Short Stuff Pictures
After a lot of work, I finally have a prototype of short stuff done. I still need to add the suspension on the front and rear casters, and I think I might redo the head, but it finally is coming along.

See Short Stuff

-Fergy

Website Update And OOPic Info
Well I am updating my site again, and giving it an entirely new appearance. I am also working on another application note to show off how I have modified my OOPic II to make it more useful. I hope to have the info on my object based PID motor controller up by week's end.

-Fergy

Website Update
I took a short break from Short Stuff, I will probably be working on his base again this weekend. In the mean time I am building another robot from the boxes of parts I have bought but haven't used, I'm working on making him a fire fighting robot. I should have the pictures up by tonight so check it out a little later.

-Fergy

Short Stuff Robot

Well, after hours of working in the basement on the robot, I am redesigning the robot to be made of 1/8" Acrylic and plan to have it laser cut by Lynxmotion. I just can't make lots of parts with close tolerances.

-Fergy

Short Stuff Robot
I finished the mechanical drawings for Short Stuff and started making some parts this weekend. I have to order some more stuff from Lynxmotion and figure that I will be assembling the robot this weekend.

I have everything designed except actually laying out the PC boards. That's what I plan to do this week once I get the rest of the robot parts made.

-Fergy

Preliminary Info Posted

I posted the preliminary information and a picture of the CAD drawings of my new robot, the Little Green Machine Two. I am calling the mechanical and electrical design a Short Stuff Robot.

You can see this information on the Short Stuff Site

-Fergy

Website Update

Well school is out and I finally have time to update my website (last update was exactly two months ago today). Anyway, I added some info on the Trinity Fire Fighting Contest 2003, and my entry the Little Green Machine, and the story of his miserable failure, and my new robot for next year.

I also got the source code listings for my earlier robots, which ran OOPic II processors up and on the site.

You can visit the site at http://home .nycap.rr.com/ferginfo/Robots

- Fergy

First Entry

Hey, this is my first entry into my diary. Currently I am working on my new multipurpose robot. It will be the Little Green Machine Two.

The original Little Green Machine was disassembled after it suffered many design flaws. I thought I would go through those failures, and explain some things I picked up along the way.

First off, it turns out that modified servo motors aren't as good as some people say they are, especially under constant running (they are really only suited for a very light robot that won't being running for a while at a time). As they get hot, the RC circuit inside is thrown off, and the timing gets messed up. This means that if you calibrated the motors to have stop in the middle, they will actually rotate when you think they are stopped. Go for broke and buy gear motors with encoders, that is what I am doing for the new robot.

The other problem I had was suspension. The old robot didn't have any and would often get hung up, the new one has suspension on the casters. I am using those little RC air shocks - they are slightly expensive but are smoother than coil springs - and look really cool.

The new robot also has a more powerful, more reliable controller. I was using a Dios - kindof like a basic stamp only bigger, faster and cheaper - from Kronos Robotics (www.kronosrobotics.com) and although I did love the chip, I have to upgrade. The chips are a great learning tool, but I want a C compiler.

Anyways, thats my motivation for designing the new robot and a little bit about the old one. I will post more details as I go along. Right now I am working on getting AVR-GCC customized and ready to go and designing the boards - then its on to making a bootloader and designing the motor controller.