We’re take rapid prototyping to a bigger scale with the MDF fiberboard Boxbot. Jason, our newest Cellbot contributor, designed the entire thing using Google SketchUp, and then cut up $10 worth of fiberboard on a CNC ShopBot. He built it using common hardware store components and is using two $16 windshield wiper motors to drive the wheels. The goal is to have a wide and sturdy platform for experimenting with robotics.
The control system is based on a Gadgetboard, an open source microcontroller experimentation board of Jason’s own design. We’re using two of the relays for each motor in a configuration that lets us drive forward and backward by flipping the four relays on and off in various combinations. The negative lines run through two Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) channels to give us control of the speed. We get full mobility by using just six of the channels, which leaves a lot of Gadgetboard capabilities for future add-on components.
In this video we’re using an emergency car battery for power but any 12V supply will do as long as it can handle up to 5 amps of current. The laptop is just temporary until we wire up a lower volt serial line into one of the Gadgetboard pins. Then we’ll use an Android cellphone for command and control to make it a true Cellbot.
We have an early draft of the SketchUp CAD design up on our source code page, and we’ll be refining the design as we put it though the paces. You can make a Boxbot of your own using the Gadgetboard design or a custom motor controller of your own. We’ll share more code, designs, and pictures as we flesh out the kinks and add more functionality. For now you can skim through this gallery to see the process so far.
You guys are going great with these cellbots, makes me wish I got an Android platform phone.
Are you going to be doing anything with iPhone soon? I know it can be done with a Jailbroken phone. They can run a Terminal App available through Cydia an access serial port with minicom.
I can do the hardware side of it fairly easy (as i have a jailbroken iPhone that SSH’s into my home file server all the time) The software is something different. I hope you guys do some software for the iPhone and then we can see some Andriod/iPhone competition.
PS: this is a good read if you are looking for iPhone info 🙂 http://hcgilje.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/iphone-serial-communication/
j.hobson AT westnet DOT com DOT au
We haven’t tried using an iPhone and don’t have one to experiment with. We welcome others to give it a try and share their findings.
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Which wiper motors did you use? I’m trying to do something similar with a 12v car battery (building a robot around it), so part numbers or sources for the motors would be most helpful. Looks great!
Extremely interesting blog post thanks for sharing I just added your blog to my bookmarks and will be back.
Here are the wiper motors we’re using for Boxbot:
http://monsterguts.com/electric-motors-for-props/12vdc-wiper-motor/prod_4.html
Will it have two arms like a certain other Boxbot? http://gunnerkrigg.wikia.com/wiki/Boxbot
Thanks for the motor link, bought two already!
-J
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electric motors would sometimes overheat if they are not properly ventilated’::
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