Robots for University education and Research

Translate This Thread From English to

Threaded View
laurentien's Avatar (by Gravatar)laurentien posted on
June 29, 2006, 4:16 am
rate this thread
Dear all,

I have just been hired to help start a new robotics lab here at the
University of Central Lancashire. As it is often the case with applied
research, this lab is partly funded by the private sector and not much
by the government. Thus, we have little funding.

I would like to buy good education robots and mobile one as well. The
project shall investigate flexible manufacturing using articulated
robots on mobile platforms. Of course, I cannot buy industrial material
since our local is too small, but I still need to buy serious devices
which can survive a lot of experiments. I have come across a few good
proposal but they do not seem to be too many affordable robots between
the toys and the industrial ones.

What do you suggest I look for ? I would like some poeple to givbe
advice on robots they have used ?

Luc Rolland, PhD


Other Related Threads
pbdelete's Avatar (by Gravatar)pbdelete posted on
June 29, 2006, 8:19 am
Permalink

Re: Robots for University education and Research


I found this attractive:
  http://www.crustcrawler.com/products/arm5.php
  SG5-UT Basic Kit 399 USD
  Without servos etc.. 279 USD

  Could at least serve as inspiration.

Tip?
  http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~mperkows/ML_LAB/RESOURCES/robots-to-purchase.html


Other Related Threads
Gordon McComb's Avatar (by Gravatar)Gordon McComb posted on
June 29, 2006, 11:43 am
Permalink

Re: Robots for University education and Research


The small robots from ActivMedia at http://www.activrobots.com/  are
among the most commonly used for research, when the lab hasn't built
their own. Look especially at the Pioneer base. The base itself is
fairly affordable; start putting SICK lasers on the thing and the
sensors easily outcost the base. So it all depends on what you add to
it.

Don't overloak the hobby bases (not toys, but not research-quality,
either). Most folks can't afford 10 Pioneers to test robot swarming
idea, but they can easily afford 10 Boe-bots.

-- Gordon

Padu's Avatar (by Gravatar)Padu posted on
June 29, 2006, 1:10 pm
Permalink

Re: Robots for University education and Research

"Gordon McComb"

Gordon beat me in this one :-)

In our lab (intelligent machines and systems lab at San Diego State
University), we have 2 pioneers, a DX (two wheels + caster) and the AT (4
wheels). They are nice platforms for indoor activity and some outdoor (not
so rugged terrain). They have easy to use SDK's and they surely save a lot
of time. They are pricey though.

I'm following a different path and I'm building my own platform using RC
cars. Several universities are following this trend lately, mainly because
they are very cheap and parts are readily available. You may want to look
into it.

For manipulators we have one puma and two scaras, old stuff but still works.


Cheers

Padu



pogo's Avatar (by Gravatar)pogo posted on
June 30, 2006, 11:11 am
Permalink

Re: Robots for University education and Research


The vision recognition on the Evolution Robotics Scorpion is
unmatched. It is thier high-end version of the ER1 hobbyist kit
(which they no longer sell or support.) You can find ER1 kits on
eBay from time to time, for anywhere from $500 to $1500. Also, they
mention that universities get a 75% discount on the ERSP SDK.

Here's a couple of links to them:
http://www.evolution.com/education/
http://www.evolution.com/education/erspnc30/hardware.masn
http://www.evolution.com/product/oem/software/sdk.masn

Caution: I don't know how much if any they support the ERSP for the
Scorpion. They just soft of unceremoniously deleted their entire
forum for ER1 owners. It's kind of hard to tell if they even offer
the Scorpion from their current website, but I would recommend that
it is at least worth a look.




Site Timeline