11 replies to this topic

[Spiked]

 

Wiring comes next.

 

full story; 

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=530

and

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=338

[Chris Walker]

Pretty cool, Spiked. Will this robot auto-navigate?

From your blog post: what are your thoughts about putting lidar on board?

Chris

[Chris Walker]

P.S. Is that an Intermatic HomeSettings Z-Wave controller in the background? You have automated lighting, etc.?

Chris

[Spiked]

re intermatic: lol, yes I'm a bit handicapped, and just plain lazy. I've had this or X10, for like 15 years, I don't know how people live without them. And, I'm shocked the idea has never caught on enough to bring prices down.

 

I'm trying not to spend my all of this months retirement check, so I can get the Seeed LIDAR, the holes are there  My overall goal for this project is to learn SLAM, and be able to task level autonomously navigate.  I got the last robot to that point but, the Roboard-110 made too much RF noise for the GPS to ever get a fix, so I gave up on it being intelligent. I could task level tell it to move, but without encoders or GPS, I couldn't tell it where. Since I'm a little more handicapped now, I also knew that I should start thinking more indoor than outdoor, thus this bot.

[Chris Walker]

Very cool.

The tread on the tires look like they're ready to dig through puddles of water. Then again...probably best not to get water on exposed electronics parts

When you get something moving, please post a video if you can. We'd love to see this in action and follow along with your progress.

Chris

[beastyboy]

Maybe these are interesting to start with:

 

https://store.3drobo...cts/lidar-lite/

 

Cheers Olaf

[Spiked]

Just an update; indeed the robot did acquire a LIDAR.  It is the Robo Peak LIDAR as was intended.

 

 

I think the device is good so far, although you can find hack'd neato version on eBay now for < $100. I'm not sure how good the drivers are for them.

 

The drivers that came with the RP weren't the highest quality either.  C++ only and everyone seems to just copy the original code because no one can understand it.  The data sent from the device doesn't match the documentation exactly, but it's close.

 

sidenote: the right hand sonar is not mounted because it is broken. This is what happens when you say 'go forth' and don't have working collision code :|  

[Mario Vernari]

Very nice indeed, go further!

Congrats!

Mario

[Juzzer]

Looks good

[Chris Walker]

Very nice, Spiked! What are you short- and long-term goals with the LIDAR?

Chris

[Spiked]

Chris, embarrassingly, I started 6 years ago with the intent to learn SLAM.  I am very much not a person to copy/use other code without understanding it completely, so my hesitation to just plug in a ROS module and say I know it now. I had stroke, and that put everything on pause for 2 years or more.

 

I started with a LEGO, which I still hold high in robotics education regards, but never could get satisfactory LIDAR on it, although I did find one project where someone had achieved pretty decent results, I felt like I was always fighting 'not enough compute power' and to a career professional developer, the development environments were not friendly (looking back they are way better than some current ones).

 

My first home design/built robot, had several, first design/built mistakes. And when the top panel cracked, I decided it was time to start a new one.  That is this one, my second design/build,  and it still has some rough edges, but at least it looks cool

 

So as soon as I am confident it can roam around a room without running into things and breaking, I start digging deep into heavy math (SLAM).

[Spiked]

A walkthrough of the User Interface

 

http://www.spiked3.com/?p=1221