May 24th, 2005 Robot Competition
May 4th, 2005 Well you could say I've really fallen behind. I need to put a link out to the
Open Robotics Peripheral Platform.
In trying to find the link I noticed that several other groups were working on an Open Source Robotics Platform.
Including PINO, specifically for humaniod robots, and
The Rossum Project, which is a robotics resource focused on the
Software needs of robot developers.
January 22nd, 2004
Air Muscles,
are an up and comming power source in
Amature Robotics.
At first I thought that they were relatively complex and expensive in construction, and viewed them more as an oddity than a
practicle solution for any of my ideas, then I found
Chris' LEGOTIC lab, and his description of
how to build an air-muscle.
After spending some time searching for more information on the
"modeling plastic", sold under the name
Utile Plast (found under "Melt and Mold" from the link), and his "Heat-retractable sheath", I realized
that his list could be modified, to possibly achieve more durable and efficient results. I present my own component list
here:
- Surgical Tubing
- Heat Shrink Tubing
- Tubing, smaller diameter than the surgical tubing, non-expanding, capable of handling the pressure
- Cable Ties
- Expandable Braided Sleeving
The only problems I see with this new fangled air muscle are the pnumatic system, which is a problem for all air muscle solutions,
and the expandability of the braided sleeving. Check out Chris' site for applications and control solution ideas.
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Books
Robot Builder's Bonanza
Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation
Magazines
Nuts & Volts
(available at Amazon)
Web Resources
Getting Started
Dallas Personal Robotics Group Interfacing Primer
Dallas Personal Robotics Group Newsletters
Others
BEAM Robotics
The 6.270 Robot Builder's Guide [pdf]
CSI Mobile Robotics Project
Mobile Robotics Lab at McGill
Cool Robot of the Week
Advanced
Georgia Tech Mobile Robot Lab On-line Publications
- Dynamic Scheduling for Obstacle Avoidance in Mobile Robots
- Just What is a Robot Architecture Anyway?
- Turning Equivalence versus Organizing Principles
- A Multiagent Robot Janitorial Team
Companies
Texas Robotics and Automation Center Labs
Cybermotion Mobile Robotics
Bibliographies
Center For Intelligent Machines: Mobile Robotics (etc.) Bibliography
Conferences
Robot Host
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September 23rd, 2003
I receieved a nice e-mail today. I'm excerpting it here:
My idea involves using a thin, stiff, spring layer with rows nitinol wires on either side. You heat one side and it shrinks, causing
the sandwich to curl. heat the other side and it curls the other way. let everything cool and the stiff middle layer brings
everything back to neutral. You can move the heating current pulses down the rows to produce an oscillating motion, like a sting
ray.
-Jason
All I can say is wow! This sounds like an excellent idea. Once I find some spare time, I'm going to have to ask for
permission to build this. Do you have ideas for novel robot motion? E-mail
Joshua Drake.
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