tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86315462024-03-07T18:25:40.069-05:00-Knewt-A Biped Robot Project
Phase two of the -Knewt- project attempts to control the servos and machined parts created in Phase one, using sensor feedback to acomplish dynamic walking in a biped robot.
Contributing Team members are:
Bob Baxter
J.P.Marting
Stuart Rolf
Dale Heatherington
Sponsors:
Brian Dean: BDMicro
Kevin Devol: IronCAD
Barry Smith: DraftechKeith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1162917018162251502006-11-07T11:00:00.004-05:002021-08-23T15:07:49.750-05:00Knewt Video from 2006 Robot Rally<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6db08b3127cce98548a57c9bd00000017100AcNGjhy2YsmJg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="427" src="https://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6db08b3127cce98548a57c9bd00000017100AcNGjhy2YsmJg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>
Richard Bodor has posted some videos of the Robot Rally that include <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGT336zIGaI">Knewt's presentation</a>.<br />
See the other competitors at this wonderful competition on the <a href="http://www.botlanta.org/rally2006/scores.html">AHRC </a>site.<br />
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All Knewt Videos:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGT336zIGaI">Robot Rally 2006</a><br />
<a href="http://www.botlanta.org/users/keith/MVI_1255.avi">Turning Sequence with head</a><br />
<a href="http://www.botlanta.org/users/keith/MOL019_001_000.WMV">A short walk</a><br />
<a href="http://ia300125.us.archive.org/0/items/Knewt01/movie-MOL017.ASF">Turning 'sans head'</a><br />
<a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~ebezel/images/MOL003.ASF">Squat Thrusts</a><br />
<a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~ebezel/images/MOL007.ASF">Tap Dancing 1</a><br />
<a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~ebezel/images/MOL006.ASF">Tap Dancing 2</a><br />
<a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~rowell/MVI_0796.avi">Test Stand Movie</a><br />
<a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~rowell/scriptTest-03.AVI">Servo Control Test</a>Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-51932690568344015402006-10-02T12:20:00.002-05:002012-11-21T15:17:26.494-05:00VacBot<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XBXHET6hGlU#t=7s" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410692243563141378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghDJ8f_7HautzYW_k9FBWwt6XVZ6rcw6cOFZKue98kamaBEuCF-zrzrVC0RHbpW8khYGwQkzNvEuL-vZYv8To56UiSAb93ObxlZ_hOA0ynXeJzTsw02_6p-flZQIjxxtQzOKSjvw/s1600/img_0810.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XBXHET6hGlU#t=7s" target="_blank">Bob Baxter and Keith Rowell's Vac-mobile</a> in the 2006 rice contest.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1158529039592552372006-09-17T16:14:00.000-05:002006-09-17T16:54:57.926-05:00Knewt at Beep Beep Gallery<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5341/581/1600/htu98.0.jpg"><img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5341/581/400/htu98.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5341/581/1600/BeepBeep01.jpg"><img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5341/581/400/BeepBeep01.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://myspace-850.vo.llnwd.net/01110/05/83/1110373850_l.jpg"><img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://myspace-850.vo.llnwd.net/01110/05/83/1110373850_l.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Knewt makes an appearance at the opening of Beep Beep gallery in Midtown.<br /><br />I went to the <a href="http://www.myspace.com/beepbeepgallery">Beep Beep gallery </a>opening and displayed some robots and cards to promote <a href="http://www.botlanta.org/">our club</a>. It's a small space with a cool sign off Ponce between downtown and Virginia Highlands. There were easily 100 people there. There was food and drinks and music. It was quite a party. There were about 10 to 15 artists represented. Knewt and "entourage" sat on a table with a stack of <a href="http://www.botlanta.org/">AHRC </a>cards. The party was still going on at 11:30 when I packed them up.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>keith, thanks for the forward and the cool email. people really liked your robots alot. i'm glad you had a good time. <br /><br />Mark Basehore </blockquote>Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1148067593670320202006-05-19T14:39:00.002-05:002012-12-22T13:17:49.289-05:00Knewt wins First Place<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0705a.jpg"><img border="0" class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0705a.jpg" /></a><br />
Knewt and his trophy sit on the Dekalb Tech 6 axis CNC milling machine<br />
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<blockquote>
<div align="left">
<a href="http://www.botlanta.org/rally2006/index.html">Knewt wins First Place in the Open Competition<br />of the 2006 AHRC Robot Rally </a></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGT336zIGaI" target="_blank">Video </a></blockquote>
