Trossen Robotics Blog » Featured Projects

Giger: Humanoid Robot Overview

Andrew — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:22:25 +0000

I’ve been busy at work with Giger installing some upgrades before Robogames (in the tune of 10x EX-106+ actuators, as well as brand new machined brackets from Rapid Sheet Metal). That said, we decided to use some of the random footage we had taken of Giger to give an overview of the robot in it’s first revision, when it only had RX-64s powering its legs. We’ll have a lot more information, pictures, and video on Giger v2.0 in the near future!

BTW- If anyone is looking for a solid place to get some sheet metal cut/bent or some parts machined, check out Rapid Sheet Metal and their sister company Rapid Machining. I’ll give a bit more in-depth review of them in the followup post where we’ll talk more about Giger 2.0, but I was absolutely blown away by their quality and customer service, so I’ll say it here as well. Check em out! Tell em we sent ya! =)

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iHexi – The iPhone Controlled Hexapod Robot

Andrew — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:00:22 +0000

Okay, not only is this little custom hexapod outstanding looking, it’s control solution is beyond cool! Controlled via a custom iPhone app that utilizes the touchscreen and onboard accelerometer, the iHexi’s IK driven movements are controlled precisely and wirelessly. Check out the forum thread for more info and videos (definitely check out the last video, the quad-variant walking gait is equally awesome)!

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Brainbot Gets Bigger and Badder

Andrew — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:16:31 +0000

Some of you may remember Brainbot, a project directed and funded by the Brain Engineering Laboratory and Neukom Institute at Dartmouth College, designed in collaboration with Jon Hylands and HUV Inc. The purpose of which is to enable the study and practice of brain engineering.
Well, Brainbot is getting a brain transplant into a 1/5 scale top of the line rock crawler chassis, for the purpose of creating a navigation variant. Onboard smarts? A Core 2 Quad, 2.83 GHz, 2 GB RAM, and a 32 GB Solid State HDD, 802.11n wifi, GlobalSat USB GPS, Prosilica gigabit ethernet camera (640 x 480, 60 fps) which plugs into Roborealm, and a Hokuyo UTM-30LX scanner laser rangefinder.

In Jon’s new Project Thread, he says:

I went out and bought a 1/5 scale RC rock crawler chassis. Just for scale, those tires are 8″ in diameter, and the whole thing is 30″ long. We chose this chassis because it would have no issues going long distances at speed, and it would be able to handle curbs and grass and such with no issues. Being a rock crawler, it also goes slow enough that the sensors can keep up…

Right now, it has the quad core mini-itx mounted, and is being driven around with my Logitech wireless joystick. The motor driver (a Sabertooth 2×25) is controlled from one of my Bioloid I/O boards, which is connected to the bus. A program (written in Squeak Smalltalk) takes the joystick input, and sends speed and steering commands over the bus to the I/O board and the steering servos (AX-12’s).

Here is a short video of it under remote control:

Edit: Another Video just posted!

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Arbotix Commander Now Available: Xbee Wireless Robot Gamepad

Andrew — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:09:00 +0000

Introducing the newest addition to the ArbotiX Robocontroller line from Vanadium Labs!

The ArbotiX Commander is an Arduino Software compatible, open-source XBEE-wireless hand-held controller built specifically for controlling ArbotiX/NUKE powered walking robots (but it can be used to control just about any Arduino powered robot). This gamepad style controller comes ready to be setup with the ArbotiX Robocontroller. The ArbotiX Commander was meant to be hacked, modified, upgraded, and otherwise tinkered with. Add additional sensors, customize it with your own handle grips, or rewrite the firmware sketch in any way you see fit!

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Lego NXT Scorpion Says: “Back Off Mah Skittles!”

Andrew — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:04:02 +0000

If pictures are worth a thousand words, videos are worth like, a million right?

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Wi-Fi Warhog Mayhem!

Andrew — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:43:19 +0000

Our pals over at Coding4Fun wrote up a pretty extensive, and pretty awesome tutorial on how they made their Wi-Fi Warthog project a reality. Remember Power Wheel toys as a kid? Add in Phidgets, Nerf Guns, computers, and Xbox 360 controllers, and you’ve got yourself a real life videogame!

The video below shows the Wi-Fi Warthogs in action at PDC09!

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