Greetings and some advice pls
Greetings and some advice pls
by scarab
Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:07 pm
Hi there,
I am so happy that I stumbled upon robosavy! I'm a Linux System Engineer/Developer by trade and Robotics is slowly and surely sucking me in! Unfortunately I only discovered it for myself when I was given a LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit for Christmas. It's still a great piece of hardware but I would like to start playing with some more advanced robotics.
I've got some disposable cash on hand due to a good bonus and I've got my eye on both the Robotis Bioloid kit and the Robobuilder 5710K kit. I like the fact that both kits can be used to create both bipeds and Xpods.
I've got development experience in Java, Python and Ruby, with Ruby being my weapon of choice and as a result I'm gravitating to the Robobuilder. In saying that, I not mind jumping into C or any other language so I'm not bound to that. As I can't afford to buy one kit and the other any time soon I want to make sure I get the right kit.
I would love to hear your advice and personal experience with either of these kits.
Thanks for reading!
I am so happy that I stumbled upon robosavy! I'm a Linux System Engineer/Developer by trade and Robotics is slowly and surely sucking me in! Unfortunately I only discovered it for myself when I was given a LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit for Christmas. It's still a great piece of hardware but I would like to start playing with some more advanced robotics.
I've got some disposable cash on hand due to a good bonus and I've got my eye on both the Robotis Bioloid kit and the Robobuilder 5710K kit. I like the fact that both kits can be used to create both bipeds and Xpods.
I've got development experience in Java, Python and Ruby, with Ruby being my weapon of choice and as a result I'm gravitating to the Robobuilder. In saying that, I not mind jumping into C or any other language so I'm not bound to that. As I can't afford to buy one kit and the other any time soon I want to make sure I get the right kit.
I would love to hear your advice and personal experience with either of these kits.
Thanks for reading!
by Stephane
Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:57 pm
Welcome!
I don't know about the Robobuilder, but I bought a Bioloid last December.
The reasons of my choice were:
- The servos have good characteristics in term of torque, but also in term of flexibility: you can use them in free run, you can query a lot of information from them (As a software developper too, I find this feature very interesting)
- There are 18 servos plus a sensor in the comprehensive kit that I took.
- My purpose was mainly to acquire a handful of servo to use in a custom
frame, and in that respect, robotis servos are very nice too because you have many attach points for bolts and nuts (bolts and nuts! This point is also a plus for me. Robobuilder seems to use clipping)
- Tough I didn't use Robotis frame elements a lot, they are quite versatil if you want to experiment with your own creation.
- Last, the bioloid community here is rather active (check activity of the different forums here to get a comparative idea with other robot's communities)
Comparing the two robots, they don't seem to play in the same court:
Robobuilder is smaller, have less degrees of freedom, and its servos have less torque than Bioloid, but is also cheaper.
The Robobuilder control unit seems to have natural extension slot (ADC, GPIO), which is interesting. The Bioloid doesn't, but people designed IO boards to plug on the robotis bus.
Browse around the wiki, you will find more technical information about the robots and make your own idea.
Cheers,
Stéphane
I don't know about the Robobuilder, but I bought a Bioloid last December.
The reasons of my choice were:
- The servos have good characteristics in term of torque, but also in term of flexibility: you can use them in free run, you can query a lot of information from them (As a software developper too, I find this feature very interesting)
- There are 18 servos plus a sensor in the comprehensive kit that I took.
- My purpose was mainly to acquire a handful of servo to use in a custom
frame, and in that respect, robotis servos are very nice too because you have many attach points for bolts and nuts (bolts and nuts! This point is also a plus for me. Robobuilder seems to use clipping)
- Tough I didn't use Robotis frame elements a lot, they are quite versatil if you want to experiment with your own creation.
- Last, the bioloid community here is rather active (check activity of the different forums here to get a comparative idea with other robot's communities)
Comparing the two robots, they don't seem to play in the same court:
Robobuilder is smaller, have less degrees of freedom, and its servos have less torque than Bioloid, but is also cheaper.
The Robobuilder control unit seems to have natural extension slot (ADC, GPIO), which is interesting. The Bioloid doesn't, but people designed IO boards to plug on the robotis bus.
Browse around the wiki, you will find more technical information about the robots and make your own idea.
Cheers,
Stéphane
by scarab
Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:59 am
Stephane wrote:Browse around the wiki, you will find more technical information about the robots and make your own idea.
Hi Stéphane,
You make a good point. The Bioloid kit does seem to have a more active user base and there are far more hacks available for it.
I want to make a purchase in the next day or so... decisions, decisions, decisions.
Have a good weekend
-Jacques