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First and formost I'ld like to recognise Knewt's team members, Stuart Rolf and Bob Baxter for the fine work that made Knewt possible. We ran 3 motion routines on the parallax board that proved that the robot could move about and stand on one foot without falling down. The "not falling down" I think was the "clincher".<br />
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The Rally overall was a lot of fun, there was a fine array of robots present and I'm proud for Knewt to be recognized by such a prestegious group. Thank you AHRC for such a fine <a href="http://www.botlanta.org/rally2006/index.html">event</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0711a.jpg"><img border="0" class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0711a.jpg" /></a><br />
Bob Baxter, Stuart Rolf, Keith Rowell<br />
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<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0699b.jpg"><img border="0" class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0699b.jpg" /></a>Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1148060656126058092006-05-19T12:44:00.000-05:002006-05-19T16:44:37.893-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/img086f3.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/img086f3.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Frank Borowick presents me with the first place trophy as Richard Bodor looks on.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><p align="right">COOOL! Well done, Sir. Were you way ahead of the also-rans?<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Bill Hotch</span></p></blockquote><br /><p></p><p align="left">There were 4 others, 1 lego with a hand (end affector), one with a camera, a butler, and a line follower. Knewt was less than 1 point above 2nd place. These are some very clever guys.</p><p align="left"><a href="http://www.botlanta.org/rally2006/scores.html">http://www.botlanta.org/rally2006/scores.html</a></p><p align="left"><a href="http://www.botlanta.org/rally2006/index.html">http://www.botlanta.org/rally2006/index.html</a></p>Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1148060623194356902006-05-19T12:43:00.000-05:002006-07-04T23:31:37.453-05:00<a href="http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6db08b3127cce98548a57c9bd00000017100AcNGjhy2YsmJg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/im063f9.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6db08b3127cce98548a57c9bd00000017100AcNGjhy2YsmJg">Knewt </a>on the floor of the Open Competition Arena<br /><br />Thanks to Dale and Ann Hetherington for the fine <a href="http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6db08b3127cce98548a57c9bd00000017100AcNGjhy2YsmJg">photos</a>.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1147885273243642292006-05-17T12:01:00.000-05:002006-05-17T12:01:13.250-05:00<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/img_0637.jpg'><img border='0' class='phostImg' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/img_0637.jpg'></a><br />commenting on the movementsKeith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1137855841182443062006-01-21T10:04:00.000-05:002013-01-04T10:48:37.314-05:00Creative Loafing covers the Dorkbot meeting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://clatl.com/imager/dorkbot-atl-meeting-bot-foreground-and-dork-background/b/big/1255377/ffd7/tott_scene1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://clatl.com/imager/dorkbot-atl-meeting-bot-foreground-and-dork-background/b/big/1255377/ffd7/tott_scene1-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<img border="0" class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/bilde.jpg" /><br />
<a href="http://clatl.com/atlanta/ImageArchives?oid=1255377&by=1223716" target="_blank">creative loafing article</a><br />
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<blockquote>
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Putting the "bot" in dorkbot that evening was presenter Keith Rowell. Rowell screened video clips of robots, including robots walking, robots running, robots fighting one another, robots shooting flames, a stylish robo-rhino, and much to the amusement of the audience, a robot kicking a wastebasket down a set of steps. When finished, he fired up his own creation, a biped robot named Knewt. It looked like a robo-dinosaur.<br />
<div align="right">
<a href="mailto:andisheh@creativeloafing.com">Andisheh Nouraee</a></div>
