Which is the best?

[Toukisarchu]

I am just trying to find out which is the best Humanoid to go for? The KHR-1 is offcourse the most well documented and hacked of all but is it technically the best? Could someone please order these Humanoids in order from best to worst in regards to thier overall functionality and abilitys.

RN-1
KHR1
BIOLOID
Megarobotics MGR-R201
CycloidII

Anychance of someone making up a table that list the specs of each robot and what functions they do/dont support? I noticed thier seems to be alot of people asking these kinds of questions.

Do the KHR-1 and NR-1 both support load voltage feed back for detecting obstraction of movement?

Is the KHR-1 abit outdated?

Are there any other Humanoids for around the same price that ive missed out on?

Are there any new Humanoids soon to be realesed that are worth waiting for?

Thanks for your help guys.

[Dimitris]

I'm not really familiar with most of the above, however a new kit which I am looking into is the Bioloid which looks promising.
The KHR-1 may be outdated, but then you could always check out the new version, KHR-2HV!

[robodude666]

There is no "Best" robot. Each has good points and each has bad points.

The KHR-1 is not really "outdated" its just not the latest model. Since there KHR-2 is out, khr1 will be a bit cheaper than it was before. the khr2 has a bunch of new cool features and it is lighting fast but the problem is as i understand, is that most of the software and stuff for the khr series is still not in english yet.

The rn-1, as i was told, is easy to work with and really simple to use. the "catch n play" mode makes programming it really easy. Just move it around and press capture, then repeat.

bioloid, havent really looked much into them but as i understand the parts go together very quickly and you can take them apart and make whatever you want.

the other 2 i dont know anything about.

It really depends on what you want to use the bot for. If you want to just play around then maybe boiloid might be for you as you can take it apart and build other things. if you want a serious bot but dont mind not understanding a word the GUI says then maybe look into khr-1/2. if you want a overall pretty good bot with a few cool mods or what i feel is the cool(est) bot then get the nr-1.

It all really depends on what you want to do with it. and your budget i suppose.

[Gil]

The RN1 is very sturdy. Aluminium frame gives him an awesome resistance (not to mention the good looks )

[pepperm]

What about from a programming point of view. Which is the most flexible and expandable?

I want to get one and have the same dilema, KHR-2, Robonova-1 or bioloid. They are pretty much the same price. I want to play and program it to get it to move around and recognise and avoid objects. I also want my kids to start playing around with programming.

Any thoughts on the programming and expandability points please.

Mark

[se7en]

You really don't "program" any of these robots. They come with software that makes it easy to save motion sequences. Now if you already know how to use visual basic, or C, etc. and also know about uart, etc. then you can really have the kind of fun you are talking about. These robots will not give you any experience in programming as they come out of the box, but they give you an excuse to expand your current capabilities. For learning sake, and for the types of things you want to try, you can buy a single servo and controller board, and a couple sensors, and see if you can make them do anything near what you are wanting. Then take what you have learned and apply it to the big expensive humanoid robot. Of course...the big expensive humanoid is cool, fun, and impressive to most people straight out of the box. It will provide fun and get your kids excited about robotics which could get them excited about electronics and programming.

[limor]

What about from a programming point of view. Which is the most flexible and expandable?

if you are a programmer and thats what you are after then Bioloid is the ultimate hardcore programmable platform with C++ and AVR-Studio in addition to some visual logic GUI. If you want to program but keep the dirty stuff out of sight then Robonova offers a pseudo visual-basic style programming environment and hides a lot of the difficult stuff from you.

I want to get one and have the same dilema, KHR-2, Robonova-1 or bioloid. They are pretty much the same price. I want to play and program it to get it to move around and recognise and avoid objects. I also want my kids to start playing around with programming.

Just be aware that these servos are powerful and these are not CE certified toys for children under 14 like Lego NXT. So I always recommend that before the robot is switched on, kids should be at a reasonably safe distance.

Any thoughts on the programming and expandability points please.

KHR-1 has lots of aftermarket parts (see the store Kondo and RT-Net)
Robonova has many popular extensions (see the FAQ)
Bioloid is new newest arrival and is designed to be molded as any robot you would want and the kit arrives with a couple of sensors built-in. It was designed to accomodate the most demanding humanoid researchers.

[pepperm]

Se7en

Isn't the RN-1 programmable in Basic then? The examples I have seen seem to indicate that it is. I'm confused.

Is the Bioloid available now then?

Mark

[Dimitris]

I'm pretty sure the RN-1 can be programmed in RoboBasic (i.e. glorified Basic!), the motion thingy must be a separate prog or plugin

[pepperm]

I know this is a RN-1 forum thread but to be honest after doing some browsing I am turning to the Bioloid. Can anyone debunk the Bioloid in favour of the RN-1?

Mark

[Dimitris]

Heh, I was all up for the RN-1 last week too, hesitating to go for the Bioloid due to much less publicity compared to the other, and all the cool mods that seem, if not easy, then at least approachable, for the RN-1.
However, if you ignore the slight Bioloid controller firwmare troubles some ppl have, surely that will be updated in the future, and to me all factors point toward the Bioloid! Plus I don't know what you guys think but personally the Bioloid humanoid looks really cool, plus it has extra and more powerful degrees of freedom! Plus C prog. etc... 8O

[pepperm]

Yep I think I am beginning to agree. My searching is certainly suggesting that a wait for a Bioloid would be a good decision. Don't get me wrong, I like the RN-1, it's metal and has the sort of controller I like (I'm an AVR man). It also seems to have some good support and expansion options.

But the Bioloid has more servos, they will also rotate continuously so can be used as wheels, they are serially connected so less wires and have good feedback. The kit also includes a proximity detection mechanism and it detects sound.....and it's cheaper than the RN-1.

Mmm what a decision.

Mark

[se7en]

Forgive me for oversimplifying what these robots are or can be. I should not have made a blanket statement like that. I guess I was trying to say they can all be operated by simple means if desired. They are all basically just a bunch of servos linked together and the control possibilities are endless. With the response that robonova has been getting, and the fact that it is well documented in English, and being successfully hacked by lots of good people in these forums, I think I would go hitec.

[pepperm]

Fair preference, thanks for that. I suspect the Bioloid will acquire more support as time goes by and does seem to me to have more capabilities to expand on.

I need now to find out about the raw expansion capabilities. I am a circuit builder and would want to interface my own sensors.

Keep the comments comming people, I'm listening to it all with great interest.

Mark