Robot powered by Linux Has Onboard Camera

This looks like the real thing. Real enough. It's low-cost (darn-near cheap!) yet has a 2.4ghz Nordic radio, so the controller has a video screen from which you view the video camera on the robot itself. Yes, it's powered by Linux. Yes, there is a USB port which allows you to upload your own and other's programs.

And you can program the bot to run routes.

One pile of really really fun kid stuff!!! But around here, it's open to being hacked, modded, re-purposed and folded spindled and mutilated.



This is another C What I Can Do video at cWhatIcanDo.com, so take a look. C What I Can Do .com I have a feeling we will be back to this project, I've downloaded the software and have almost clean compiles of all the sample projects. I've downloaded speed control programs which allow you to tweak the PWM motor drivers... This is going to be some fun ripping into the little compact box. Let's hope it doesn't disappoint. It hasn't yet.

Build A Simple Black Box Robot

Build a Black Box Robot

Why a black Box? So I can "wrap it" in anything. I'm thinking about a stuffed animal head to make a little virtual(real?) pet.



Someday this may become the little dog robot I tried to build before (see dogBot). You can see the whole project on CwhatIcanDo.com, of course.

My New Novel

White Buffalo Herd

A successful writer is suffering confusion after his involvement with an American Indian group who are involved with mysticism, the occult and strange stuff goin' on all around him. This confusion leads him to corruption, attempted murder (his own) and an involvement with a mysterious woman who get's caught up in the mysteriousness as well.

By publishing on kindle anyone reading this blog can download a copy of the book for pc, mac, iphone, android, ipad, and of course, kindle... The price of WBH is $5.95 and I've been told it's a pretty good read.

If you wanna give it a try:

http://www.amazon.com/White-Buffalo-Herd-wbh-ebook/dp/B003TXS43U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1279326029&sr=1-1

The sample download is free. You'll know if you are interested once you read the sample. I've got a Motorola Droid, the thing turned out pretty nice. I hope you like it, if enough people like it, I have others ready to follow. The next one has corporate intrigue and all sorts of entertaining shenanigans.

Cheap and Easy Robots

Here we go again. This time CwhatIcando.com has a continuation of my last project. This time, we secure the motor-control board and let our picAxe 08m drive our robot around. Note, we moved the IR detector to the optimum spot for avoiding floor objects. By using a little shim, we can move our beam up or down enough to make it avoid a carpet edge, or roll over anything but really big stuff:



Check out the whole how-to with software at
C What I Can Do

Keep on having fun!!!

Four Dollar Rumble Bot Becomes Autonomous

I put this rumbleBot video up in response to all the Roboticists who are introducing the Arduino as autonmous controller. Here's an even cheaper way to make a cheapo bot.



Take a little motor controller board (15 bucks)
Deluxe model get a picAxe 08m (4 bucks)
Grab a Sharp IR unit (15 bucks)
Don't forget the Rumble-Bot (5 - 30 bucks - mine was $4 at second-hand store)

So for around $40 bucks, you get a pretty amazing robot. If you leave the head on and put little sensor switches in the bot's hands, you have a pretty decent looking little robot.

Of course, the whole project is on CwhatIcanDo.com...

Motorola Droid Can it Run a Robot?

Can you use a DROID, or other smartphone to operate a Robot directly? The ads infer that a Droid is better than other smart-phones, because you can reallly get stuff done with it. Basically, that is true. Without any apps, or only with free apps, you can still approach the phone as a programmer.

From Motorola Droid

Yes Virginia, it is possible to imagine driving a robot around using the Droid itself for most everything but driving the high current to the wheels.

This is an ongoing project started on CwhatIcanDo.com so someday, someone will figure out the process for sending messages back and forth from a robot base, like the i-robot Create. Check out the more in depth coverage of the project at C What I Can Do website.

Virtual Robot How-To

This is a robot! It's a virtual robot! You can play with it online.

