RoboSavvy Forum

A poor man's robot, is it possible?

2012-12-29T04:46:27+01:00

I would say start small. Most experienced roboteers can't do a third of what you put in the list.

Statistics: Posted by UncleBob — Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:46 am

A poor man's robot, is it possible?

2012-11-27T19:41:32+01:00

There are lots of people here who have created amazing robots on a very small budget. They achieve this by a by careful analysis of their requirements against budget, creative design skills, and their craftsman skills in fabrication and building.

I think you are far away from the first step to understand your requirements and budget. If you want a sentry robot, then a walking biped is not at all a low cost choice. By suggesting a 1.5m high robot you are over the limit of MX106, and would be in Dynamixel Pro territory. So you have a specification for a $50,000+ robot to do a $1000 task.

You also need to tell us how much time you have available to pursue this, and your skills. Massive savings can be made by self design and build, but this assumes you have a lot of time available, and either have, or can acquire post graduate level robotics skills.

Statistics: Posted by i-Bot — Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:41 pm

A poor man's robot, is it possible?

2012-11-26T13:21:40+01:00

Hello!
Interestingly this forum!
I like DARwin-OP, but he is unfortunately too small in size for my taste and way too expensive for my dodgy economy.
I am eager to build a robot, but has not that good salary at work
In addition to walking on two legs, I want the robot to be able to navigate around the house like the robot LOKI by Dave Shinsel (but that robot is mounted on wheels).
I want to be able to login from work via the internet and be able to see if everything is in order at home.
I want it to do some work for the power it consumes too, like patrolling at home when you're at work and and notify me if something is wrong.
Automatically recharge when the batteries are running low.

*My first question is if really Dynamixel servos are necessary in this kind of project?
When the economy is not the best, I think Dynamixel servos are terribly expensive, especially when I want a bigger robot (at least 1.5 m high)
Most likely "my" robot requires the MX-106 servos for the legs (12 pieces).
Is there no cheaper solution to these servos? Also think they're a little overworked for "hobby builder" think it should get by with less advanced servos!?
Main thing to get a satisfactory positioning of where the axis is, much like a standard RC servo but with a feedback of the axis position...

*The second question, is my "demands" of the robot unsuitable with Darwin OPs code without having to rewrite too much code?
I have not decided what kind of control I will use but looked at some different solutions using a laptop with USB controller card, etc.
Darwin's brain would have been fun to shop but £834 is a bit tight in the wallet

Thank you all robot lovers out there!

Statistics: Posted by Hood — Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:21 pm