request for information

You probably need to describe in detail what the robot is to do and under what conditions it is to operate, size limitations and such (and how much $$$ you plan to spend ).

The robot is supposed to carry a wireless camera (Approx 2-3lbs), and is to navigate a buildinging mostly. Money is not a constraint. I would like to know the position of the robot as precisely as possible so it wud be preferable if it comes bundled with a gps.

Thanks,

Money is not a constraint? You're quite sure? If I offered you a production model for, say, US$50 million, that would be OK?

(navigate a building) != (bundled with a gps) Indeed, if it's intended exclusively for operation inside of structures then GPS would be a waste of space and power.

That sounds like Microsoft ;)

Do you have a company? Do you have a $50 Million robot? Show me the specs. Have u sold a few copies? Can you ship it to me tomorrow?

IF not...

Since you asked, my max budget is at most $2-3k. If nothing is available i'll make it in less than $1k.

That is true indeed. I guess I dont need gps then. :) Just a mobile platform that can be controlled wirelessly (from a pc) and carry a payload.

Thanks,

Well, for $50 M I'll happily act as your agent to take care of the tedious details of research, negotiation, arranging for shipping, that kind of stuff. Bargain, really! ;-)

Probably need to add a few more constraints, else you'll get a lot of pointers to RC model cars with 2.4 GHz video cameras duct taped to the roof (which might be all you need if you're trying to find how the racoon is getting into the office pantry). Stair climbing ability takes a lot of the easy solutions off of the table. Required? WRT navigation, would simple wheel odometry, with the inevitable slippage, be OK or should that be coupled to a MEMs INS? Do you need anti-jamming, anti-spoofing, or anti-tapping capability on the data links or is the RF environment benign? Is the physical environment benign, or does the system need to be useable in an explosive atmosphere? With water spray? With salt water spray?

I am just looking for an rc-car duct taped with a wireless camera. The requirements are that the rc-car should be controllable by my computer (and not the rc controller). Does anyone know of an rc controller that can be used with a computer instead of a hand?

Thanks,

I think something like this:

But I wish it was built on rc-plane frequencies and was easier to use. Anyone knows any products built on them?

Thanks,

Hello John,

Somebody experimented with this but it's not a proportional control, just one of those four button deals:

Regards, Joerg

A lot of those (at least the cheapies I buy for parts ;=) just have bang-bang controllers, not proportional (servo) control. Easy enough to gut the hand-held control and install a few relays in place of the switches. Probably possible to skip the relays altogether and drive the sense lines directly; have to trace the signals on the particular controller, though. I'd use the PC serial port talking to a microcontroller that actually did the interfacing. Hit the pre-Xmas sales and you can probably get the hardware for practically nothing.

For something fancier, these guys (and others)

proportional RF controllers but AFAIK the stock items are all (?) handheld as well. The joystick controls might be emulated by microcontroller-driven DACs if the sticks are just pots. Kind of pricey to void the warranty but way less than $50 M. Something like TI's TLC5615 would be pretty easy to interface to a uC with an SPI peripheral. I'd stick with the same, simple serial interface to the PC.

I kind of wish that I hadn't seen those catalogs. Neat toys! ;-)

You can't use aircraft freq's for terrestrial apps. It isn't nice.

You can integrate the PWM out of a microcontroller to an analog signal which could be fed into the pots of a standard R/C transmitter, but be warned, buildings have a nasty habit of absorbing RF. Vantec may have a solution for this already. If the building has wifi, go that route, if possible. With R/C, we found different manufactures and price of radio had a huge impact on range.

I am playing with the Gumstix processors presently. Linux based, not my field of expertise, but with a wifi network in my building, I am good to go with a wifi card. They also have bluetooth modules.

Your video transmitter may be problematic as well. We experienced a lot of interference from the phone system, which had a lot of wireless phones for those exec's on the go. Typically, once we got behind more than two walls, we lost signal.

I am playing with the tamiya TLT-1. It has four wheel steering, which makes it a bit more suited to these robotics type applications. Lynxmotion makes some nifty platforms as well.

One way to get around the video issue is to avoid 2.4ghz wireless cameras.

1.2ghz cams are widely available, as will as cameras that work in the 900mhz range. You can also get cameras in the UHF range, but you are really supposed to have a license to use these.

The below tank (search ebay for "rc tank", scroll down the page for a video of it running) should be very easy to control from a computer and could probably support a wireless cam. The RC transmitter looks like it is basically comprised of on/off contacts that could be easily jumpered with NPN transistors for external control via a computer. As far as computer control, web based coutrol would probably be the easiest, and control via joy stick or gamepad would involve somewhat more complex programming. Video and control range might be an issue with the off the shelf toy based setups.

You can but it's not nice! :-)

There's an article on a wi-fi based bot with camera in the current issue of "robot" mag.

DOC