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Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1137341661838840972006-01-15T11:14:00.000-05:002006-01-15T12:21:00.286-05:00Knewt Presents at the first Dorkbot Atl meeting<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/img_4093.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/img_4093.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Dorkbot presentation<br /><br /><a href="http://dorkbot.org/">Dorkbot </a>is an art group that is making use of technology as a medium. Their motto is "people doing strange things with electricity". There were about 30 people there and they seemed to have a good time.<br /><br /><a href="http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotatl/01122005/">Knewt </a>was 3rd on the agenda following <a href="http://www.gregkellum.com/">Greg Kellum</a> and <a href="http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwart/art_design/html/dongoski_c2.html">Craig Dongoski</a>.<br /><br />Greg's endeavor uses a computer and midi dimmers to control lights. He did a very cool "layering" of control to add hand motions from a data glove, on top of a programmed sequence. It had an eerie "ethereal" effect, like dappled shade of trees in the breeze, or sun through broken clouds. He explained all the technical aspect pretty thoroughly.<br /><br />Craig showed a system for reaching the "sound of drawing". He controls various electronic input with the user's input on a special piezo board that makes the drawing process "audible". The samples we listened to were very thought provoking. In the "nonsense" one could make out the scratching of a pen, breathing, barking, voices. The objective it seems is to evoke images from the listeners sub-consciousness. I'ld say it works, because you can't really discern the noises, but they are strangely familiar. Like a tool for getting into the creative "zone".<br /><br />These are two fine examples of interface technology being used for creative purposes. Art being the motive. <strong>I wonder what it would look like to have art techniques being used for technological purposes?</strong> A cliche might be conductive paint used as circuitry. Any other suggestions?<br /><br />In Knewt's portion of the show, I showed lots of the reference material that inspired Knewt to be built in the first place, and talked about what makes up the "robot aesthetic" in general comparing the "cute" factor in Japanese design to the "terminator" factor in American movie robots. The response was very good, I think it was a success.<br /><br />Thanks to <a href="http://www.jasonfreeman.net/">Jason Freeman</a> for organizing the meeting and for having Knewt on the agenda.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1135873186878372792005-12-29T11:19:00.000-05:002005-12-29T11:26:38.543-05:00Motion with Head<a href="http://www.botlanta.org/users/keith/MVI_1255.avi"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/turn-with-head.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />a short motion sequence with head on<br /><br />I'm not happy with the way Knewt "leans" when shifting weight. This is one of the issues I set out to solve when Knewt was started. The change in 2.0 to add more weight shifting ability, has re-introduced this leaning. It's not so bad really, but I would prefer that the head was kept perfectly level. I'm going to have to look into this more closely.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1134480580114740472005-12-13T08:29:00.000-05:002005-12-13T11:08:13.743-05:00Two Heads Are Better Than One<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0644.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0644.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />two heads are better than one<br /><br />This photo shows the finished metallic head next to the un-finished white head. It was a couple of days work to get the head to the metallic state. I'll outline the steps here.<br /><br />The STL process leaves a groved surface in random patterns as a result of the building process. I consulted Scott Washington who won awards at the IPMS/USA 2005 nationals modelling competition. Scott reccomended filling the gaps with <a href="http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFP28&P=5">Squadron white putty </a>mixed 1:1 with <a href="http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHE34&P=7">Testors liquid glue</a>. This is a pretty toxic smelling brew so be warned. The glue thins the putty to make it more spreadable. The pitfalls to avoid in using this on an STL model is to make sure you cover all the gaps. Since the entire surface is textured, it's easy to miss a spot. I put the putty on with a brush wich leaves brush strokes, creating a texture of it's own. I will try using a popsicle type mixing stick to apply the putty in the future to see if that works any better.<br /><br />This putty dries pretty quickly. I began sanding after about 3 hours using successively finer grits of paper. 150, 220, 320, 600. This is the step when you find the spots you've missed. Stop here and fix these spots, then re-sand. The paint won't fill the gaps.<br /><br />I sprayed the metallic paint on avoiding drips and runs. The next day when that was dry, I gave it a coat of <a href="http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html">Future Floor Polish</a>. This makes the metallic finish have a slightly lighter color and smooth's the surface like glass, increasing reflectivity.