43 Small Inexpensive Robots part2
Description
This article is from the Robotics FAQ, by Kevin Dowling nivek@cs.cmu.edu with numerous contributions by others.
43 Small Inexpensive Robots part2
"M & T Systems"
POB 7816
Huntington Beach CA 92615
Contact M &T Systems at:
tel: 714.969.3166
fax: 714.969.3167
net: mandtsys@ix.netcom.com
[Tom Thorton] The HexWalker(tm) walking robot kit is based on the
Insectoid built by Gary Malolepsy of The Robotics Society of Southern
California (RSSC), and chronicled in the February, March and April
1994 issues of Robot Builder (the newsletter of RSSC). The Insectoid
robot was given passing mention by Scott Edwards in the June 1994
issue of Nuts and Volts (How Far Can a Stamp Take You?).
RSSC Club Officers had discussed kitting the walking robot up for
members for several months, but had taken no action. Finally, I built
one for myself. It generated so much attention at meetings that I
decided to kit it out. The HexWalker(tm) robot kit is the result.
As supplied in the kit the Hexwalker(tm) robot detects the world by
means of two feelers. Normal movement for HexWalker(tm) is to walk
forward using the opposing triangle gait. When the robot detects an
obstacle (when a feeler switch closes) it pauses, backs up several
steps, turns left or right, and resumes forward walking. HexWalker(tm)
turns left when the right feeler switch closes, or right when the left
feeler switch closes.
HexWalker(tm) is large enough to work on easily. It measures 8 1/2
inches (22cm) long (plus feelers), 6 1/2 inches (16cm) wide, and 2 1/2
inches (6cm) tall. It is strong, able to support its own weight (12
ounces) plus about an 8 ounce payload.
Modifying the basic robot is encouraged. Ideas for
modification/improvement include: Substitute LED photodetectors for
the feeler/snapswitch sensors. Add a second Stamp to HexWalker(tm)
that performs sensor monitoring functions. Add additional sensors to
HexWalker(tm).
* Backup sensor to prevent walking into objects when walking
backwards.
* Down sensor to detect "cliffs" and prevent walking off edges.
* Sonar for long range sensing."
HexWalker(tm) sells for US $125.00.
California residents add 7.75% sales tax.
Shipping throughout North America is US $3.00.
Shipping to all others is US $15.00.
The kit without Basic Stamp (if you have your own controller)
is US $100.00 plus s &h.
The construction manual alone is US $10.00 plus US $1.00 s &h.
"Meccano/Erector"
Headquarters:
363, avenue de Saint-Exupery
62104 CALAIS CEDEX - FRANCE
Tel. 21.96.63.90
Fax. 21.96.34.35
In the US:
888 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10106
Erector sets have been around for over 80 years and many interesting
things can be built with these construction sets. There are several
mechanical construction systems available. The best source of info
I've seen is a list put together by Colin Hinz at
[67]ftp://psych.toronto.edu/pub/
The German model train company, Maerklin makes a Meccano compatible
construction set. They also have a 1007 Robotic Arm kit and
programmable controller as well. ~$300 You may be able to order it
through a local train and hobby shop.
"Mondotronics"
524 San Anselmo Ave.,
#107
San Anselmo, CA 94960
tel: 415.455.9330
800.374.5764 (orders)
fax: 415.455.9333
800.455.9333 (orders)
net: info@mondo.com
A wide variety of Nickel-Titanium Alloy products. Mondo can supply an
email brochure as well as a Muscle Wire FAQ. Products include:
Muscle Wire Project Book- New 3rd Edition. Presenting everything you
need to successfully design, build, and operate devices with Muscle
Wire - nickel-titanium filaments that actually contract when
electrically powered and lift thousands of times their own weight.
Topics include: Basic lever action, ratchets and latches, model
railroad crossing, AC power circuit, solar power circuit, paper
airplane launcher, life-like butterfly, rubber tube "flexi",
proportional control, radio control interface, programmable multiple
wire controller & serial port interface, PC parallel port interface
and much more. Boris the six-legged motorless miniature walking
machine.