Or, better still visit the How-To on CwhatIcanDo, where you can watch the video and look inside the Flash and ActionScript files to make your own, or modify the basic "unit". CwhatIcanDo



This is a how-to inspired by all the people who built variations on the robots I have constructed. The lightest weight robot "In the World"

And it's fun to play around with it: Play at Cybercritters.com

Have fun with this month's project!!!

May's Project Not A Robot???

The next new project...



I point out (again) this is not a Robot Project... Any blog followers understand that CwhatIcanDo is now taking on my projects. This one is something I put together in a non-robotic attempt to save myself from having to find and energize the "mute" function when I needed. Like when I answer the phone.

HOW-TO On C What I Can Do

The project was undertaken because I was frustrated with having to find the clicker to stop the assault on my senses by over modulated and over acted TV commercials. I confess I am addicted to the science and history channels, and the daily show and Colbert, all have commercials apparently compressed by our beloved local cable operation. Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to make something I could just tap and the result would be "muting" the tv.

Implementation was easy, I used a picAxe chip (around four bucks) a little round universal PC board a button and an IR LED driver setup to send '20' code to my Sony TV so it would MUTE!

Making things wearable was a greater problem than originally anticipated (I'm no jeweler - as you'll notice), but I made something that would test the practicality of such a device. C What I Can Do provided a way to demonstrate the principle, and now to see if it would generate any interest, then I can think about another model.

cWhatIcanDo Website

A new video for CwhatIcando... It's an introduction to the website which I plan to promote during 2009.

Build a Tracked Drive Robot - How I built TrakBot

I got a comment on this blog a few days ago and I decided to take on the project someone suggested. While they thought the TrakBot was interesting, they wanted more of a "how-to" so they could build their own trakBot.

From TrakBot: Build Your Own Track Drive Robot

Since, as many of my readers know, I'm deeply involved in creating a new website which is all about "how-to" do things. How to put together a dual H-Bridge, to how to put together or mod a robot, or just about anything else.

I made the commitment! I would create an article for CwhatIcanDo.com about how to build the actual robot that I showed on this website. I really just talked about it and generalized about things like software, how it all worked and most of all, no schematic.

So I decided to make a project for CwhatIcanDo just to see how long it took and at the same time, to answer the comment on this blog.

The result lives Here This is the project broken out in a How-To complete with schematics and software on the CwhatIcanDo Alpha Website. It's not quite ready for a full Beta release, and doing this project just reminded me what I still have left to do. But, even so, I built a nice project. It took about 4 hours with a ton of interruptions. I think the time to create a project will get better in the future (before the site actually opens to the public) but I'm pretty excited about the outcome.

(Updated Nov 3, 2008): There are a couple of other work-around type bugs, but the point is, it can be done. And the results are pretty nice. But I'll let my blog questioner answer that. Does he believe he could build his own trakBot and learn a lot in the doing?

The current workaround, Nov 3, 2008 is simple: You'll have to supply your videos from your own YouTube or Google Video account, the software is not yet set up to allow you to upload videos and pictures from the Creator's Tools. Enjoy becoming an alpha tester!! But a lot of ppl have YouTube Accounts anyway. And, soon, the tools will all be implemented.

If you want to visit the website in Alpha Test (Release Candidate 1), you'll have to go "around" the main page, that doorway won't be open until the actual Beta Site release. We are shooting for "around Thanksgiving" to open the Beta Site.

Visit the Open Alpha Test at cWhatIcanDo.com/main/ Open for ppl who are guided there on my Blog (here) or other fairly private links on various Blogs as the site is "discovered"...

TriCycle Bot

Check this guy out.  Why build such a thing?  Because I want to create a Ball Bot.  That's right. This month I've been pondering making a ball robot. So I've been thinking about what and how to do it.  Here's where I went at first.  I figured a couple of wheels inside a ball wouldn't work unless one of the wheels allowed me to move in all directions.

So I figured, why not just one wheel?  Standing up would be a problem.  That was easy to fix, you just make a triangle.  Use a couple of wheels expressly to hold the rest of the bot, that's all.  The tricycle would exist inside a large round ball instead of moving around the floor.  The tricycle bot serves as kind of an experiment in "can you do it?"  The answer is, YES!  And the video is the proof.

