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POLYRO, short for oPen sOurce friendLY RObot (yes I know, it's a bit of a stretch), is based off of the TurtleBot platform (from the good folks at Willow Garage) and inspired a great deal by Pi Robot (developed by Patrick Goebel). I designed this platform with Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in mind. This is the first of many future iterations, so check for updates to the design. Please keep an open mind when following this tutorial. Many of the parts and tools can be substituted (or purchased for less) and there are many improvements to be made. As always, when working with power tools use the proper safety gear.
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Signing UpStep 1Suggested Tools and Parts
Tools
- Dremel*
- Clamps
- Removable Double-Sided Tape
- Screw Driver Set
- Needle-nose Pliers
- Jig Saw (or maybe a Scroll Saw)
- Saw Horses
- Drill Press (Dremel Work Station)
- Dremel Sanding/Grinding Kit
- Soldering Iron
- Sponge
- Glue Gun
- Large Format Printer (Kinkos)
- Metal Ruler
- Safety Goggles
- Work Gloves
- Dust Mask
Parts List
10.1-Inch Netbook
1 x $150 to $300
iRobot Create® Programmable Robot
Item Number: 4400
1 x $129.99 – www.irobot.com
Kinect for Xbox 360 with AC Adapter (Refurbished)
1 x $119.99 – www.Gamestop.com
Wide 2" Gusseted Plastic Angle Bracket (pack of 8)
SKU/PNO:BRAC-GUS2
4 x $1.59 - www.budgetrobotics.com
Risers, Set of Four 1" Steel)
SKU/PNO:RISER-SET
4 x $1.69 - www.budgetrobotics.com
Gusseted Plastic Angle Bracket (pack of 8)
SKU/PNO:BRAC-GUS1
2 x $1.59 – www.budgetrobotics.com
White Expanded PVC 24" x 48" .120" Thick
Item #: 42485
1 x $12.85 – www.usplastic.com
White Expanded PVC 24" x 48" .240" Thick
Item #: 42488
1 x $27.86 – www.usplastic.com
Gray Expanded PVC 24" x 48" .120" Thick
Item #: 42501
1 x $16.50 – www.usplastic.com
250 Grams of ShapeLock
1 x $14.95 – www.shapelock.com
Bioloid Frame F3
Item #: M-300-B-BPF-F3
3 x $1.49 – www.trossenrobotics.com
Bioloid Frame F2
Item #: M-300-B-BPF-F2
1 x $1.49 – www.trossenrobotics.com
Dynamixel AX-12A Robot Actuator
Item #: FRS-B-AX-12A
11 x $44.90 – www.trossenrobotics.com
Robotis USB2Dynamixel Adapter
Item #: FRS-B-USB2D
1 x $49.90 – www.trossenrobotics.com
SMPS2Dynamixel Adapter
Item #: FRS-B-SMPS2DYNA
1 x $4.90 – www.trossenrobotics.com
Bioloid Bolt & Nut Set
Item #: M-300-B-BPF-BNS
1 x $23.40 – www.trossenrobotics.com
Bioloid 6-Port Cable Hub
Item #: FRS-B-6-PT-C-H
1 x $4.95 – www.trossenrobotics.com
3 pin Bioloid Servo/Sensor Cables (Set of 25)
Item #: FRS-B-CBL
1 x $34.90 – www.trossenrobotics.com
Logitech QuickCam E 3560 Refurbished
SKU: 130419
2 x $10.99 – www.microcenter.com
On Stage Foam Ball-Type Mic Windscreen (Blue)
2 x $4.95 – www.amazon.com
Wall Mount Bracket Dock Stand for Kinect
SKU: 267-363-001
1 x $9.99 – www.meritline.com
USB to PDA 9-pin Serial Adapter
SKU: 173369
1 x $29.99 – www.mircocenter.com
6” Novak Heat Shrink Tubing Assortment 24 pcs
1 x $3.74 – www.amazon.com
High-Tech Rosin Core Silver-Bearing Solder (1.5 Oz.)
Model: 64-013
1 x $5.79 – www.radioshack.com
25-Position Male Solder D-Sub Connector
Model: 276-1547
1 x $2.29 – www.radioshack.com
Schmartboard 201-0001-01
1 x $5.00 – www.schmartboard.com
USB 2.0 4 Port Hub – (Black)
SKU 502880
2 x $2.99 – www.microcenter.com
0.33μF and 0.1μF capacitors
2 x each
Voltage regulator 12V 1A
2 x each
22 AWG wire (red and black)
Machine Round Head w/Nut (4-40 x 3/8)
USB extension cable
Velcro tape (optional)
White model paint (optional)
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and can i use roller sakets and make 2 curcit for the legs to move and which software should i download for my ideas to work help ubuddha
i wanted to know where have u got the parts from and r they avalable online?
hope for a quick response
i wanted to know where can we get the required material and is it AVALABLE ONLINE
Do you think that this would work with a Roomba 530 instead of a create?
And just go through the serial RIO
ROS does support the Roomba 500 series:
http://www.ros.org/wiki/Robots/Roomba
It would just be a matter of mounting...
Thanks for the reply. I have since burnt up my roomba 530. I got a factory cable from irobot. It was made overseas. It had a big glob of solder on the inside shorting out the whole thing. I plugged it in to the 530 and it fried the motherboard of the 530. IT would cost me around a hundred dollars that I do not have to get it going again. :-(
But, I have worked with other units and I am having fun. But, none looks as cool as your design.
When you get some code, please post it.
http://www.ros.org/wiki/ROS/Tutorials
Next when you are ready to make your robot "do stuff," you can try more advanced tutorials.
