Roller skating Robonova

[beermat]

Inspired by the videos of Plen rollerskating, I wondered if I could get my Robonova doing the same thing, and wow my friends and family with his multi-talented array of skills.

The first part was getting the wheels. I scoured my personal collection of rubbish built up over many years, including a large collection of wheels from dollar store toys, but nothing was sufficient. After a lot of scouring on the internet, I found a place that had parts that looked like they would do the business. They are actually components for warehouses for gravity flow systems! The website is here:

http://kornylak.com/wheels/mini-wheel.html

and the product is mini-wheels.

I ordered quite a few of each kind of wheel, some bearing brackets, spacers and a rail (more on the rail later). Good to have some spares, and the cost is not prohibitive - a bearing bracket and wheel combo will set you back just 35c or 75c depending on the type of wheel you choose.

Without wanting to drill permanent holes (yet) into my Robonovas feet to use to attach the bearing brackets to the feet with screws, I used superglue for now to hold them in place, and it is more than strong enough. Even blue tac (my first attempt at temporary attachment to see if the wheels could support the weight and still roll!) works for the most part, suprisingly!

With 4 wheels on each foot, the balance is great. The stock walking moves work in all directions. The stock move to stand on one leg, lean forward and flap arms also works without modification and without any noticable instability, which is a bonus!

Now comes the hard part - figuring out the moves to make him skate. Not really getting too far on this, yet. I've had the 'nova a couple of weeks and whilst I've managed to make some fun motions with catch-and-play, skating appears to be more complex than walking. I've spent some time studying the Plen moves in slow-mo, and I'm getting some ideas, but the Plens extra DOF helps him somewhat.

Also, when ordering the wheels, I ordered the rail too. The rail is interlocking, so simply cutting two sections off with a Dremel, interlocking them side by side and adding 4 wheels and bearing brackets, now you have the basis of a skateboard too. I've played with this a while, and have a set of moves to allow him to mount the skateboard without falling off. Next up is making him self propel the skateboard. More work to be done!

Anyway, I thought I'd share this on the forums, in the hopes of inspiring others to try the same thing! A problem shared is a problem halved I will post more on this forum as I make progress.

[beermat]

I have uploaded a video of Robonova on wheels, showing the skates, stock moves on skates, rolling on the skates (with a helping hand shoving the Robonova), and the skateboard I'm working on. You can see the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiTCf6AuMCM

Next step is to make Robonova move on the darn skates himself!

[tempusmaster]

I have uploaded a video of Robonova on wheels, showing the skates, stock moves on skates, rolling on the skates (with a helping hand shoving the Robonova), and the skateboard I'm working on. You can see the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiTCf6AuMCM

Next step is to make Robonova move on the darn skates himself!

Great stuff! 8O I like it a lot!

http://www.robots-dreams.com/2006/07/robonova_takes_.html

You should write up the skate and skateboard construction with a few photos for Makezine. They would post about it in a heartbeat.

Good luck. We'll be watching for your next progress report.

[beermat]

Thanks for the encouragement, tempusmaster! I was most suprised when I clicked my favourites bar link to 'Robots Dreams' and saw the post! Did wonders for the WAF of what I was doing!

The skates / skateboard are a cinch to build, the parts were a lucky find via lots of Googles. The key really is the code to make Robonova move himself. As I said in my original post, Plens got extra DOFs to help; it might prove to be impossible, but I think it's fun to try.

The skateboard is different; I can get Robonova to mount and balance on one leg, pretty tentively, but its a start. Refinement should make it repeatable. I can use his 'off' leg to drive it, barely, but the moves are pretty raw right now.

I might circumvent the whole problem, though - there is plenty of room on the underside of the skateboard for batteries and a motor, and I'm toying with the idea of hooking pieces of a Zip-Zap ripoff I bought on the streets up to it all - transmitter hooked into the MR-3024 and the wireless receiver in the 'board. That way, Robonova could control the skateboard himself without pedalling like a dork. Worth a shot; I'm new to this field and my usual tactic for learning something new is to try to do something that I have no clue how to do, but seems feasible, and jump right in!

I will post progress in here as and when I make it. Free time is limited, unfortunately, but I'll try!

[limor]

you could also try to plug an accelerometer onto the RN1 and make it lean into turns to avoid falling..

where did you buy the Kornylak wheels & how much ?

[bauermech]

Beautiful! Great work!

I've spent some time studying the Plen moves in slow-mo, and I'm getting some ideas, but the Plens extra DOF helps him somewhat.

The independent leg rotation is almost a must. By pivoting one leg, you can turn the wheels on that leg into a source of friction for forward propulsion. ...oops, sorry if I'm sounding like captain obvious here.

I'm really looking forward to seeing more though. Good luck in your pursuit!