So what's next?  Find a suitable ball to set the tricycle inside and see if the ball moves around.  Maybe next time I make an entry???

UPDATE on CwhatIcanDo.com:  

It's being used and we've had a couple of bugs. I'm glad it's only family and friends alpha!  On time for a Fall Beta, but that decision is still a month away.  This is another video featured on the CwhatIcanDo website.

RFL AI-01 Ultimate Football Machine

It's gotta be the Ultimate Football Machine to live up to the promise. And it does! I wish I could send you to the new CwhatIcanDo.com website to see the whole project. You can sneak a peek...



While you charge the batteries (getting ready for the full experience.) Put the extenders on your bot and it will surprise you just how well it will be able to stand up "around the house." My bumpy back deck is a favorite robot test area, as you know from all the videos. In the "out of the box" video above, you will see the bot in the raw, out of the box, so to speak. I recommend, unless you are putting one of these bots into a real RFL American Football Robot Game, put the extenders on. You have to charge the battery anyway, so you might as well start with the extenders, it will run better on carpets, in fact most bumpy surfaces around most houses.



This is one tough bot. I'm thinking it is a candidate for a really great bot body. It does everything I hoped DogBot would do, like climb the hill in front of my house. It can stop on a hill. It has enough power to last long enough for an hour's walk. Did I mention it is tough? Mega thick reinforced plastic frame parts can take a drop, and a hit from another robot. Now I'm rethinking that robot that I take on walks with me.

I played around with the upright robot base enough to appreciate the balance and power transfer to the wheels and all that. With the extenders, this baby could negotiate sidewalks and my back deck, it's still fairly light and easy to grab and haul up on the curb. So now it is the candidate for my own cyber pet...

Weekend Project L298 Dual H-Bridge

This is a dual H-bridge Motor Controller that delivers 4Amps total (2A / motor). The 293, the little brother of this controller, only handles an amp. This one doubles its capability. Since the pinout is a little strange, I bought the whole thing with a PC board from HVTech, or Solarbotics, no matter, they are all the same now.

Anyway, it went together in a blink. Alright, true, a long blink, say a couple of hours, but together it went and passed the operation test as soon as it was hooked up.

Next expect me to do something freaky with the Motor Driver...

I'm back to building robots N stuff again. Though I'm also finishing off CwhatIcanDo and nursing it through the Alpha Testing period. The bug list has gotten much smaller and the things to do list has shrunk to a manageable size.

The website is coming!!!!

How's The New Website Effort Going?

With a few bugs still left, but a manageable list, and no way yet to log into the website, alpha testing will none the less begin.

That's because Phase One of Alpha Testing is all internal. We, the developers will now begin to develop projects on CwhatIcanDo.com. Phase One testing will continue till mid-August when we will invite creators to participate in wringing out the final issues and making suggestions to make the site easy to use and understand.

After what we expect to be a month and one half of actual development using the site and the Creator Tools, we will open the website to the general public. Most likely this will be at the end of November, just in time for holiday web marketing pushes. Because CwhatIcanDo is not exactly a gift shop, we are not driven by retail deadlines, but we are also sure that with our "buy here" parts lists, we are going to stimulate purchasing of parts and tools to create another's version of the projects on CwhatIcanDo.

So this month's blog entry is not going to be very interesting until somewhere around the end of the month when I will redirect you via this blog to the new C What I Can Do website!

Whoopee! Almost There!!!!

When Will I Create Another Robot?

It shouldn't be long now. By the end of July, we expect to open the back doors of CwhatIcanDo.com for Alpha Testers. As well as recruiting new creators, I'll be loading in the couple-three projects I created most recently.

Most recently I made a video of building the L 298 Electric Motor Controller. I haven't put the How-To up on this site yet, because I'm busy making CwhatIcanDo.com, basically a souped up Super-Blog designed specifically to allow project creation and display on the web.

