In correspondence with our sales reps, Rich Hall, a software engineer from Massachusetts, casually dropped a few images of a robot he’s building for his college competition. Check it out.
We were so impressed by his work that Dejan, our photographer and photoshop expert, spent an hour past closing time to fix up the images.
And Rich was quick enough to answer our emails to tell us more about his project. So enjoy the images while Rich tells you more:
The Robot was custom build by me for my College Computer Science Senior Project. It’s meant as a showcase of my programming abilities and I will be presenting it next year in front of college staff, students, presidents. It is still work-in-progress. The college I attend is Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, Massachusetts. It has a robotic department, so this project will fit in nicely.
I custom build the robot from scrap alumminum. I designed the platform, did the the artwork and cut the pieces with a CNC machine and had it powder coated.
All circuitry except for the H-bridge, motors, and sensors are MikroElektronika products. Specifically, it’s three 40-pin Ready for PIC (PIC18F45K22) boards. One is for Speech and Diagnostics. The other two are for sensors, servo and drive-train interfacing. Those two are connected as Master-Slave configuration (I2C).
Other MikroElektronika parts include a 4x20 LDC, LCD adapter and EEPROM click.
The robot is programmed in MikroBasic Pro and MikroC Pro.
It has the following functionalities:
- Capability to move around in an environment and is not fixed to one physical location.
- Ability to lift objects with a 5-axis jointed arm (multi-linked manipulator) and gripper assembly (or end effector) that is attached to a fixed surface.
- Ability to sense and avoid obstacles but will otherwise navigate as driven.
- “Localization” or knowledge of its current location is calculated by one or more means, using sensors such motor encoders, PING, PIR,ect.
- Ability to act/respond to voice commands
- Ability to speak; respond to events such as encounter.
- The robot runs on two rechargeable 9v batteries (NiMH) an 8 rechargeable (250mAh) AA Batteries (NiMH).
Here’s what Rich said when we asked him how he found out about us:
I found your company online years ago because I was interested in embedded systems. I have found your products reliable, relatively inexpensive, and I enjoy working with your staff. I could choose to purchase your products from companies in the United States, But I would rather purchase from you because of your ethics.
Thanks Rich.
Yours sincerely,
MikroElektronika