Monday, October 18, 2010

The mobile platform.

I'll be using Erector's "Spykee Wifi Spy Robot" as the basis for the project. It's marketed as a toy but I've owned it as well as Rovio, and for the money, Spykee is remarkably robust. It has a much longer battery life (2 hours versus 15 minutes) it has far, far lower latency during control (Rovio is cool to look at but nearly uncontrollable over the net) and better for outdoor use (sturdier, has tank treads, more powerful motors). The portion of Spykee that has all of the electronics in it is pictured below: Not pictured; the "head", essentially a webcam with integrated LED flashlight. The rest is the non-functional upper body and arms which I won't bother to assemble as they add nothing and make the robot easier to tip over.

Unlike Rovio, Spykee doesn't rely on being indoors for the navigation system to work. Rovio uses the "Northstar" system, which tracks it's position by IR lasers pointed at the cieling. If it isn't obvious, while I love Rovio's aesthetics and added functionality (the movable head mainly) it's the wrong robot for the job, and a somewhat shoddily built one in general. All things considered, if we're to have multiple robots they need to be affordable and capable. Spykee fits the bill on all accounts. At least, a stripped down "base plus camera" version of him.

I'd also like to add some form of manipulator to each robot. Has to be passive as the system doesn't really permit the integration of complex robot arms or anything like that. Think bulldozer shovels, prods, picks, that sort of thing. Suggestions welcome. Oh, and you may want to download the Spykee control software in preparation. He's currently controllable via your iphone/ipod touch, your PC, your Mac, and your Android phone.

12 comments:

  1. Chrome gives a virus warning about spykee.com bro. is it trustable?

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  2. Yes. If it makes you nervous there's open source control software available for PC and Linux at http://www.spykeedev.net/

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  3. Disregard my disregard, I was going to get the open source one after google chrome yelled at me, but I can't find the links. I presume I have to register, but it does not appear I can register.

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  4. Get it here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F5WEEWYU

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  5. It's early in the mission, but I would like to address and issue. If the battery's only last 2.5 hours, or if the vehicle was to get overturned or trapped in mud, you may want some sort of safety net. I was going to suggest this:

    http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/covert-small-gps-tracking-device.html

    I actually own this and am very happy with it. I keep it in my car and feel safe with the knowledge that I can track it down if it's stolen. This way, if it dies on you, you can locate it and not lose such expensive equipment.

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  6. Oh sweet, and it's battery powered. That's perfect, thank you.

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  7. I believe it says that it lasts 5 days? It usually goes about 4 for me but otherwise its great.

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  8. I'll be visiting the site every few days to check on things anyway.

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  9. Splitting your funding between two projects will slow them down immensly, perhaps youu should focus on project Earth Rover since you made a sucessful underwater enclosure. I'm not saying don't add on, but perhaps put it off. I'm rather intrigued as to how Earth Rover will come out.

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  10. Thanks for the mirror. I really hope this project does well.

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  11. Read this.

    http://dexterindustries.com/blog/2010/10/01/bazmarcs-dsolar-creations/#

    http://www.dexterindustries.com/Products-dSolar.html

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  12. Interesting Frederico, but that seems specially made for Lego Mindstorms.

    For this project what I really need is a solar panel that I can plug my battery pack (from Project Hampture) into, using the standard 110v adaptor. That way it can trickle charge from sunlight but still have plenty of battery power to power the robot's charging dock.

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