I’ll let Xan, the author of the code and fellow Phoenix collaborator, explain away:
The major changes in 2.0 are fixed point calculations to lower the cycle time.
Separate files to easy change remotes or hexapod settings. This will allow the user to simply add the correct remote file and hexapod file to adapt the code for different hardware without having to hack in to the core.
Single leg control to directly control one of the legs. This can be used with or withouth balance mode.
GP Player support. This allows the user to play sequences that are stored inside the SSC. This will need the current GP firmware for the SSC and a bi-directional connection between the BAP and SSC.
Here’s a full list of the new features:
;NEW IN V2.0
; - Moved to fixed point calculations
; - Inverted BodyRotX and BodyRotZ direction
; - Added deadzone for switching gaits
; - Added GP Player
; - SSC version check to enable/disable GP player
; - Controls changed, Check contol file for more information
; - Added separate files for control and configuration functions
; - Solved bug at turn-off sequence
; - Solved bug about legs beeing lift at small travelvalues in 4 steps tripod gait
; - Solved bug about body translate results in rotate when balance is on (Kåre)
; - Sequence for wave gait changed (Kåre)
; - Improved ATan2 function for IK (Kåre)
; - Added option to turn on/off eyes (leds)
; - Moving legs to init position improved
; - Using Indexed values for legs
; - Added single leg control
Lynxmotion will also update the phoenix tutorial. This will include a link to the software as well. I’m sure they will notify us when the work is done.
Xan
And here’s a rather lengthy video demonstrating the new Phoenix code in action!
The arbotiX Robocontroller has been a hit so far in the robotics community! We’re starting to see projects popping up that take advantage of this awesome new controller, and specifically a few quads have caught our attention in the TRC, so we figured we’d share.
Some great progress so far and we can’t wait to see more!
On a side note: We’ve been a bit quiet lately because we’re in the process of moving to a much larger facility where we can build bigger, better robots! We’ll get caught up soon.
Forum member WGhost9 has the right idea; build a robotic spider to pass out candy at Halloween. Creeper2 looks like a cousin of the Phoenix Hexapod, but a bit bigger and with more powerful HS-5645MG servos! Definitely a cool way to scare some kids for Halloween. /devilishgrin
We’ve been busily preparing for the iHobby 2009 show this week, but I figured I would share a little demo video of Giger. He now sports a TinyCylon eye from DaleWheat.com, and has a few new fighting moves up his sleeve, ready for some fights at Chibotica during iHobby! Walking gait is still obviously a work in progress, but what is being demonstrated in the video is the ability to pan/tilt the torso while walking, which makes the walking gait even more unsteady. Enough jabbering, here’s a bit of video!
With my Hagetaka project on hiatus (eventually being rebuilt using EX-106s), my efforts had been diverted to a simpler and more manageable design. Originally intended as a last minute work around for Robogames, this project ended up being a permanent effort, and one that I’ve grown rather fond of.
Giger is a 24″ custom 24 DOF Humanoid using 16 RX-64 and 8 RX-28 Dynamixel Servos, weighing in at 9lbs total. He uses the same Gumstix based onboard controller that Hagetaka did, designed by Farrell Robotics, and is powered by two 1900mAh 4S LiPo batteries.
Walking gait is being refined, I’ll have video in the near future but much progress has been made. If all goes well, I’ll have him up and running for iHobby 2009 next month! Here are a couple of pictures, for the full set that we took check out my gallery in the TRC!
This month’s Make Magazine (Issue 19) is the yearly Robotics Hobbyist special, and features my boss Matt Trossen once again stealing all of my glory and talking about his take on the current state of hobby robotics. That is okay however, and I’m prepared to take it with stride because anyone reading this blog knows I’m the true brains behind this operation. Not only that, but I’m also better looking (it’s the beard) and I embrace an air of dignity and modesty.
Speaking of my dashing good looks and superior mental prowess; Make also featured my currently shelved and ego-crippling project Hagetaka. Rest assured; my wife and 2 year old have picked up 2nd jobs to fund this project further and it will return with even stronger servos and bigger guns, ready to assist me in my plan for world domin- err, winning Mech Warfare.
