Hammering out dents

Hammering out dents and repairing innards ... And making roboteq modular while we're at it.

What the Battlebot needs:

1. Non-corroding gas hose - we almost got disqualified for this when we showed up last time. - on order
2. Driving practice - on order
3. More gradual turning response - on order
4. Bang out dents and re-level the bot - IN PROGRESS
5. Tire repair - DONE
6. More driving practice - on order
7. A cool new name - on order

Battlebot repair

Worked on repairing tires. We drilled holes for cotter pins through the shaft. We are supplementing the set screw with a cotter pin to prevent slippage. This seems to become an issue in battle.



What the Battlebot needs:

1. Non-corroding gas hose - we almost got disqualified for this when we showed up last time. - on order
2. Driving practice - on order
3. More gradual turning response - on order
4. Bang out dents and re-level the bot - working on it
5. Tire repair - working on it
6. More driving practice - on order
7. A cool new name - on order


In other news: I disassembled our decommissioned supercomputer...

Kids with guns... and robots

1. Behold - wholesome educational stuff:




2. Crack open the battlebot to figure out how it should be retooled:




What the Battlebot needs:

1. Non-corroding gas hose - we almost got disqualified for this when we showed up last time.
2. Driving practice
3. More gradual turning response
4. Bang out dents and re-level the bot
5. Tire repair
6. More driving practice
7. A cool new name

Wish list:

1. Quick release mechanism
2. Weight reduction to make room for:
3. ...defense against flipping or a defensive flipper
4. ...defense against catching on the floor or walls
5. Define how long we can run gas continuously without running out or burning up
6. Micro-controller for drive processing with gyros
- this could allow for a rotation mode
- recall that smashing people with our face was our most effective weapon last time


3. Rovio by Joystick

Scott got Rovio running by Joystick via ROS. Neat. Golf cart should be no problem.

3D Scanning & Rovio

Robot day:

1. Daniel creates a 3D scan of a golf club with a laser and webcam






2. Scott investigates ROS (and application to Rovio)

3. Justin brings back the Rovio




4. Meanwhile the kids rode bikes, drove the golf cart, and watched movies

Neural Interfaces, DARPA, and ROS

Dataczar attended the Neural Interfaces Conference and among all of the very interesting eye and tongue I/O devices, direct neural implant I/O, and memory augmenters (for mice), etc, DARPA presented the 2009 Revolutionizing Prosthetics program. This program has established MODULAR OPEN STANDARDS for prosthetics control. They also made an arm that mimics human sensory and actuation characteristics with direct closed loop control to the brain. That's all well and good. But modular open standards for such devices from the organization that invented the Internet means there will now be a clear path to the interoperability of these devices.

Should this become widely used, an adapter can be added to the Robot Operating System (ROS) and allow arbitrary control of devices from neural I/O. That's exciting because an interface, say, that monitors tongue movements in a paralyzed person for control of a computer mouse can be easily adapted to any other device of arbitrary complexity (like say a Jeep).

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the paralyzed monkey that had his limbs reanimated by a tinkering scientist.

Here's a nice lady controlling an iPhone with her tongue.



Here's a guy explaining how Utah's electrode array gets the data in and out of the brain.

Robogames Wrap-up

We're back now with our gold medal and beat-up robot. Now for another year of procrastination and at least a month break from robots. In retrospect our robot had a very clear vulnerability: once it was flipped it was like a turtle on its back. Most of the other robots had that vulnerability, and it would have been fun to get in the ring with a few more robots with spinners. But we'll have to do that another time.

Next we'll refocus on finishing Zippy (the golf cart) and investigating this new "ROS" Robot Operating System that seems to be replacing Player.

Robogames day two

Here's where we won at battlebots:




Here's where we won at autonomous turrets:



Here's another video where we won at autonomous turrets:



And here's where we went wee wee wee all the way home:

Robogames Day One

First we got ready in the pits -







We were up third. We started strong and everything was good until... We died.



Autopsy revealed that none of the wires were properly duct taped. Our battery came disconnected directly at the terminal. We promptly used a complete roll of duct tape securing every last connection in the bot. Duct tape fixes stuff.




Here's Daniel explaining what happened:






For most of the rest of the day we prepared the gun for the gun fight tomorrow. Since we hadn't used it in a few months it needed some work. We did get it working and it should be ready to go for tomorrow.




Later in the day, they called us back up for a 6:33 time. Then they kicked us out. Apparently they screwed up a bunch of times. It took us a while to figure out what happened but I was pretty sure we didn't lose. Unfortunately we didn't win either. Tomorrow!




I also caught a few other fights:

Last rights v maximus


Last rights v sj



Cool thing:

Off to Robogames

We secured the Desmolisher to the roof with shrink wrap on a pallet and tie downs. And a few bungee cords. It held up. Then we drove to San Mateo for Robogames.





After driving 8 hours, we showed up at the event center at 7pm.





Apparently our scale at home isn't as accurate as the scale here because we ended being 5 lbs over the limit. We spent a few hours chopping metal off to get under the limit (120 lbs) so we could pass inspection.

Here's Scott cutting off 5 lbs of metal:





Also it turns out we registered as "Test" so Desmolisher will be called Test this year in the ring. We thought we'd just drop it off but it ended up taking 3 hours. And we passed inspection! Then we left and ate pizza.

Trish joined the team:

It's ALIVE!

Behold Desmolisher! It's Alive!



Here she is wedging under and pushing pallets around:



Here, Scott drives the robot with Daniel on top:







And here's Daniel driving and riding:

Desmolisher mechanical work

DESMOLISHER WITH ARMOUR

Desmolisher with Armour:

THE DESMOLISHER

Armor under construction:

FIRE, MORE FIRE, AND KIDS WITH FIRE!!!!!

FIRST FIRE:



KIDS PLAYING WITH FIRE:




A BUNCH OF DRIVING AROUND WHILE ON FIRE:

Battlebot Frame

Behold: a moving object! It's remote control and will soon shoot fire.

MORE FIRE!

Mary demonstrates how to generate a bunch of fire with the touch of a button.

FIRE

Regarding the battlebot: Daniel has purchased gas. Fire is near.

Regarding Zippy the golf cart:

Re task: Modify player roboteq driver to support servo-like positions and non skid steering

* update 1/24/10 roboteq/roboteq.cc expansion completed and submitted
* roboteq functioning normally

Next step: Drive by wire with Joystick