community parts & plans
community parts & plans
by Joe
Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:14 pm
This idea germinated in another thread (about Viking's excellent RN mods), but deserves its own thread.
Wouldn't it be great if we could come together, as a community, and develop standard plans for homebrew humanoid robots? Actually, there's no reason to restrict it to just humanoid -- Robotis and LynxMotion have both shown that with a decent set of brackets, you can make a wide variety of interesting bots.
So, let's put our heads together and come up with part designs and recommendations. Custom parts should be either available for purchase somewhere, or makable through some online service. For example, there are several services on the web that will cut 2D parts out of lexan or other plastic (by laser) or even out of metal (by water jet). 3D parts could be made by eMachineShop, but they'll be quite expensive for small runs, so it might be better to make do by gluing 2D parts together where possible.
I'd also suggest making use of standard-sized servos as much as possible. This way, the end-user has a wider variety of servos to choose from, and is more likely to have something on hand that will work.
Once the standard parts have been hammered out, then people could start sharing overall designs made by bolting the parts and servos together, much like LynxMotion does on their site. This would be very helpful for newbies just getting into the hobby (like me), who can't afford $1000 for a kit but could maybe drop $50 or $100 here and there, to build progressively more complex models.
What do you think? Is there any merit in this idea?
Best,
- Joe
Wouldn't it be great if we could come together, as a community, and develop standard plans for homebrew humanoid robots? Actually, there's no reason to restrict it to just humanoid -- Robotis and LynxMotion have both shown that with a decent set of brackets, you can make a wide variety of interesting bots.
So, let's put our heads together and come up with part designs and recommendations. Custom parts should be either available for purchase somewhere, or makable through some online service. For example, there are several services on the web that will cut 2D parts out of lexan or other plastic (by laser) or even out of metal (by water jet). 3D parts could be made by eMachineShop, but they'll be quite expensive for small runs, so it might be better to make do by gluing 2D parts together where possible.
I'd also suggest making use of standard-sized servos as much as possible. This way, the end-user has a wider variety of servos to choose from, and is more likely to have something on hand that will work.
Once the standard parts have been hammered out, then people could start sharing overall designs made by bolting the parts and servos together, much like LynxMotion does on their site. This would be very helpful for newbies just getting into the hobby (like me), who can't afford $1000 for a kit but could maybe drop $50 or $100 here and there, to build progressively more complex models.
What do you think? Is there any merit in this idea?
Best,
- Joe
by HarryBotter
Wed Sep 06, 2006 12:57 am
Why reinvent the wheel? As you said, Lynxmotion has the SES system which allows you to custom build whatever you like.
I was thinking exactly like you and I've just put together their 6 servo BRAT using HS-5645 servos and am now considering adding another 2 or 4 DOF.
Cheers, Harry
I was thinking exactly like you and I've just put together their 6 servo BRAT using HS-5645 servos and am now considering adding another 2 or 4 DOF.
Cheers, Harry
by Joe
Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:45 am
RoboGuy wrote:Why reinvent the wheel? As you said, Lynxmotion has the SES system which allows you to custom build whatever you like.
Well, being of very limited budget, I was thinking that perhaps we could find ways to make parts designed ourselves more cheaply than kits purchased commercially.
However, since then I fired up the eMachineShop software and priced a simple aluminum bracket. It came out at over $200 for one, or about $27 if you order 100. Lynxmotion sells a pair of them for $12. They're no doubt making some profit (as they should), but they are clearly not engaging in any price-gouging.
Still, we see in this forum a number of people making their own custom brackets and connectors. Why are they doing this, if the Lynxmotion ones are adequate? Perhaps it's just that they're starting with a Robonova, which isn't compatible with the Lynxmotion ones.
Is anyone here making a home-built Robo-One with the Lynxmotion SES?
Best,
- Joe
by HarryBotter
Wed Sep 06, 2006 11:16 am
Joe wrote:Well, being of very limited budget, I was thinking that perhaps we could find ways to make parts designed ourselves more cheaply than kits purchased commercially.
I've looked at this myself and doubt that you could build a quality humanoid cheaper on your own than using the SES parts. Of course you could start compromising on quality to save money but I doubt that you'd want to do that.
Joe wrote:Still, we see in this forum a number of people making their own custom brackets and connectors. Why are they doing this, if the Lynxmotion ones are adequate? Perhaps it's just that they're starting with a Robonova, which isn't compatible with the Lynxmotion ones.
For some people the building and fabricating is the hobby, the end product is almost less important. Many of these people will spend much more just to do it themselves.
Joe wrote:Is anyone here making a home-built Robo-One with the Lynxmotion SES?
There are I think a couple of people that are reporting on their Robo-one projects on the Lynxmotion site.
Harry
by bauermech
Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:46 pm
Is anyone here making a home-built Robo-One with the Lynxmotion SES?
I know Tony Ohm (of Hitec USA) used several Lynxmotion brackets to modify his Robonova (RN-1E) to have independent leg rotation and wrist rotation. Here's the link to that post...
http://robosavvy.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=368
