watzmann

Hi All ,

i'm building a robot at home ..... run in 4 wheels and using 2 DC 12 volt motors.
i have an RF circuit and i can control my robot using it , i have a wireless camera and a smal stepper mototr to control it's direction above the robot ,

finally , i control my robot using a wireless joystick and i can watch it's camera on my laptop .

actually i'm still feeling that this is a very simpale task , could you suggest a more challange ideas to improve my robot ?

Nigel Goodwin

Well it's NOT a robot, it's just a radio controlled model - to make it a robot you need to add on board processing to make it self controlling.

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watzmann

o.k i'm using microcontroller i it ........ but i think of adding a graphic LCD to and draw the walking path.

watzmann

or i can add infra red detector to avoid obstacles

Nigel Goodwin

That would at least start to make it a robot.

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watzmann

i don't know how to let my robot draw it's path , have you any link help me in this topic

HarveyH42

The robot would need to be able to know where it is, measure distance and direction. An encoder on one of the drive wheels or motor could be counted and used for distance traveled. Didn't specify how stearing was done, but that would be where you would get which direction you are moving. Pretty simple math to plot on a graph or store in an array. Not sure about 2 dimensional arrays on an MCU, probably no big deal in 'C' or BASIC.

Without sensors, your car isn't technically a robot, but the term is used very loosely these days... But know reason to start a debate on terminology, its a beginning of a bigger project, a base to build on.

I use to read about robots that people built that remembered and learned, but mostly they build them to deal as they go. You might find something be searching for maze solving robots. The challenge is the shortest time to navigate the maze, seems like some sort of mapping would be need to keep the robot out of an endless circle pattern...

Hero999

Good point, I've never thought of that. All those 'robots' on 'robos wars' aren't really robots, they're radio controlled fighting machines but that wouldn't make such a good name for a TV programme.

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Nigel Goodwin

I instantly thought of that the first time I saw the show!

But it was still a good show, even if the name made no sense!.

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dknguyen

I'll leave the guys in control of the killing machines alone to make up their own mind about what they believe is a robot.

I was quite disappointed when I found out people were controlling the combat robots, and that they weren't running on their own.

HarveyH42

I can understand the interactive aspect of these machines, but don't think it would such a tough job to put sensors and MCU brain on them. Maybe that's for a different group, or perhaps it would be too difficult to prevent R/C cheaters...

Hero999

Real robot wars would be more interesting than radio controlled model wars.

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HarveyH42

Real robots would be more interesting and challenging for those who build, or at least understand what's inside. But for general entertainment to the masses, the R/C battles provide faster and more spectacular kills. The audience wants to see the smoke, flames, and parts flying about (kind of like race car fans).

watzmann

never mind , back again to the main point

now i have purchased a nice wireless camera and i plan to connect it to my robot .

about plotting the track path i have an idea and need your opinion about .... i'm not going to use any kind of sensors to achieve the aim of this task but that's just intersting as for me to hear your opinion and to see whether it will success or not.

i can use MCU to count the time since i start moving the robot in a specific direction and store that ina a variable , once i changed the direction i create another variable and store the new time in it , then i can read the data of this variables to draw the path .without using any kind of sensors ....i think it will be accurate too.

lookign to hear your comments may be i'm wrong

Nigel Goodwin

Sorry, but it will be very inaccurate, but may be good enough for what you require? - and it required nothing else adding to try it!.

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