We are on schedule for the late August-September Alpha Test, Debug, and Develop Phase. We are also still on target for a Fall Beta Opening of the Website. I'm betting on Late Fall - Early winter for the Grand Opening. Hopefully in time for you to put your favorite "How I Assembled a Kid's Trike for Christmas" project!

Using the Ext 2.1 - 2.0

This is a quick blog entry. Just to let any blog visitors know what I'm up to.

I've been involved in my own learning curve for using a javascript framework: Ext 2.x. I'm far enough down the road to know enough about using this framework for a genuine website. Here's the downlow for the CwhatIcanDo website which is scheduled for a target public release in the fall. Behind the obvious URL homepage, we have a couple of issues:

Ext 2.x (and other frameworks) that fill in div tags with information - Lousy with Search Engines
Very clean and makes easy to use interfaces - Does this wildly well

Thus, CwhatIcanDo uses traditional php on the "outside" pages where you browse projects and steps quickly and lowest potential bandwidth. On the "inside" pages, where you actually develop your projects, use tools built with the Ext 2.x interface. Since the inside pages use Ext, everything shows to Search Engines, yet provides the most powerful tools for project development because the "inside" pages are not used by SE's anyway...

Monetization of the website occurs through 3rd party revenue sharing. A project creator can actually make money directly through showing a project on CwhatIcanDo. So in addition to racking up bragging rights, creators retain all publishing rights (write a book - produce a video) so the site becomes a great place for people to not only get glory, but make money through 3rd party sales, but also through direct sales of the creators' projects by themselves or another publisher.

It is a great concept. We are finished with the technical research and have started the actual site buildout. We are targeting Alpha Testing for late summer with the Beta Site scheduled to open for business in the fall of 2008. Meanwhile, I've got to leave now so I can do more development work...

Wish me and Andrei (A. Peshakov) luck! And look for robotics updates when summer is over... Maybe I'll be able to jam in another robot video before too long...

RFL Upright Bot Base Hilights

So here I am, generally making an entry in this blog, because I'm tied up with another project: and it has taken away any free-time for bots. But I was digging around and found a couple of fun clips for this RFL bot.

Hope You enjoy it. I'll be back later with more on that new project...

Weekend Project: Making Robot Frames Using Sturdy Solid Wire

Here's a fun weekend project creating a Buggy Bot robot base... Later we can add sensors to it, but for right now, it's a simple weekend project touting the benefits of using #12 wire to build bots...

From Making Robot ...

It's more research into building my upright RFL Football Robot! So far things are working pretty well, but I've got to work the pc board into the design, plus build a Cage around my bot, just in case I have to do battle.

Anyway, that got me thinking about wire as a base for the kinds of little bots I build around here, and very applicable to the RFL Football Bot (see March, this blog)...

From Making Robot ...

It looks like tying together rebar for pouring a cement foundation.

From Making Robot ...

Eventually, you solder the wires, then clip the excess, the solder holds the structure together, the wires help create the structure...

From Making Robot ...

The tabs have to be parallel to the axle, so you bend the wire appropriately...

From Making Robot ...

Now a top view

From Making Robot ...

From Making Robot ...

Dropping in the battery pack, so the switch is accessible while the bot runs...

From Making Robot ...

From Making Robot ...

Notice how the servo is held by bending a square around it, then tucking a piece of wire firmly against the servo... This makes the servo have a slight angle, but it is very strong... As you can see in the next photo...

From Making Robot ...

From Making Robot ...

Motor controller with picAxe 14m and a brand new Toshiba 1 amp motor driver (with dynamic breaking built-in... This thing is sweeeeeet! It uses two pins from the microprocessor to control the four operational modes: forward, reverse, stop, and brake... Very nice indeed.

From Making Robot ...

Soon (after the Pilot Test Run), I'd find out that it wouldn't steer because the front axle is fixed and what is transmitted to one wheel also goes to the other, this isn't good for making turns... In fact, with the batteries on the backend, there is som much weight I can't get the bot to steer at all...

The answer: Move the battery pack to shift the weight to the front wheels... as you can see in the next picture...

From Making Robot ...