Head tracking:
http://www.pirobot.org/blog/0016/
Face tracking:
http://www.ros.org/wiki/pi_face_tracker
Navigation:
http://www.ros.org/wiki/turtlebot_navigation/Tutorials/Autonomously%20navigate%20in%20a%20known%20map
From,
Your personal skeeter lol
http://www.ros.org/wiki/pocketsphinx
http://www.ros.org/wiki/sound_play
Any idea what Gyro unit they're using for the Turtlebot? They list one in the specs, but it isn't listed on the preorder page.
Can't wait to see more about how you mounted the body to the base and what the support structure looks like.
My only concern with the Turtlebot code is that it seems like it's using the onboard netbook simply as a control interface and it's just passing all the data off to a workstation to do all the computational tasks. For my needs, I want the robot's computer to do 99% of everything, and just expose an API or web interface to do the controlling.
Also, how does one go about installing the uvc webcam package
Polyro's structure is comprised of Gusseted Plastic Angle Brackets and Expanded PVC (.120" and .240" Thick); which is mounted directly on the iRobot Create with 4 bolts.
The link below discusses installing individual packages in detail.
http://ros-users.122217.n3.nabble.com/Installing-individual-packages-turtle-teleop-td425128.html
If you have any further questions feel free to let me know. I will do my best to answer your questions or point you in the right direction.
I managed to get ROS talking to the roomba last night, and was able to use their Teleop Keyboard control interface to drive the roomba around. I have to say though, it's going to need some adjusting because it was VERY jerky (seems like there's no speed control, it's just 0% or 100% which will make for a very wobbly robot prone to fall overs since the speed doesn't gradually build up or reduce. It's either stopped, or driving full speed!)
Tonight I'm going to try to test the Kinect to make sure it's talking to that properly.
I'm going to be using this setup mostly for telepresence experimentation between 2 offices, so I really want to make the control interface something that doesn't require software installation, and keep most of the robot's brains and ROS specific stuff on the robot itself. (Just maybe make the robot act as a web server to provide the API/interface to whatever machine/client hooks to it.)
Also, I asked on the Turtlebot user's mailing list about the Gyro they're using and found out that it's one of these:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9059
Unfortunately, they didn't tell me how it's hooked up to the system, and I don't have the EE background to know how to wire it up.
Since you're using the Turtlebot code for your bot, did you use their Calibration routine? And if so, how did it behave without having the Gyro in there?
I would like to know more about your telepresence experimentation. If you intend to use your platform primarily for telepresence, perhaps you should check out this tutorial:
http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2011/02/low-cost-video-chat-robot.html
I am interested in implementing a memory prediction system (inspired by Jeff Hawkin's Memory-Prediction Framework) in a social robot. Eventually, I would also like to have Polyro completely self-contained. One of the main reasons I chose ROS was because it can run across multiple machines. I am considering using a series of RoBoard RB-110's for Polyro v2...
So, trying to build something like a combination between the procrastineering robot, yours, and the TurtleBot.. Ideally I'd like it to be something that could be manually controlled, but also have capabilities where you could allow the operator to say "drive to this conference room and beep me when you get there, that way I can go do something else in the mean time" and the user doesn't have to manually drive it there. Additionally, capabilities like "follow this person" would e automated so you can focus on the conversation rather than the driving.
My coworkers and I have some other ideas as well about how to incorporate other functionality, and use this platform for some HRI research that we do here...
I like the idea of using ROS because they have such a rich library of components to build upon. I'm just a bit of a newb with it so I'm still learning a lot and just getting my feet wet.
The body you are using for yours is interesting, but not necessary for my needs right now, although we have talked about scenarios where having some sort of arm on the robot would be good for allowing actions like pointing at objects and such.
Anyhow, right now I'm just trying to get the basic system up and running with mapping and such and then temp mount it all onto the create to demonstrate a basic capability to management so we have something to use to convince them to fund us to get better hardware and some time to build a more robust setup for actual use. They need to be convinced that a setup like this would be useful first. At a minimum I'm going to need a better computer on the robot than I have right now.
First off, here's some pictures of what we ended up with:
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x200/crazybiker_ga/7da54e04.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x200/crazybiker_ga/f53ffc3e.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x200/crazybiker_ga/133c439a.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x200/crazybiker_ga/496d7540.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x200/crazybiker_ga/c90ae6c1.jpg
We're calling it TED - Telepresence Experimentation Device
We have switched out the webcam in those pictures for a better Logitech HD model, and the mast in those photos was U-shaped Aluminum, which has been replaced with box aluminum (I would have prefered to use 80/20 T-slot but couldn't find any place local that I could just go in and pick it up.) We had to replace the U-bar with box to eliminate serious torsional twisting that would take place whenever we had the robot turn (the monitor would just wobble back and forth like crazy.)
Anyhow, it works pretty well. We're able to do SLAM right on the robot itself, we have 2-way video working, the monitor is a DoubleSight DS-90U 9" USB powered + signal monitor and it's very light weight, as is the speaker. Since most of the weight of the whole unit is down low, and we were able to use lightweight materials up top, it's still relatively stable.
The Dynamixel servo was chosen because of it's many features (including feedback). Instead of USB2Dynamixel, I initially wanted to use an ArbotiX robocontroller with PyPose. Using PyPose would allow you to easily create motion sequences simply by posing and capturing...
Thanks for all your help
http://www.ros.org/wiki/ROS/Tutorials
I am using Dynamixel servos, so I have also installed nodes and drivers from the ROS package 'robotis' from Georgia Tech Healthcare Robotics Lab. This allows me to operate, query and control Dynamixel servos.
http://www.ros.org/wiki/robotis
Once you complete the ROS Tutorials I would also like to recommend a great Head Tracking tutorial.
http://www.pirobot.org/blog/0016/