First off, happy new year from the Trossen Robotics crew!  We hope you had a fun and safe holiday season.  And now… on to today's article.

We last reported on the RoboPhilo when it was unveiled at the iHobby Expo.  We had a good time talking to the RoboBrothers team and messing around with their new bot, and we've really been looking forward to getting the RoboPhilo in our shop.  Well, the time has come!  We received our first RoboPhilo shipment last week, and we've been itching to show them off.  So, like a kid at Christmas, we tore open the boxes and examined all the fun bits inside.  The following is a rundown of the major parts that come with the kit and some important features that we think you should be aware of.

We have both the kit version and the ready-to-walk version, but we took more pictures of the kit because… well because everybody's already seen pictures of the assembled robot and we just like kits better.  This guy comes in some pretty swank packaging, complete with a window so you can see everything inside.  As usual, the pictures link to larger versions.

RoboPhilo is a low-priced, yet surprisingly feature-rich humanoid. The robot was designed from the ground up to be affordable, so the designers employed some interesting tactics to cut costs without sacrificing too much performance.

In addition to the servos, controller board, frames, remote, battery, etc.; the kit also includes a screwdriver and an allen key, so you've got pretty much everything you need right here in the box.  Another novel addition to the kit is a stand, which comes in really handy when you're programming poses and motions.  If your robot starts flipping out, it will be much tougher for it to leap off the table.

The servos are the same form factor as a standard hobby servo, so upgrading to tougher servos will be a snap.  They use 25-tooth splines, so they can be replaced with any Futaba servo.  Unfortunately, this means that Hitec servos, (which we tend to favor) are not compatible with the horns that come with the kit.  It may be possible to use your own horns if you really want to use Hitec servos, but we haven't tried it yet.  The important thing is that this kit uses lots of non-proprietary parts, so the door is left open to lots of hacking and upgrading.

The controller board, based around an ATMega32 processor, has 24 servo channels and 8 input channels.  The robot can be powered or charged via the DC input jack.

The remote is a run-of-the-mill IR remote.  It looks like a re-branded universal TV/DVD remote.  In the RoboPhilo software, you can very easily assign each button to a different move or sequence of moves.  As an added bonus, one remote can be used to control up to four robots (robot channels are selected using the colored buttons toward the bottom of the remote).

The CD is worth mentioning because it shows yet another way in which RoboBrothers cut costs without damaging performance.  Software and documentation come on an unlabeled CDR.  If you don't like it, make your own label.

Here's the 5-cell, 6V, 700mAh NiMH battery pack.  It's slightly smaller than the Robonova's battery, using "2/3 AA" cells instead of "2/3 A" calls.  Unfortunately, the battery compartment is a tight fit, so installing a Robonova battery will not work without modification.

Ok, we're going to take a look at the RTW now.  Here it is:

Despite the low cost, RoboPhilo has a couple of cool features that are absent from more expensive robots.  The hanging stand is one of them.  The RoboPhilo can kick and flail all it wants.  It's not going anywhere.  The hanging bracket clips onto two slots on the robot's shoulders.

The robot's torso is well-protected, including a cover over the lower back to hide the area where all the wires come together.  Also, the hip rotation servos are hidden inside the torso.

The head is big (1.5" wide and almost 2" deep), hollow, and has a clear front plate.  This could allow you to mount a camera or at least a distance sensor inside.

Good cable maintenance.  In the RTW version, all of the cables are pre-wrapped and tied.  The kit version comes with the cable wraps so you can do it yourself.

Personalize your RoboPhilo with four different colored sticker sets (It didn't show up very well in this photo, but the front sheet is actually an aqua-green color, not blue).

Last but not least is your RoboPhilo's birth certificate, which comes with the RoboPhilo RTW.  This document gives you your robot's serial number, version number, the date on which it was completed, the precise angle settings for each joint, etc.  All of this info can also be exported from the controller board.

We hope you've enjoyed this RoboPhilo unboxing update!  If you have any questions about this new robot, feel free to email us or post in our forums.  You can also purchase RoboPhilo through our catalog!

——————

Side note from Matt:

Sorry Dave, this could not go without comment

Upon reading Dave’s wonderful unboxing post I found myself traveling back to my early youth while reading his following line about the Robophilo hanging stand “The RoboPhilo can kick and flail all it wants. It’s not going anywhere.”

For those of you lucky enough to remember when horror movies were in their prime of artistic achievement back in the 80’s you will recall the masterpiece that was Return of the Living Dead with the tagline “They’re Back From The Grave and Ready To Party!” If you are old enough to recall this pinnacle of American film history then you know where I’m going with this, yes, I’m talking about the Cadaver scene.

The unfortunate releasing of a secret military gas 2-4-5 Trioxin into the medical supply company warehouse reanimates the cadaver hanging in the meat locker. Said cadaver is hanging from the ceiling by a large pincher which hooks into his ears. As the gas leaks in the cadaver begins to twitch and flail in a most creepy manor. A manor not unlike Dave’s description of programming the Robophilo upon his hook stand. I have provided the reference video below for those not familiar with the classis scene.

Forward to 1:56 and brace yourself.

For it’s historical relevance I also give you the following scene where the film’s two main protagonists slowly discover the effects which 2-4-5 Trioxin has on the dead. I give you the description from Wikipedia:

They head upstairs to try and sort things out only to hear a strange noise coming from one of the shelves. Upon investing, they find out that the half-dog anatomy display has returned to life, the dog whimpering in pain and panting. Freddy and Frank proceed to freak out and attempt to silence the dog by bashing it with a walking crutch (causing the dog to make a yelping noise). The other things in the warehouse, such as the dead butterfly display, have returned to life, culminating in the screams of the now reanimated cadaver in the freeze.

Thank you Dave, for the memories.

——————

Note from Dave:

Damn, you’re long-winded when you’re waxing nostalgic. Still, I gotta admit that Return of the Living Dead was an awesome movie. I’d totally forgotten about the hanging cadaver scene.

Also, since it’s aparently ok to edit my posts to add marginally related content, this post is now about dancing like a robot.

————

Hey Dave, Matt here again, hope your day is going well. I saw this and thought it was pretty interesting. It’s a cat that plays Xbox 360. Isn’t that a trip?! I mean, it’s a cat AND it plays video games! That’s just crazy nuts. So much weird stuff on the internet net these days.

————

Hi Matt, it’s Dave. Miss me? I see your gamer cat, and raise you a vintage 1985 robot cat that vaguely resembles a loaf of rye bread.

Never forget that from where I’m sitting, I can still peg you with a slingshot monkey.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 3:09 pm and is filed under Announcements, Featured Robots, Front Page News, Humanoid Robots, New Kits / Products, Product Spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.