The new shape of the weekend project bot!

From Making Robot ...

From the back....

From Making Robot ...

The side....

And, of course, like all good bot-builders and mashup dudes, here is the video: A step-by-step "weekend project" sure, it's about the wireframe idea for bot-bodies, but it's also all about this little Buggy-Bot...


Next stop for the Buggy Bot, get some sensors, so it can do object avoidance...

RFL Inspired Stand Up Bot Base Phase I Complete

Putting the picAxe 18x plus motor drive (same one as in dogbot) would be the bees knees... Except for one thing... The power! Oh the power! I used a simple turn right, turn left kind of approach for the initial testing and with one motor, then the other running, each would dig-in to the carpet, not really run along it...

Let's dig into the software and see what we can do to make our bot civilized, using it's brains to direct it's brawn....

The wheels came in the mail, they just push right on to the twin motor gearbox... I've got things taped and wired together, just to be sure this whole idea will work...

We're off...


These are seeming to be disasters... I got the new wheels, they provide better traction, but now the upright bot has falling over issues when it jumps forward or backward...

I figured I'd have to readjust things a bit... Then I got myself a handful of these grounding straps... These things are easy to bend and that allows me to clean up the design by bending brackets for the "shoulder pads." Now the batteries transfer their weight to the wheels by virtue of angled brackets that attach to the screws that hold the motor-body together. This works well...

From RFL Inspired ...

Things are working very well now, some tweaks to the new front stabilizing suspension and the picAxe 18x does it's job. We now have motor control... Check out the Final Motor Control and RFL Football Inspired Upright Bot Base Video...

Phase II Next Up... How 'bout some "eyes", some IR so this guy can either home in on an opponent, or avoid said opponent bot... Maybe I'm going to have to work that big frame back into the bot design? Stay Tuned...

RFL Football Type Robot

I get robot ideas from other robots... Like, I was inspired by some guy's robotic dog, that I started out to build dogBot... That was a great experience and spanned an exposure to both the 14m and 18x picAxe chips along with an H-Bridge, actually, two of 'em (one per wheel.)

Sparkfun.com sells these, that's where I saw them first, then in YouTube videos... These things are cool, so I'll take a whack at makin' my own, from my junkbox!

I love the RFL, sometimes called the Robot Football League, but really the Robot Fighting League - Football...

The bots run upright, powered by wheels, and not held upright with fancy inertial guidance system.

From RFL Inspired ...

Well, my junkbox has a limited number of parts in it, so I had to create a kind of "junk parts available" kind of approach.

From RFL Inspired ...

Then came the problem with mounting the batteries...

When the thing took off, it would over-drive its own wheels, and fall over...
After some unsuccessful attempts at attaining balance, I discovered you need the batteries to distribute their weight directly on the motors to maximize power transfer to the bot wheels...

From RFL Inspired ...

Finally, after some rework we have some motor drive that looks like it will make it...

From RFL Inspired ...

Blog entry, we find out whether our scheme works as planned by putting some tires on this bot and doing something about those front wheels, they keep unscrewing, they are entirely wrong for this application, but they are what I have in the junk box...

From RFL Inspired ...

It's a robot project, so here's the video of the motor testing, with a lot of the failures removed :-)



Next Time We Get Some Nicer Wheels (Come on Mailman!!!)...

From RFL Inspired ...

One last item... And it's a tricky one: Where to mount the batteries in our junkbox version...

From RFL Inspired ...

Why not divide the pack in two using two X 2-AA battery holders??? This would make the design more compact, lower the center of gravity... Something like this...

From RFL Inspired ...

The two 9-volt battery clip holders get mounted as a pair, they rest on flanges from the twin motor gearbox, so make a holder out of plastic and Voila!

From RFL Inspired ...

Woo Hoo! It works... Now the bot is not top-heavy, this should make it more powerful... And, it does:

From RFL Inspired ...

Check out the modified football player bot now---



Now we've got power to wheels, stability, and oh boy! is this gonna be fun.

Let's hookup the motor drivers and picAxe 18 and see what we've got!