BORIS - A miniature motorless six-legged walking machine
SPECIFICATIONS
Length: 13.5 cm
Height: 4.5 cm
Weight: 30 grams
Power & Drive:
- Eight 100 um dia. Muscle Wires (50 centimeters total).
- 6 volts, 500 milliamp max.
- Full software control via PC parallel printer port.
-
MUSCLE WIRES PROJECT BOOK 3-133 $17.95
MUSCLE WIRES PROJECT BOOK & DELUXE KIT
Includes meter each of Flexinol 050, 100 and 150, plus crimps and
instructions. Enough to build all the projects in the Project Book
including Boris the motorless walking machine. An ideal starter
package for engineers, students and experimenters of all ages.
Project Book & Deluxe Kit 3-168 $59.95
MUSCLE WIRES RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT PACKAGE
A complete package designed for corporate and laboratory Research and
Development work with shape memory alloys. Includes the following:
* Muscle Wires Project Book
* Five meters each of Flexinol 050, 100 and 150
* One meter of Flexinol 250
* Crimps & instructions
Muscle Wires R & D Package 3-102 $249.00 A wide variety of NiTiNol
lengths and diameters are also available. Send email to
info@mondo.com.
"OWI (Movit robots)"
1160 Mahalo Place
Compton, CA 90220-5443
tel: 310.638.4732
fax: 310.638.8347
Many educational toy store, hobby stores, and electronic parts stores
carry these kits. Also available from:
Jayso Electrnics 800.426.4422 or 212.798.1050
Pitsco 800.835.0686
Edmund Scientific 609.573.6260 (See Robot Parts Section)
Hobbico 800.637.7660
These are small toy-like robots that reflexively respond to obstacles,
sounds or light depending on the model. They're cute and show what can
be done with a relatively small amount of hardware. The top of the
line model is the Wao II which has two 'feelers' for bump sensors and
can be programmed with an on board key-pad or via a host computer. It
sells for $89.95. Most of the other robot kits sell for between $35
and $55. The kits usually only require mechanical hardware assembly
(no soldering required.) Edmund also has a Robotic Technology
Curriculum with lessons and tests featuring the Movit robots.
Curriculum is $65 from Edmund Scientific.
"Reality Robots"
Marvin Green,
821 SW 14th, Troutdale, OR 97060
tel: 503.666.5907
net: marvin@agora.rdrop.com
Starter Kits
The B-BOT Frame:
This is a complete robot frame with a 360 degree bumper skirt
and clear head dome. The frame is six inches in diameter and
uses two modified RC servos (not included). The B-BOT can be
controlled by a small microcontroller, such as the BOTBoard,
Mini Board, PIC or BASIC STAMP. The B-BOT Frame is expandable,
flexible, and makes it easy to get your robot projects off the
ground quickly.
The B-BOT Frame and assembly manual is $29.95. The B-BOT jr.
(smaller, with single level base) is $19.95. Please add $4.00
shipping for first kit, $1.00 for each additional kit. Please
make check or money order to Marvin Green at the above address.
The BOTBoard:
The BOTBoard is a bare printed circuit board designed for
robotic applications. The BOTBoard uses the popular 68HC11
microcontroller in a minimum configuration, and is easily
programmed >from your PC. Engineered to be flexible, the
BOTBoard is also powerful and easy to use. Each board measures
2" X 3" and contains 38 I/O pins, and a small prototyping area.
The BOTBoard is $5.95 each, or three for $15.00. Add $1.25 plus
$.25 for each board for shipping.
The ARMBOT:
The ARMBOT is a flexible three axis robotic arm. It is designed
to use small unmodified RC servos and a microcontroller. The
ARM-BOT provides clockwise and counter clockwise rotation of
greater than 180 degree, shoulder lift of greater than 45
degree a gripper range of about two inches. The ARMBOT is
surprisingly strong. It's fun to use, and can easily be build
within a couple of hours.
