How much would you pay for a robot?

What computer does it have?

Does it come with software? Is it a devlopment "base" or a finished product?

If everything is put together well, I'd pay $1000.

motors 100 base/chassis 50 motor control 100 cameras 100 lcd display 100 battery charger 100 battery 100 I/O electronics 100 kbd/mouse 50

there's my .02 * 50000

Rich

At this point, with my current income, $1500 would be the top price I would pay and I would have to be very impressed with the design.

Rich

I would use a mini or nano ITX board, but have slots for three more.

It would come pre-loaded and ready to boot. Manual control and a good usable set of libraries.

What would a "finished product" be in this context?

Hmm, that doesn't allow much overhead.

And what degree of expertise would be required in electronics and programming to use the above using what language and what OS?

I think for a simple robot to do your mail delivery idea the above is a major overkill. Like using a bulldozer to plant a daisy :) I think Rich does something like that already using his clunky Apple computer, sonar and 128k memory Basic and assembler.

John

As I've been corresponding on this board, it has been crossing my mind, "I wonder if I can sell any of this?" (About the things I am doing)

Just a curiosity, but if I could bring about such a system for $500~$1000 you think you would by it? :)

Clunky? :-)

hah.

I put about $200 into it, but nobody would ever buy it.

It is a nice pet though. It makes family and friends say OOOOH and Ahhhh, and robotics and CS people say "Why?" and "you are wasting your talents"

Rich

I was thinking Linux (That should be obvious to anyone who's read any of my posts :-)

It should boot up, and run out of the box. A joystick application with video.

The AI is up to you.

A really big daisy :-)

Seriously, as an experimental platform, or even your home computer, I guess.

You just have to get with the program Rich and buy a PC :)

Did you know that a modern PC can run a Basic interpreter program faster than an assembler version on the old machines?

John

You know a lot of nifty robots have no OS. Some years ago someone had a little robot that used vision to run out and collect tennis balls. It think he wrote up an article on it for the Seattle ENCODER.

Darn, I knew there would be a catch :)

It reminds me of the old sales ploy of "it is only limited by your imagination". What a terrible limitation, it really made their product useless.

Cool idea, but with 4 computers processing away youd need about 10 amps minimum, plus ancillaries, plus motors. to have a 30-40 pound payload youd need some largish motors. I could see a battery lasting maybe a half hour at most without being so large that your payload would be reduced dramatically, or youd need bigger motors, which in turn draws more current.

But...for soemthing like that in a semi-finished form, that could do all that's said...hmm..maybe 500-800 dollars.

If you used embedded linux, you could get away with alot more with less power consumption and space, but the boards are a tad spensive, which would up the price.

I'm new to robotics and have been looking into a system like this so I can get into computer vision without spending the time on putting my own robot together. Though it would be cool, I don't have the time right now. I've been looking at the ER1 from Evolution for 700 bucks. It seems to offer a lot of the same stuff that yours does. Yours may not have a bunch of ready computer vision software, the sleek looks, or a gripper, but you don't require a laptop.

I'm new to robotics, but I think it would be cooler, if you didn't include the mounted computers on the robot. If you just used a microcontroller and the wireless connection, wouldn't it be possible to run everything remotely? This would save power and space on the robot and would probably cost a lot less as well. I'd pay $500+ for a system like that.

JGCASEY wrote:

I'm new to robotics and have been looking into a system like this so I can get into computer vision without spending the time on putting my own robot together. Though it would be cool, I don't have the time right now. I've been looking at the ER1 from Evolution for 700 bucks.

looks, or a gripper, but you don't require a laptop.

I'm new to robotics, but I think it would be cooler, if you didn't include the mounted computers on the robot. If you just used a microcontroller and the wireless connection, wouldn't it be possible to

run everything remotely? This would save power and space on the robot and would probably cost a lot less as well. I'd pay $500+ for a system

like that.

Yes I think that makes sense and have said as much in previous posts. Why not use the cheap power of a modern computer and take the weight of the mobile part.

Wireless keyboards, mice, screens, internet connection is common place why not a wireless robot base?

Have you seen cybert?

John

It would probably cost somewhere between $500 and $1000 to put that together on the retail market, assuming, of course, your time is worthless.

Since it doesn't really do anything, not even that much. ;-)

Mark

Well, what does it need to do?

I agree that the "A.I. is up to you" being a problem.

In my mind, the most reasonable thing you can pre-package the robot to do is be a vacuum cleaner. Essentially a hackable and expandable roomba.

Joe Dunfee

At the very least, map out your house autonomously. As Joe Dunfee suggests, vacuum cleaner would be nice. This is very easy to code.

Rich

Have you looked at a "roomba?" It isn't actually a vacuum cleaner. It is a carpet sweeper.

When thinking about a product, one needs to consider "performance," or more specifically the ability to live up to some expectation. The roomba is a joke, its a pretty pisspoor robot. Its nothing more than a Mattel BigTrack with a brush.

The robot I am considering building will be a "real" robotics platform. Ample computing power, usable payload, on-board networking, wireless networking, remote control, etc.

Things like mapping a room might be a good application in an examples directory, just as remote controlled rover mode would be, but the real purpose of the system will be serious robotics study.

My hope would be that it would be inexpensive enough for almost anyone interested in robots to buy.