Announcing our new baby droid

[Droidling]

About 3 weeks ago my wife came home and presented me with the happy news; and a box of parts. She had decided the RN-1 was something I just had to have.

I started on it that night and finished it the following morning. Just about immediately I took it back apart to add a 4 ch R/C receiver I pirated out of an ant weight combat robot I was working on. Feeling confident I decided to enter it in stair climbing and wrestling at RoboGames. I've been programming every spare minute since.

A few questions:
1. Every once in a while the RoboNova will just stop in mid motion. If I leave it for 15-20 it will usually start up again. More often I just turn the power off and back on. After being reset it will usually perform the motion without a problem. Has this got anything to do with low batteries or overheated servos?

2. What is a reasonable time for the standard Robo-One stair climbing event? I thought I was doing well when I got it down to 2 minutes. Now I see that the event rules says 2 min is the length of the event.

3. Is there a reason that RN-1 has slick metal feet? Wouldn't something like neoprene (mouse pads) provide some cushioning and traction.

[tempusmaster]

About 3 weeks ago my wife came home and presented me with the happy news; and a box of parts. She had decided the RN-1 was something I just had to have.

Fantastic! You are indeed blessed.

I started on it that night and finished it the following morning. Just about immediately I took it back apart to add a 4 ch R/C receiver I pirated out of an ant weight combat robot I was working on.

It won't be the only time... I bought a National power screwdriver that works like a charm, as long as I keep its battery pack charged.

Feeling confident I decided to enter it in stair climbing and wrestling at RoboGames. I've been programming every spare minute since.

Looks like it will be a great event. I think this will be the first time there have been a significant number of non-Japanese competitors in the ROBO-ONE style events.

A few questions:

2. What is a reasonable time for the standard Robo-One stair climbing event? I thought I was doing well when I got it down to 2 minutes. Now I see that the event rules says 2 min is the length of the event.

Just being able to complete it is 'reasonable'. The top guys here, like Yokozuna Great and Dynamizer can do it very quickly - almost like a human walking up stairs, but even they fall down more frequently than you would imagine. 8O

During the opening demonstration for the ROBO-ONE competition in the spring of 2005 they had about 5 robots doing it, and 2 out of the group fell down twice and had to be manually repositioned on the stairs. Keep in mind that the top competitors are using controllers like the motion processor that have a different gyro strategy and allow for master/slave real-time control.

The net/net is that if you can successfully complete the challenge you're doing very well. Anytime under 2 minutes is great.

3. Is there a reason that RN-1 has slick metal feet? Wouldn't something like neoprene (mouse pads) provide some cushioning and traction.

It's a trade-off. Most of the top robots have foot pads - usually fabricated from mouse pads or other similar material. The downside is that it creates drag, can be more unpredictable, and puts more of a load on the servos. Depending on how you've setup your motions you might have to redo them, especially those that tend to slide or move the feet horizontally rather than lifting them almost straight up and down.

[Droidling]

Thanks for the info. Will you be at Robogames? Which is your robot? I'll be there all 3 days since since I'm in ant, and beetle weight combat as well.

You were dead on about the stairs. If I try to get through in under 2 min. I fall about half the time.

Hope to see you at Robogames.
Terry

P.S. If anyone has experienced with the RN-1 stopping in mid motion, and twiching slightly for a few seconds before it continues, please post even if you don't know the cause. At least it would help me to know if this is an isolated problem with my robot.

[tempusmaster]

Thanks for the info. Will you be at Robogames?

You're very welcome. I wish I could be there, but unfortunate work, time, and $$$ are working against me at the moment. Just finding time and budget to participate in the Japanese events is a stretch.

Which is your robot?

Gulliver - a pretty standard KHR-1 at this point. He's not entered in RoboGames, this time around.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/95721430@N00/164175017/

That was taken at the KHR-1 Second Anniversary Celebration here last weekend. I'm adding some additional DOF and have 2350 servos to beef up the legs a bit. If everything comes together, he'll be in the ROBO-ONE J competition in August.

I'll be there all 3 days since since I'm in ant, and beetle weight combat as well.

Sounds like you'll have your hands full. 8O

If you, or anybody else that makes it to the event, want to send me a report, photos, or videos, I would be happy to create a post on Robots Dreams.

You were dead on about the stairs. If I try to get through in under 2 min. I fall about half the time.

I'm always happy to help.

Hope to see you at Robogames.
Terry

P.S. If anyone has experienced with the RN-1 stopping in mid motion, and twiching slightly for a few seconds before it continues, please post even if you don't know the cause. At least it would help me to know if this is an isolated problem with my robot.

If you haven't figured it out before Saturday, talk to Matt Bauer (Rook's Pawn) during the RoboGames ROBO-ONE events. From what you're describing it sounds like a problem that he's run into before and understands how to work around.

[Droidling]

BTW it appears that my RN-1 doesn’t actually stop. He just moves very Slooo...ly.

Both Matt and Tony said they hadn't actually run into my problem before. Matt suggested it might be caused by a missing wait statement. This seemed strange since I think it has only happened in the basic moves that Hitec supplies with the RN-1. I went through with search and replace and added a wait before each return in the sub routines I added. It hasn't had the problem since. It might have something to do with coming out of a subroutine while a motion is still in progress.

Sounds like you'll have your hands full.
If you, or anybody else that makes it to the event, want to send me a report, photos, or videos, I would be happy to create a post on Robots Dreams.

With all the different event going on at Robo Games it is really hard to keep up. Just trying make it to the competitions on time was about all I could manage. I didn't even take a camera with me. I can check to see what pictures my friends my have. Most of them are mainly interested in combat. Are you interested in anything robotic or just humanoids?

[robodude666]

About 3 weeks ago my wife came home and presented me with the happy news; and a box of parts. She had decided the RN-1 was something I just had to have.

Wish I had a wife like that!! Then again, I am only 16 haha.
Grats on the baby, erm.. RoboNova-1
Grats on the 2min stair climb
and best of luck at Robo-One! (If you win some money, feel free to send me some. I need money to buy a RoboNova Just pm for my paypal )

[tempusmaster]

Sounds like you'll have your hands full.
If you, or anybody else that makes it to the event, want to send me a report, photos, or videos, I would be happy to create a post on Robots Dreams.

With all the different event going on at Robo Games it is really hard to keep up. Just trying make it to the competitions on time was about all I could manage. I didn't even take a camera with me. I can check to see what pictures my friends my have. Most of them are mainly interested in combat. Are you interested in anything robotic or just humanoids?

Anything even remotely robotic. Humanoids are great, but I also attend and report on micromouse, robot sumo, robocup, and almost any other robot event or item I can find. I've been that way since I was first able to read and write more years ago than I care to disclose publically.