Robobuilder Linuxified - adding an embedded linux board
by chriscc
Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:12 pm
Hi everyone. This is very exciting work. I hope it continues to fruition.
MarcoP, you said "We will probably offer the option of color, or even transparent plastic to the customer."
Can you please explain? Will this be a product? What would be included? When would it be offered? Will this be as expensive as the Robobuilder itself? Where can I buy it? I'm not looking for precise answers; I'm just trying to get a feel for what to expect. I am very close to purchasing a "RoboBuilder 5710K Red Edition Plus w/ Full Sensor pack + Bluetooth [RB-5710KREDplus]", but the availability of your project for sale would greatly impact my decision.
It doesn't look like there are many humanoids with embedded computer+Wifi+webcam available commercially without doing more custom work than I have time to do right now, or without spending far more than I want to spend.
Very exciting work.
MarcoP, you said "We will probably offer the option of color, or even transparent plastic to the customer."
Can you please explain? Will this be a product? What would be included? When would it be offered? Will this be as expensive as the Robobuilder itself? Where can I buy it? I'm not looking for precise answers; I'm just trying to get a feel for what to expect. I am very close to purchasing a "RoboBuilder 5710K Red Edition Plus w/ Full Sensor pack + Bluetooth [RB-5710KREDplus]", but the availability of your project for sale would greatly impact my decision.
It doesn't look like there are many humanoids with embedded computer+Wifi+webcam available commercially without doing more custom work than I have time to do right now, or without spending far more than I want to spend.
Very exciting work.
by PedroR
Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:42 pm
Hi criscc
It's always great to see customers interested in our projects.
To answer your questions:
"We will probably offer the option of color, or even transparent plastic to the customer."
We have finalized the design of the backpack and it will be 3D Printed on one of our Makerbot 3D Printers.
We will probably settle on an initial color of plastic (not yet decided) but it _may_ be possible that we will offer additional colours for the case in the future.
Will this be a product?
yes, this is being designed to be released as a product. Right now all of the hardware work is done and what's left to do is port sample code to RoboRealm.
What would be included?
The plan is to offer a complete Backpack replacement/upgrade for Robobuilders.
This will include the plastic casing, the Omnima MiniEMBWiFi, a 5V regulator for the Omnima that connects to a wCK bus port (to draw power from the wCK bus), the Robobuilder RBC main board and the Webcam.
A new battery pack with extended cable will also be included so that it can be fitted into the Metal chest.
Because some soldering and custom work is required it is likely that this will be sold as a complete package to replace the stock backpack.
When would it be offered?
The timeframe has not been established as our resources are currently stretched out to the maximum with a number of time sensitive projects for external customers.
We expect the projects to be finalized by mid April so a realist release date would be sometime in May.
Will this be as expensive as the Robobuilder itself?
We haven't calculated the final pricing yet but it will certainly be a fraction of the cost of a Robobuilder.
You can get an idea of pricing by adding the cost of an RBC controller (purchased stand alone), an Omnima board (both items can be purchased from our online store) and the cost of an OEM UVC webcam plus some overhead for the regulators and casing.
Depending on what the final cost comes to, in addition to the "Complete BackPack" we may also offer a "hackers" edition where users get all the extra components but re use their RBC controller (where they "build" the modified backpack themselves) to offer a lower cost.
This is still not yet decided though.
Regards
Pedro.
It's always great to see customers interested in our projects.
To answer your questions:
"We will probably offer the option of color, or even transparent plastic to the customer."
We have finalized the design of the backpack and it will be 3D Printed on one of our Makerbot 3D Printers.
We will probably settle on an initial color of plastic (not yet decided) but it _may_ be possible that we will offer additional colours for the case in the future.
Will this be a product?
yes, this is being designed to be released as a product. Right now all of the hardware work is done and what's left to do is port sample code to RoboRealm.
What would be included?
The plan is to offer a complete Backpack replacement/upgrade for Robobuilders.
This will include the plastic casing, the Omnima MiniEMBWiFi, a 5V regulator for the Omnima that connects to a wCK bus port (to draw power from the wCK bus), the Robobuilder RBC main board and the Webcam.
A new battery pack with extended cable will also be included so that it can be fitted into the Metal chest.
Because some soldering and custom work is required it is likely that this will be sold as a complete package to replace the stock backpack.
When would it be offered?
The timeframe has not been established as our resources are currently stretched out to the maximum with a number of time sensitive projects for external customers.
We expect the projects to be finalized by mid April so a realist release date would be sometime in May.
Will this be as expensive as the Robobuilder itself?
We haven't calculated the final pricing yet but it will certainly be a fraction of the cost of a Robobuilder.
You can get an idea of pricing by adding the cost of an RBC controller (purchased stand alone), an Omnima board (both items can be purchased from our online store) and the cost of an OEM UVC webcam plus some overhead for the regulators and casing.
Depending on what the final cost comes to, in addition to the "Complete BackPack" we may also offer a "hackers" edition where users get all the extra components but re use their RBC controller (where they "build" the modified backpack themselves) to offer a lower cost.
This is still not yet decided though.
Regards
Pedro.
Last edited by PedroR on Thu Mar 01, 2012 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
by PedroR
Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:55 am
Hi Chris
Due to the appearance of similarly priced alternatives with much more processing power we have decided put this product on hold.
The main reason is the appearance of Raspberry PI: in terms of BOM an Omnima (with all the required additional hardware) comes close a Raspberry PI.
Regards
Pedro
Due to the appearance of similarly priced alternatives with much more processing power we have decided put this product on hold.
The main reason is the appearance of Raspberry PI: in terms of BOM an Omnima (with all the required additional hardware) comes close a Raspberry PI.
Regards
Pedro
by limor
Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:55 pm
the plan at the moment is to port the work from Omnima to the Chinese Android stick (Allwinner A10, costs ~$50). It is tricky because it is a different linux distro and it eats up more power and produces more heat. all of these are addressable except that we are R&D time deprived. Currently spending most of our R&D efforts on a 1m humanoid robot ([ur=http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=26l]see here[/url]). After the end-of-year holiday season we will have more time to launch this product.
by chriscc
Thu May 23, 2013 1:15 pm
This looks very interesting:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparkdevices/spark-core-wi-fi-for-everything-arduino-compatible
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparkdevices/spark-core-wi-fi-for-everything-arduino-compatible
Re: Robobuilder Linuxified - adding an embedded linux board
by l3v3rz
Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:41 pm
For anyone interested in using a Raspberry Pi with robobuilder - see this post:
viewtopic.php?p=43579#43579
viewtopic.php?p=43579#43579