[beermat]

limor - the wheels, bearing brackets and rails are here:

http://kornylak.com/wheels/mini-wheel.html

There is an 'Order Online' link to the left. Wheels are either 20c or 60c each. Bearing brackets (1 per wheel) are 15c each. The rail is $15.20 for a minimum of 10 feet.

I'm glad to see bauermech is reading and replied, although the answer I expected ('hey, I made some skates in gold coloured anodized aluminum, figured out the code (see bottom of post and cut and paste) and have kits available, including a body shell for 3 extra DOFs in the legs and waist, for just $10') didn't seem to materialize

[bauermech]

The skates are your wave. Who am I to ride it?

No, but really, great job on 'em. Although it is funny you should mention the additional DOF's... That's what I've been up to this last week. I'm making two sets of every bracket. One for my RN-1, and the other as a production sample (if the need ever arises). There are a few other people working on the independent leg rotation as well. This is really exciting... It'll be neat to see what different designs we've all come up with and how we've dealt with some of the more challenging aspects of their functionality.

If not me, I'm sure one of the other talented fabricators that visit this forum might have a bracket kit available soon.

Maybe we can trade a set of skates for a couple brackets or something here in the future.

[tempusmaster]

:D Beautiful! Great work!

I've spent some time studying the Plen moves in slow-mo, and I'm getting some ideas, but the Plens extra DOF helps him somewhat.

The independent leg rotation is almost a must. By pivoting one leg, you can turn the wheels on that leg into a source of friction for forward propulsion. ...oops, sorry if I'm sounding like captain obvious here.

I'm really looking forward to seeing more though. Good luck in your pursuit!

Rotating the legs at the hips is a major mod - at least for some people but there's no rule that says the skates have to be exactly parallel to the feet.

I suspect that by pointing the skates about 5 to 10 degrees outward you might be able to get enough friction to push against. The timing would be tricky as well as keeping the robot balanced, but it wouldn't require major mods.

[bauermech]

I suspect that by pointing the skates about 5 to 10 degrees outward you might be able to get enough friction to push against. The timing would be tricky as well as keeping the robot balanced, but it wouldn't require major mods.

That's a very good point. Good lookin' out.

[robodude666]

Although it is funny you should mention the additional DOF's... That's what I've been up to this last week. I'm making two sets of every bracket. One for my RN-1, and the other as a production sample (if the need ever arises).

Good to know you been working hard the past week rather than watching tv and sipping lemonade like I have been the past week (it was seltzer not lemonade, but close enough!).

And, beermat, very nice skate Smile I think it might be possible without modding the nova at all. However, it will be really hard. I think the skateboard will be a lot easier to do. Hard part about that will be to get him to balance on one leg bent down a bit and push off with the other leg. A gyro or accelerometer might help with that.

[Gman]

beermat this is awesome. Thanks for the info on the mini-wheels!!!!!

I'm also attemtpting to make my robonova skateboard. I've been using a toy skateboard called a techdeck handboard. There are no bearings in
the wheels but the trucks are working miniature skateboard trucks with
bushings and everything.

http://robosavvy.com/Builders/Gman/Awes ... %20rip.JPG

the board is almost as tall as the robot, and accommidates his stance
nicely. Eventually i want to make a custom deck that is flat except for the nose and tail as the concave in this deck makes it hard for the
robot to balance.

pics of the skateboard...
http://robosavvy.com/Builders/Gman/techdeck%20top.JPG

http://robosavvy.com/Builders/Gman/tech ... bottom.JPG

I've been modifying 'simple dance move' a.k.a. body_move from the
template program to make the robot pop the front wheels off the ground.
Success has been limited but I have been spending more time taking
myself skateboarding rather than working on this project right now.

Gotta enjoy these Canadian summers because winter is just around the
corner it seems.

[beermat]

Gman - nice tipoff. I usually have a lot of sucess looking for stuff via Google, but I didn't see that. Might grab one or two, check it out, see if I can convert the wheels to skates, too.

Keep up the good work and post some progress on the skateboarding if you make any!

[limor]

I've been using a toy skateboard called a techdeck handboard. There are no bearings in the wheels but the trucks are working miniature skateboard trucks with bushings and everything.
http://robosavvy.com/Builders/Gman/Awes ... %20rip.JPG

This miniature robot skateboard is as unlikely to exist in mass production as a babel fish.
how flex are the trucks? is RN1's weight enought to turn the axel?

[beermat]

This miniature robot skateboard is as unlikely to exist in mass production as a babel fish.

Well, limor, do you think you should let the manufacturer know this, and all the online retail stores attempting to sell this thing, even though its 'unlikely' to be in mass production?

Or: http://www.techdeck.com/products/handboard/proskater3.htm


So, given you linked the likelyhood of the two above, where can I buy a babel fish?