version.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/origibot2-telepresence-robot-platform-with-gripper#/
It has given me some thought how to proceed with my own robot base although I am more interested in an autonomous control.

 


   
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Spyder
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Yay !

The screw rod things that I ordered for the bots 3rd arm finally showed up today. They came with all the mounting parts and bearings and motor adapter thingies that I would need. So now I can start figuring out how to make a 3rd arm look normal on this thing

Also in the package was a pair of L9110's, which are really small motor controllers. Nice looking things. Compact and with screw wire taps built onto them already so I don't have to do any soldering this time

The only problem is that I ordered them so long ago, now I can't remember WHY


   
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triform
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Hi @spyder

I like the L9110 driver chips a lot and have used them in several small bots.


   
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robotBuilder
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@Spyder wrote in another thread,

There's not going to be any more wires going down thru the neck. I managed to get 11 wires down there, and that's all I have room for cuz of the gears and motor in his neck, so I don't see how I'm going to connect the lidar to the mega the way Bill has it in his video

Maybe use wireless or perhaps a serial connection to reduce the number of wires required?

 

 

 


   
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Spyder
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Posted by: @casey

Maybe use wireless or perhaps a serial connection to reduce the number of wires required?

 

My main goal with those wires was to have, at the least...

tx

rx

3v

5v

gnd

sck

scl

sda

mosi

miso

and at least a single pwm

I figured that should cover anything that needed to go from the head to most of the parts in the body, and, if I stick to those pins, serial is covered, and wifi is always an option. Also most of the prebuilt ROS packages I've tried seem to want to use the Pi (or Nano) as an AP, so, yea, wifi

Sadly, however, the connector for the motor for the head pops out at the bottom of the neck, and there's no getting it up thru the neck, so, it's gonna have to be controlled by the Mega (somehow)

The patch panel I made for the inside of the body has 12 sets of terminals on it, so I've got enough room to patch all the wires from the Nano into that, if I even need them all

Also, I found THIS interesting piece of software, which appears to be built for the Nano, which I may try to install. On the other hand, the dox I found on it are mostly written in Ukrainian, but the video looks promising


   
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Spyder
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And it's talking now

I don't like that it runs to the internet for answers. Of course, I can't give it the full knowledge of the Encyclopedia Galactica, but, I'm working on giving it a local database that might be editable 

Obviously, when it doesn't have to run to the 'net for its responses, it responds quicker

It also needs to be able to talk to the motors, which I'm no where near completing, or even coming close to

But I'm thinking very hard about it

 


   
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(@starnovice)
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@spyder You probably mentioned this earlier in the post, but what are you using for the speaking?  Very good job getting up and running.

Pat Wicker (Portland, OR, USA)


   
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Spyder
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@starnovice

Well, I was originally using SNIPS, but, that got sold to some corporation who privatized it, and it's no longer open source, so my backup plan was picroft, which is (sorta) what I'm using now

https://mycroft.ai/

It's called Mycroft, which is a version of picroft, and should (if I can figure out how) let me control the bot via voice input, although, I must admit, I'm extremely far from having that be a reality. I can't even seem to get the local database to work properly. It CLAIMS to be in learning mode, but, thus far, he can't even seem to remember when I tell him that "Being locked down is fun and productive"

Oddly enough, nobody else seems to believe it either


   
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Spyder
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When the bot originally came from the factory 40 years ago, the left arm was just a dummy arm. It had no motors or inner workings at all

The picture I showed you earlier was just testing to see how the parts fit together. I have since motorized the whole of the left arm so it has the same movement capability as the right arm. The reason I'm not using the original right arm is cuz I wanted them to match

So here's the test of the left upper arm...

Then, as usual, I got carried away, and decided that he needed a tattoo, so I printed a pair of these...

omnibot35

And put one on each arm like this...

omnibot36

Finished the risers, installed them and the arms (for real this time, not just for testing)

omnibot37

And, I think it was @starnovice who suggested serial for the comms between the Nano and the rest of the bot. Well, yer right. And that makes the job both easier and harder. On the one hand, it means that I don't have to worry about all those wires, but on the other hand, it means that I have to figure out how to get a USB cable thru there cuz, according to the ROS wiki (yes, I finally made it that far) it wants a USB cable running between the brain and the Arduino. Now, I do have an idea on how to make that happen, but it's gonna make him look like he's wearing a snorkel. 

Sadly, I just don't see any other way


   
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robotBuilder
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Suprised they haven't come up with a wireless usb connection which is seen by the sender as a normal usb output and by the receiver as a normal usb input.

I guess that is the price you pay for using other people's code. I would make a wireless or serial connection like the I2C setup.

Probably if I had a 3d printer I would simple redesign the whole robot.

 

 


   
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Spyder
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All the individual parts are working... individually, on the bench. Each arm works, wrists, fingers, neck, etc, so now it's time to put it all together, which should be fun

Now, just because each piece works, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are all about to happily start cooperating in the friendly neighborhood of the chassis that I spent oh so many hours printing

No, that would be too easy. Some parts are working on ROS, others on Arduino, and a few on python, and I still haven't even taken the Lidar out of the box yet, because, before we even have the chance to get THAT far, I have to bolt it all together, which would seem, on the face of it, a rather mundane task, but, that seemingly mundane task leaves out altogether the next part of this project, which would be...

omnibot38

Running all the wires

A task which was made so much more fun because every time I finish one wire, I realize that I've left out another one, or that I've mounted something in such a place as would require taking the thing apart again, just so I could move something 13 millimetres out of the way of another part which wasn't in the way when I first designed it, but certainly is now thanks to the fact that I'm designing it as I'm building it

Having a general idea when you start building something, and then just plugging away at it sounds great on paper, but, that also leaves out the whole "on paper" part of the project, which, I, as a matter of course, left out

This is also remembering that I'm going to have to run it, for the time being, on AC power, due to the fact that I'm still waiting for plugs and sockets to come in for the battery power, which means that when they do finally come in, I'm going to have to take it all apart again

Because I'm an absolute glutton for punishment

The only question at this point that remains, is, how far will I get by morning ?

And, will I finally stop typing, and get around to wiring this beast ?

Oh, and @dronebotworkshop, any time yer ready with that software... yaknow, just go ahead and post it...

In big red flaming letters... so I can find it... and start all over again

Cuz it was so much fun the first time


   
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Spyder
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@robotbuilder

Didn't find the wireless for the wires, so I gave him a ponytail. (I've got some split loom to cover it all up later)

Still need to connect the shoulders, head (Head and Shoulders, heh), ultrasonic sensors, and the Lidar

Oh, and some batteries. I ordered a few of these...

bigbatteries

A bunch of it is working right now. Still got a few more things to install or connect, then I can start worrying about some software, which I'm pretty sure is gonna be ROS, since that's the way I was planning on going anyway

Right now the Jetson is handling the I2C for the main fwd/bak/left/rt, and the arduino is gonna handle the rest (I think) I'm considering installing a switch and making the Jetson act as a router since it already seems to want to do that once I installed Jetson's ROS on it (I think that's meant for remote access)

Ah well, here's what I've got so far...

Don't know why, but it's sideways. The phone should have autocorrected that)

Oh, and I'd really like to replace the wheels with tracks, cuz, ya know, that would be cool


   
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