The ARMBOT kit and instruction manual is $12.95. Please add
$2.00 shipping and handling.
NOTE: These kits are designed to spark your intuitive engineering
skills. Each kit comes with a detailed manual, assembly instructions,
diagrams, parts list, and all the custom parts needed to build the
kit. Common parts, such as RC servos or ICs are not included because
they can be purchased elsewhere. Keep in mind that you may need to
drill some holes or use a soldering iron.
real_bot.zip contains three gif images of the ARMBOT and B-BOT.
[68]ftp://cherupakha.media.mit.edu/pub/incoming/
Seattle Robotics Society BBS: (206) 362-5267
I designed these kits to help inspire people to build robots. The kits
are high quality and inexpensive. Please contact me for more
information. martin@agora.rdrop.com
"Rug Warrior"
A K Peters
289 Linden Street
Wellesley, MA 02181
tel: 617.235.2210
fax: 617.235.2404
net: kpeters@geom.umn.edu
url: [69]http://www.tiac.net/users/akpeters
A companion kit for the book, Mobile Robots: Inspiration to
Implementation. See [70]Books section of this FAQ. The Rug Warrior
circuit board is designed to support the construction of small, yet
sophisticated mobile robots. The board provides all the processing,
memory, and sensor circuitry needed for a custom designed robot.
$289.00. Does not include chassis, skirt and motors.
Rug Warrior offers the following features: Motorola MC68HC11
microcontroller, LCD display (32 alphanumeric characters), 32K of
battery backed RAM, RS-232 serial port, Collision detection from any
of 6 directions, Photoresistor light sensors, Infrared obstacle
detection, Microphone for sound detection, Piezoelectric buzzer
generates tones of arbitrary frequency, Motor driver chip allows
control of two DC motors, Dual shaft encoders allow velocity/position
control, Four user controllable LEDs, Optional pyroelectric (heat)
sensor, Expansion capabilities for more sensors and actuators.
The kit consists of a circuit board with the logic and interface
components already soldered on and tested, plus all the sensors and
other circuitry needed to build the robot board as described in our
book "Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implimentation."
The kit includes Interactive C (IC) on a disk for either Mac or PC.
Self test routines are also provided for each of the standard sensors
and actuators. In the near future A. K. Peters plans to offer a
complete robot kit including chassis, skirt, and motors.
The "Mobile Robot Kit", Rug Warrior from AK Peters is now available in
the "IBUKI Trading Post" on the WWW. The URL for the Trading Post is:
[71]IBUKI The "Rug Warrior" can be found under "Toys toys from IBUKI"
on the "Robots" page. More robot kits will be coming soon. If you want
one listed please contact IBUKI. Questions or comments can be sent to
IBUKI from the pages of the Trading Post or by sending email to
[72]rww@ibuki.com
"Stiquito"
The Stiquito is a small muscle-wire actuated robot developed by Jon
Mills and his students at Indiana University.
Stiquito is a small six-legged robot that you customize by adding
sensors, controllers, power sources, etc. The robot provides an
inexpensive platform to study computational sensors, subsumption
architectures, neural gait control, emergent cooperative behavior, and
machine vision. It is currently being used for research at IU, and, at
a ratio of one robot per student, in "VLSI for Robotics" and "Machine
Learning" classes.
Stiquito is small (3cm H x 7cm W x 6cm L) and simple (32 parts)
because its legs are propelled by nitinol actuator wires. Each leg has
one degree of freedom. The robot walks up to 10 centimeters per minute
and can carry a 9-volt cell, a MOSIS "tiny chip" and power transistors
to drive the nitinol actuator wires. Alternatively, power and control
can be supplied through a tether.
After being innundated with requests for the unit, sales of the kits
are now being handled by Robotic Systems. Robotic Systems offers a kit
to build the Stiquto II walking robot The kit is $45 and includes a
PCB for a PC-based controller (Mac version coming soon).
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