But seriously, be sure to pick up a copy as the entire issue is full of fun projects and robotic tidbits sure to appeal to your average robot-geek. And like Christmas, it only comes once a year!
I’m not at all exaggerating; Loki, a 4 foot tall 40lb ‘Domestic Style’ robot looks far better than anything I have seen produced for commercial sales.
Beautiful aesthetics aside, functionally it is one of the most impressive and polished PC based robots I’ve ever seen as well; custom software that handles object recognition, mapping and navigation, as well as voice commands, just to name a few. If all of that wasn’t impressive enough, creator Dave Shinsel has the schematics, documentation and even source code available on his site! Definitely check out Dave’s entire site, he has an impressive body of work, and his Youtube Page has some very cool videos demonstrating Loki in action.
Our good friends over at Lynxmotion have been a force to be reckoned with for well over a decade in the robotics industry; producing some truly inspiring and amazing robots over the years. My first ‘real’ robot was a Lynxmotion Hexapod 1 (the 3 servo variety) that I picked up back in 1997, and their product lines were one of the driving forces that got me addicted to robotics.
Well, they’ve impressed me yet again; Lynxmotion owner Jim and his son James, being robot enthusiasts and likewise fans of the Mechwarrior franchise, were intrigued with the Mech Warfare competition. Specifically they loved the biped aspect of it and so they set out to create a low cost competitive platform for Mech Warfare, and succeeded. Nicknamed ‘Hunchback’ and based around their BRAT biped platform, this is turning out to be one of the lowest cost and straight forward platforms for the competition. Currently there is a work-in-progress tutorial showing the build and code, and it looks like we have a very high chance of being treated to a complete kit allowing you to build your very own. If you’re interested in seeing how it progressed from prototype to near final revision, check out the project thread over on the Lynxmotion forums. Check out the following video of the Hunchback in action!
The complexity shown in LittleDog’s adaptive gait and terrain navigation seriously makes my head hurt. If you consider yourself a geek you are of course familiar with BigDog; the 4 legged robot that robot dreams are made of. LittleDog is similar in concept but at a much smaller scale, and MIT has been using it as a research platform for a number of years. Evan Eckerman from Botjunkie sums it up quite well:
Researchers at places like MIT have been usingBoston Dynamics‘ LittleDog robot for years now as a testbed to teach legged robots to learn how to traverse variable terrain on their own. This video shows some highlights of a “dynamic double-support gait,” which means (as near as I can tell) that LittleDog is supporting itself, at times, on only two of its four legs. This is a substantially more efficient way of negotiating terrain thanwe first saw two years ago. LittleDog also demonstrates some markedly biological ways of negotiating obstacles (with the possible exception of the belly flop on the Jersey barrier)… I especially liked how it pranced in place slightly before tackling each stair. All this stuff is obviously a lot of work for a little bot, since poor LittleDog completely collapses at the end of every test.
LittleDog, remember, is teachingitselfthe most efficient way to negotiate these surfaces. Overhead cameras examine the terrain and plan out LittleDog’s route by computing a ‘cost’ for each step, which takes into account the distance moved towards the goal as well as the potential for a fall. After a lot of trial and error, LittleDog figures out how to best compromise between progress and stability, and the lessons it learns could be propagated up toother, larger quadruped robots.
This video is from Phase 2 ofDARPA’s Learning Locomotion program… MIT’s LittleDog team was awarded funding for Phase 3 of this program back in 2008, so we’ll keep you updated.
The creator doesn’t have a name for it past “Little Walking Robot”, but I could think of a few words to describe it: Awesome, sexy, and umm, Awesome.
No but really, thing thing is a marvel of aesthetic design and function. Has a Steampunk meets “Dragoon from Starcraft” look to it. The inventor of this beauty has a well written blog detailing his progress and some of the problems he ran into along the way, as well as a Flickr photo set. This bot is all custom built from a mix of hand-built parts, as well as some waterjet steel frame components from our friends at Big Blue Saw.
Check the video below for the bot in action, big thanks to Big Blue Saw for the scoop.
