DAGU Wild Thumper 1st Test and Impressions (Video)

[robosavvy]

Hi

We've been assembling and testing our DAGU 4WD Christmas pack today and we've had so much fun with it we wanted to share it with you.

The Wild Thumper 4WD Christmas Pack is a pack that includes teh DAGU chassis, the Arduino Controller, a 5 000 mAh Lipo, LiPo charger and a generic RC Remote.

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We were very impressed with the speed/power of the Robot and how robust it is.

You can easily flip it over just by accelerating and reversing (this actually happened on the video (second 38 ); towards the end we managed to fine tune our fingers it to just lift the front wheels without fliping over completely!

The fact that it is controlled by an Arduino makes it very flexible and suitable for Robot applications.
The sample code included can take commands from an RC remote and also receive commands over from a serial connection (TTL level).

In the sample it is being controlled by included RC remote.
We first tried coupling it with a Robobuilder Bluetooth Module (actually a parani esd200) to control it directly from the PC but the Parani runs at 3.3V (and the arduino is 5V)


We're now thinking what to do with it next. Limor suggested a Kalman Filter to have move on 2 wheels.

There's also the possibility of a camera and Gumstix for some autonomous behaviour (btw the pack includes a gripper with 2dof that we didn't assemble on the robot).

What we keep saying is how much fun this Wheeled Robot is!

-- RoboSavvy

[RoboJerry]

I just orderd the DAGU 4WD Christmas pack and I tought it had the 1:75 gearbox engines. I expected (actually calculated) the speed to a 3,3 km/h (2miles/h) but this seems to be much faster. Impressive. I can't wait to get my Christmas present

[robosavvy]

Hi

Here's another video of the DAGU 4WD Christmas pack.

This time we have the platform fully assembled.

We were controlling it with the included RC remote (shown in the video) and using the default Arduino sample code.

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By the way we haven't recharged the LiPo since shooting the first video (on the first post).
We've charged the battery, shot the first video, we've played with the robot, made a lot of experiments with code for self balancing and shot this second video. All on the same battery charge. (a 5000 mAh LiPo).

RoboSavvy

[RoboJerry]

I just orderd the DAGU 4WD Christmas pack and I tought it had the 1:75 gearbox engines. I expected (actually calculated) the speed to a 3,3 km/h (2miles/h) but this seems to be much faster. Impressive. I can't wait to get my Christmas present

I received my package a few days ago. I was very thrilled to use it.

The package is quite complete except for a connector for the LiPo battery which is missing. That a real shame. Since it's my first step in the RC/Robot world I dind't have such connector in house and could use the LIPO. I tried with an old NiMh batterypack but that one couldn't deliver the power needed for the beast. So I've ordered a few 4mm hxt gold connectors.

I've been testing the robot arm with the arduino controller (My 2 amps power supply was just strong enough). That worked fine until I discovered that I put the servos on 7V and not on the 5V regulator = my fault) The smallest servo didn't like that and broke down.
The build quality of the arm is not of the same quality of the Wild Thumper although the servos seem to be descent material (metal geared servos and fast).

What I also missed is a few 3 poled servo connetors fot the connection between the receiver and the Arduino board. It comes with a few 1 pole connectors (which is good) but 3 pole connectors are a bit safer since it's more difficult to make mistakes.

So at this moment I'm waiting on the extra RC material. I'll post again when I get the Wild thumper alive! Can't wait

[RoboJerry]

Finally finished the DAGU 4WD Christmas pack. I had already a lot of fun with it. The robot arm is not installed, it works but is not of the same build quality of the Wild thumper and I broke one of the servos already. The arduino board is fantastic, the remote and battery is great.

Now I'd like to make useful applications with the robot like chasing the cat


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJAEGRpxORM

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