<br /><br />Notice the logos on the sides. These are custom decals made with <a href="http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXESK4&P=M">Testors custom decal kit</a>. The kit contains <a href="http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFLC6&P=M">special paper</a>, a <a href="http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFLC5&P=M">spray fixative</a>, and software. I wasn't able to get the software to even load, so I used photoshop to compose and print. The decal material is transparent. This fact slipped my mind and I was suprised to see that white areas on the logos were now silver when I applied them. This makes a cool effect though on the large red background area of the IronCAD logo, as the red is translucent and the silver highlight shows through. Another thing to be aware of is that the decal material is flexible. This is a big advantage to covering curved surfaces without wrinkles. But beware of sliding the decal around as the water dries. I pulled on a corner and stretched the decal material, slightly distorting the image. Be sure the decal is where you want it before drying away the water with a towel.<br /><br />After the decals were dry I added another coat of Future floor polish.<br /><br />I'm dissatisfied with the silver paint and am looking for a high quality replacement.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1134181628299555332005-12-09T21:27:00.000-05:002005-12-09T22:43:47.840-05:00Knewt Beheaded<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0613.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0613.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />STL parts<br /><br />I got the STL parts for Knewt's head this week. As luck would have it, two of them on the same day. Stuart Rolf prepared the STL file and Ken Apple ran the job in Dekalb Tech's CAD lab. Barry Smith of DrafTech provided a head and a great poster that's in the next photo. Thanks a million everybody. (this is a perfect opportunity to use the colloquial "y'all", and even "all y'all" in this particular case").<br /><br />Barry Smith gave a bottle of "Ambroid Pro Weld" to repair and strengthen the parts. These particular ABS plastic STL models are held togeather by a slight fusing of a .013 bead of melted plastic. These small threads can be torn away from the part if you try, or if it takes a bad fall. Considering how much Knewt falls, that's bad. But by saturating the part with the plastic welder, the fibers are much more strongly fused togeather and become almost as strong as a single piece extrusion. I coated both heads with it inside and out and didn't even use 1/4oz. It's like water and doesn't smell "too" bad.<br /><br />After brushing the part with this stuff, it becomes shiny. A new advisor to the project, Scott Washington, recommended a filler paste and sanding to cover the texture left by the machine. I tried this and it worked quite well. Lots of had sanding is required. The grits I used were, 150, 220, 320, 600. The errors I made were to leave small gaps in the sanding putty. These were most evident on the vent slots on the top of the head. So I sanded and painted it again. I think by the third time I paint this head, I'll be up to amature status.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1134181569524320392005-12-09T21:26:00.001-05:002005-12-09T22:50:54.306-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0618.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0618.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />head on<br /><br />It was wierd seeing the head on for the first time. All the screw holes and bosses worked just fine. It's held togeather with #6 selft tapping screws from Austin Electronics. All the holes lined up ok. I had to cut an inconspicuos part off one piece to allow it to fit. There are several improvements I would make on the next pass. The're are ribs in the lower part that didn't print in both cases. But the intresting thing is that they weren't the same ribs in both cases. I reinforced those areas with plastic plates after ward.<br /><br />Removing the part from it's building plate and extracting it from it's scaffold material is a pretty big deal. I've heard that the DrafTech office has a water soluable scaffold material and you throw it in a bath to seperate the two. Stuart said that part of his head broke just on scraping it off the plate, and again more cracks from trying to remove all the scaffold material. There was still a little of this light gray scaffold material left when I got it home and It was indeed difficult to remove, especially in small crevices and inside screw holes.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1134181563443784822005-12-09T21:26:00.000-05:002005-12-09T22:24:33.006-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0621.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0621.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Knewt beheaded<br /><br />The eye holes are sized to 3mm LED's and I have mini O-rings on the protruding green lites. I inted to leave this head translucent. I like the fact that light passes through it and will try to incorporate a mouth "indication" behind the face without cutting pass throughs. You can see the base of the silver head in the forground.