Another day, yet another exciting new feature added to the Trossen Robotics Community (TRC)!

We’ve had many requests from members to add a tutorials section to the TRC. The problem was that we could never find anything out there that we liked…. until now!

Introducing the Trossen Robotics Community Tutorials:

Check out some of the awesome tutorials that have been added already:

“Adding a Serial Port to the Make Controller” by Adrenalynn

“How to Make a Swashbot” by the legendary Crabfu

“Starting out with Hammer” by RobotGuy

“How to Make a Generic Robot Platform” by 4mem8

“How to Fabricate Humanoid Hands” by Droid Works

“Programming in MAX/MSP” by Darkback2

“How to Make Twisted Wire” by Sienna

plus many more

So, visit the TRC Tutorials section (register if you haven’t already), comment on member’s tutorials and start creating your own! No matter how large or small a tutorial, it’s sure to help out fellow roboticists. With everyone’s help building tutorials here in the TRC, we can create an invaluable resource for roboticists everywhere!

Thank you to all of the beta testers to help get the TRC Tutorials Section running!

Mounting all the electronics and batteries onto your robot can often be a pain in the ass. Drilling dozens of holes, measuring them all out to line up perfect, spacers, nuts, bolts, ack! Then taking it all apart when you have to work on something… we discovered a better way to secure things down on our bots which is much faster. Using a Sorbothane sheet and some Velcro you can fasten down just about anything very securely. Then, when you need to take it off to work on it’s super easy. No need to try to get in there with screw drivers and wrenches.

You can find our Velcro and Rubber sheets here.

Controlling a DC motor from your computer using bridgeware is easier than you think.  The purpose of this tutorial is to explain the basic concepts behind creating a motor control system with encoder feedback.

Using a few widely available modular components, you can create a flexible system that can be used to control a DC motor.  Start by selecting a DC motor that will meet the demands of your project, then a motor controller that can provide sufficient power to the motor.  Add an appropriate servo controller to generate the R/C control signals, and software to issue commands to the servo controller, and you’re ready to roll!  If you need to monitor the motor speed, feedback is easily achieved by adding an optical encoder.

This control method has a wide range of applications, from battlebots, to industrial processes, to kinetic art installations.

You can also find more computer based robotics tutorials here.

This KHR-2HV beats up KHR-1’s on the playground and steals their lunch money.

I-Wei, the mechanical guru responsible for the many fascinating creations of Crabfu Steamworks, has recently jumped headlong into the world of humanoid robotics.  Ever since he purchased his KHR-2HV, he has been keeping the world updated on his progress by releasing a steady stream of impressive videos.  His latest contribution is a tell-all review of Kondo’s A-621 Genex suit for the KHR-2HV humanoid.  He goes into detail regarding everything he likes and dislikes about the kit, and also provides valuable tips and pointers.  Go check out the A-621 Genex suit review over at Robots-Dreams!

We’ve definitely seen our share of some pretty wicked DIY robots in the past, but this one really stands out!

Sure, it doesn’t have too much functionality to it as of yet (that’s to come, I’m sure), but this is one of the most resourceful displays of DIY PC based robotics I have seen in a while! Check out dotnetrobot for all the sweet details about this robot.Kudo’s Chris!

Windows for Devices reports on a training robot named WINCETON

Bsquare recently added an unusual guest instructor to its five-day Windows CE 6.0 training classes. A robot named “WINCETON” gives students an opportunity to solve a hands-on, real-world problem using Windows CE 6.0, according to the company.

WINCETON debuted during a Windows CE 6.0 training class in Boston earlier this month. As a final project, students were able to build a Windows CE 6.0 image that programmed WINCETON’s servo-driven sensor head. The objective was to pan the head through 180 degrees, and determine the location of the nearest object within its field of view, which has a range of about 80 cm.

WINCETON is controlled by means of a USB Phidget servo controller, according to Bsquare. Phidgets are small, USB-interfaced modules that can be used in conjunction with a PC to implement low-cost sensing and control projects. A shared source Windows CE Phidgets driver is available from Microsoft’s CodePlex code-sharing site (”Windows Embedded MVP” Jim Wilson recently published an extensive tutorial focused on Phidgets).

WINCETON uses:
Phidget LCD with 8/8/8
Phidget 4 Servo Controller
(looks like) Lynxmotion Pan & Tilt Unit

link

Ever wonder how you would go about hacking into Nintendo’s Wiimote, and start using it in any of your .NET applications? Thanks to Brian Peek, we can now have an easy-to-use managed API for the wiimote for use in all of our .NET applications! Tie this together with some servo controllers and possibly a couple of DC motor controllers, or just use the all-in-one wireless Serializer Robot Controller board and you have some pretty wicked possibilities! I can’t wait to see what kind of insane motion sequences roboticists make with this:)

via (Coding4Fun)
He provides the full source along with a sample application on how to use the API.

Well, what does the API actually support? The classic controller, the state of the IR and acceleration, button state, battery, rumble, is the nunchuk attatched and what it is doing. The only thing that appears not to be currently supported is the speaker.

Check out Brian’s blog for updates to the library.

Ever wonder how to measure a vehicle’s performance using an accelerometer in a high level programming language? Well, Mike Harkabus has just put together a nice tutorial (with source) on Microsoft’s Coding4Fun Blog that explains how to do so. Called iAccelerate, “using basic physics equations, we can derive a vehicle’s current speed, distance traveled, horsepower, and other performance metrics from the acceleration of the vehicle”, all of which is written in Visual C# Express.

Since the Express languages are free, you can put this entire project together all for the price of the accelerometer (given that you have a vehicle to test and a laptop of course). The accelerometer used in this this tutorial is the Phidget 2-axis accelerometer, which happens to be under $70.

When you were a kid (or even now), didn’t you wish you could make mowing the grass fun by controlling it just like you do your RC cars/trucks? I know I did! Well, thanks to Terry Creer, we have an in-depth tutorial explaining how to build our very own radio controlled lawnmower, all for under $500. According to Terry, all this requires is, “A little electronic knowledge, soldering ability and mechanical know-how”

Wheelchair - $150

Lawnmower - $200

Radio gear - $100

Electronic parts for joystick interface - $30

Total - $480

The satisfaction that you get from sitting on your porch and navigating this lawnmower around - Priceless!

Sure, now that I’m older, live in the burbs and have no lawn to mow, I find this tutorial!!

Since there are some people out there that just love to sue companies because of their own negligence: The tutorial link contained in this post is not from Trossen Robotics. Trossen Robotics does not assume any liability from damages as a result of constructing and/or operation of this radio controlled lawnmower.
via Hack-A-Day

Ever wonder how you would interact with a sonar sensor in high level programming languages? Well, we just put up a tutorial which shows you how to connect a MaxSonar EZ1 sensor to the analog port on a Phidget 8/8/8 Interface Kit. Not familiar with Phidgets? Phidgets are PC based development boards that allow you to interact with the outside world via any high level programming languages. Until now we were restricted to using various IR sensors to detect distance. Imagine the possibilities! We can’t wait to hear what sort of projects people come up with in the community. We’ve already started using these with our soon to be released modular decks.