Robots and Physical Computing

In an earlier post I played with 4Tronix's CrumbleBot to make an edge follower robot ( http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/edge-following-crumblebot.html ). I wanted to play a little more, so I looked at making it 'explore' a room a bit and recently 4Tronix's have released an add-on panning ultrasonic sensor for the CrumbleBot - how can I resist? What is a CrumbleBot The CrumbleBot  (http://4tronix.co.uk/store/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=493 ) is based around the Redfern Electronic's Crumble Controller ( http://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/ ) and Crumble software ( http://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble-software/ ); providing an intuitive graphical interface (similar to Scratch) to control two motors and four inputs/outputs. The CrumbleBot comes with a number sensors including  line-detecting sensors and Light-Dependent Resistors for light detection and you use crocodile clips to connect the sensors to the in...

In the previous blog posts for this 'series' "It is a good time...."  Post 1  looked at the hardware unpinning some of this positive rise in robots; Post 2  looked at social robots; Post 3  looked at a collection of small robots; Post 4 looked at further examples of small robots Robots, such as the forthcoming Buddy and JIBO, will be based some established open sourceand other technologies. Jibo will be based around various technologies including Electron and JavaScript (for more details see:  http://blog.jibo.com/2015/07/29/jibo-making-development-readily-accessible-to-all-developers/ ). Buddy is expected to be developed around tools for Unity3d, Arduino and OpenCV, and support Python, C++, C#, Java and JavaScript (for more details see http://www.roboticstrends.com/article/customize_your_buddy_companion_robot_with_this_software_development_kit ).  This post contin ues with some of the software being used with the smaller robots.  A number ...

In the previous two posts, mentioned the low-cost small devices are opening up new opportunities for robotics ( http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/it-is-good-time-part-one-introduction.html ) and the rise of social robots in the home ( http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/it-is-good-time-2-social-robots.html ) was considered. In this post and the next, 'small' robots (my phrase), relatively low cost robots, are considered. A few examples are discussed. Picobot One of the most interesting small robots on the market is the PicoBot from 4Tronix ( http://4tronix.co.uk/blog/?p=708 ).  These are small, relatively low-cost robots with a good range of basic sensors based around Arduino. A nice feature is they are quick to put together (5-10 minutes each for the two above).  The size, time to build and the radio modules make them an interesting option for playing with swarm robotics - if only I had the money. Don't let the swarm ro...

Recently I have been playing with the CrumbleBot (http://4tronix.co.uk/store/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=493 ) based around the Crumble Controller ( http://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/ ) providing a intuitive graphical interface (similar to Scratch) to control two motors and four inputs/outputs. The CrumbleBot comes with line-detecting sensors and Light-Dependent Resistors for light detection, with a few other features that I have yet to play with. So is nice little framework for simple robotics. Make sure you order the Crumble Controller at the same time as CrumbleBot. Building the 'Bot' is relatively simple and 4Tronix have provided some easy to follow instructions on-line ( http://4tronix.co.uk/crumble/CrumbleBot.pdf ) that are almost foolproof (I manage to build it!). So I wanted to experiment with making a edge following robot - where the robot goes around a line by following the edge of the line. The idea is while make small movements, Check th...