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1134184505997673202005-12-09T21:15:00.000-05:002005-12-09T22:53:48.733-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0627a.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0627a.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />silver head<br /><br />Here you can see (or almost see, anyone want to buy a camera?) logo's added to the white head and circuit boards mounted inside the silver head. We've decided to build the second body up as version 2.0 also and work on motion routines in tandem.<br /><br />I chose silver for the painted head to emulate the finnish on the aluminum. White and black and clear are the most common plastic colors on the body. There is a rainbow of colored plastic wires, other wise the silver on the aluminum is the most prevelant color. What color would you choose for the head?<br /><br />Does anyone have a suggestion for how I might tint the white head from the inside surface. It would need to be a translucent dye or the like. Perhaps a blue dye added to the plastic welder solution would do the job. I bet art markers would do it. Does anyone have suggestions for a pattern on the head?<br /><br />Actually this is a perfect time for a critique. I'll get some better photos up soon.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1133973989751859572005-12-07T11:46:00.000-05:002005-12-07T12:15:53.223-05:00Knewt at Draftech<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0570.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/draftech03.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Knewt at Draftech<br /><br />I had a good time Friday talking about robotics and CAD. There were about 20 - 25 people who came over to my table and had a good look at Knewt. 90% of those had some comments to make like "very cool" or "pretty neat". About half inspected the mechanism closely and offered a question about it's design. It seemed to break the ice for even the most quiet attendees. I met some old workmates from Nordson coincidentally. We reminisced.<br /><br />The Lithium batteries died halfway through, but I was able to hook the power supply back up pretty quickly to finish. I really like the poster alot. I'll take it along on my next presentation and show off Draftech along with Knewt. I wish I had gotten a photo when people were milling around but I was busy dealing with the bot. Scott Walker, you would have been the perfect candidate for that task. What was I thinking?<br /><br />The event was the 4th annual SolidWorld user conference held by <a href="http://www.draftech.com/">DrafTech Systems Inc.</a> in Lawrenceville. The white cabinet to the right of the table is the <a href="http://www.draftech.com/images/Prototypes/3D%20Printing%20Sessions_S.pdf">Dimension STL printer </a>that produced one of Knewt's heads. The printer lays down a .013" bead of ABS plastic, building the prototype part layer by layer. Thanks a million to Barry Smith for the invitaion and the wonderful posters and especially the STL parts.<br /><br /><br />Barry Smith<br />President<br />DRAFTECH Systems 1730 Spectrum Drive Lawrenceville GA 30043 <br />USAPhone: +1-770-963-8856 Fax: +1-770-963-7056<br /><a title="mailto:support@draftech.com" href="mailto:support@draftech.com"></a><a href="http://www.draftech.com/">http://www.draftech.com/</a>Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1133808490027360562005-12-05T13:48:00.000-05:002005-12-05T15:08:33.166-05:00Testing Servo Ramping<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0565.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0565.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />testing ramping on ServoMojo<br /><br />After having used the Parallax controller for a while I'm beginning to miss the gentle ramping provided by the BDmicro ServoMojo. Bob wired the "position pot" on a standard servo to the scope, so that we could view the position feedback directly.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1133808513633914892005-12-05T13:46:00.000-05:002005-12-05T15:06:17.866-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0562.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0562.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />without ramping<br /><br />This screen shot shows a normal servo command that is a straight line from starting to ending point. This translates into a servo motion that goes from full stop to full speed at the beginning of the motion, and vise versa at the end of the motion. The "speed" that the servo moves is choosable with the Parallax board (rate), but the transition from stop to moving is still one step. The abrupt changes in speed cause rocking and jerky motion for a bot like Knewt. It's an issue we considered trying to solve with MCU management of the "rate" variable every 20ms. But why do that when it's built into the ServoMojo?Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1133808541868570182005-12-05T13:44:00.000-05:002005-12-05T15:12:00.163-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0564.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0564.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />with ramping<br /><br />In this screen shot, you can see the curves at the ends of the motion. The servo transitions from stop to full speed in a gradual fashion and slows to a stop in the same manner. This is shown by the gentle "S" curve shape on Bob's scope. Some of the <a href="http://knewt.blogspot.com/2005/03/tap-dancing.html#comments">original videos </a>of Knewt showed this fluid motion. We're driving the servo from the ServoMojo using a ramp setting of 15.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1131592305999188562005-11-09T22:04:00.000-05:002005-11-09T22:11:46.010-05:00Knewt 2.0 is walkingKnewt is walking again, and I've converted the movie format to Windows Media Video. The ASF format of previous movies was obscure, this one should be availble to more users.<br /><br />This is what happens when you reach the end of your teather. We're working hard on removing the teathers entirely. The batteries and controller are the culprits.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.botlanta.org/users/keith/MOL019_001_000.WMV">See the movie here.</a>Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1131327721060160642005-11-06T20:42:00.000-05:002005-11-06T20:49:05.373-05:00Vacuum Molded parts<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/1024/IMGA0518.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/84/1974/320/IMGA0518.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Joe Fishback's Robot and Knewt 1.0 & 2.0<br /><br />Joe Fishback is a vacuum molding expert that I met through the Metal Munchers ( a machinist's club). We met last week and talked about making Knewt's head parts using this technique. You can see the parts Joe molded for his robot in the photo to get some idea of the thickness of the material and the look of such parts. I'll be re-designing the head parts to better accomodate this molding process should there be an opportunity to make these in any numbers. I'm still persuing using STL for the prototype head parts.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1125455442849786022005-08-30T21:30:00.000-05:002005-08-30T21:50:02.370-05:00The Twins Are Up<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/1024/1529.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/320/1529.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />the twins<br /><span style="font-size:8;"><a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~rowell/keith.html">Keith Rowell Design</a></span><br /><br />Twins yes, however not identical. 2.0 is stronger heavier and not yet completely assembled. (that's 2.0 on the right) I managed to get a test fit of all the physical parts togeather this week, as well as solder the foot sensor boards togeather and route the wiring. I've used different linkages on 2.0 as well. Only time will tell if they're an improvement.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1125454795408318042005-08-30T21:19:00.002-05:002005-08-30T21:56:27.323-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/1024/1507.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/320/1507.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />front quarter<br /><span style="font-size:8;"><a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~rowell/keith.html">Keith Rowell Design</a></span><br /><br />There's a good bit more bulk on this one, making 1.0 look "svelt" by comparison. The foot sensors and the belly motor are the giveaway.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1125454773378927112005-08-30T21:19:00.001-05:002005-08-30T22:45:28.880-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/1024/1503.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/320/1503.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />profile<br /><span style="font-size:8;"><a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~rowell/keith.html">Keith Rowell Design</a></span><br /><br />The sensors use two 4 wire ribbon cables. With that and the seven servo motors, the body cavity is filled with connectors.Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8631546.post-1125454742141407202005-08-30T21:19:00.000-05:002005-08-30T22:04:52.443-05:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/1024/1502.jpg"><img class="phostImg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/84/1974/320/1502.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />rear quarter<br /><span style="font-size:8;"><a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~rowell/keith.html">Keith Rowell Design</a></span><br /><br />The 1050mah battery "back pack" was planned long ago. We have newer lighter 650mah LiPoly cells also to try out. They will fit in the head. The option remains to use either. If you look closely you can see that the upper leg parts on the right leg are transparent. Those are poly carbonate while the left leg is aluminum. Which would you prefer?Keith Rowellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10479265426594851362noreply@blogger.com0