Sphero RVR

Sphero have a track record of making well sort of fast spherical robots (along with a few Star Wars ones) in a recent kickstarter campaign they have a released a tracked robot  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sphero/sphero-rvr-the-go-anywhere-do-anything-programmabl/description - RVR and it is still fast and fun.  

It does seem to be a step up, they are allowing more customisation with a expansion port and on-board power, aimed at connecting other pieces of hardware, for example, Microbit and Raspberry Pis.Even without these it is not short of sensors and lights 


The simplest way to program it is still through the Sphero Edu App and its block programming providing a quick way to get going.

This feels (to me) like a move towards the more 'traditional' robot hobbyists market - and that is fine. It comes almost completely built, so it is soon ready to go out of the box which is nice. I am interested to see what resources will be provided by Sphero through their Sphero Developer Site (https://sdk.sphero.com/), there are already some cool looking sample projects on the site https://sdk.sphero.com/samples/. So in all, I think well worth a look.


All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

Sphero Mini - fun-sized Sphero

The Sphero Mini has been recently launched and at the time of writing seems to be popular, Amazon.co.uk delivery times vary depending on the colour you select. There are some very good reasons for it to be popular.

It's a ping-pong sized ball, much smaller than the normal Sphero's and approximately half the price. Though slightly less featured, what it has got, is good. 

In the box, you get the sphero-mini, a charging cable, as well as packet of mini-skittles and cones. There is no charging station for this one, you charge it taking the outer shell off (it splits into two pieces) and the socket is on the ball inside. Actually, it is quite interesting to see the insides (I know the Spheros SPRK+ have a transparent shell to show the innards) and handle the ball inside, trying to see what it does. The ball is a little slower than the other Spheros, but this is not a problem in my opinion.

There is an app for playing the games, and this is fun to play with; providing control via the app to make the ball move and many features I have yet to explore. Alternatively, the SpheroEdu app, running on a tablet, allows programming via blocks or JavaScript. Had to have a go with writing a JavaScript routine.

The routine just makes the robot go in a square and not really much of a test, but a start. I especially liked the visual display of the sphero-mini's route on the tablet's screen.

I think this little robot, the price is not bad, though less featured than their bigger 'sibling' Spheros it is still good. I would like to see support for Swift in the future but it is early days for this kit and the skittles and cones are a good touch.


All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

Robot Software

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 continues with some of the software being used with the smaller robots. 

A number of these robots are being programmed via Scratch or Scratch-like environments for example the OhBot (http://ohbot.weebly.com/) or Crumblebot (http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/edge-following-crumblebot.html). Arduino based systems, discussed in Post 1, form the basis of a relatively large number of robots. Some other ways are discussed below.  



LeJOS
LeJOS (http://www.lejos.org/index.php) is an alternative way to program the LEGO Mindstorms Robotic Systems including the oldest RCX to the latest EV3. What it does is allow the robots to be programmed in Java by putting a small virtual machine on the controller/Brick. 

Some examples of it in use or being discussed can be found at:

• Robots and Neural Networks
• Sentry robot project
• LeJOS based books
• Robotics within the Teaching of Problem-Solving.

A relate tool that use LeJOS as one of its underpinning technologies is Enchanting. A Scratch-like way to program LEGO robot based around Mindstorm NXT and EV3. For more details on this go to: http://enchanting.robotclub.ab.ca/tiki-index.php



Tickle

Tickle (https://tickleapp.com/en-us/) is one of my favourite of the physiclal computing programming tools at the moment. It is designed for program a quite range of devices using a 'Blockly-like' graphical programming approach. The Sphero range of robots and some of the Parrot Drone are supported.

When  I recently bought a Parrot Rolling Spider Mini-drone, I used the Tickle App (https://tickleapp.com/en-us/)  to control it. This was the first time I have actual programmed something that flies; the fact you are controlling  something you able to move in all directions is very engaging.

On the left is an example used; essentially lift off, repeatedly move forward, turn and in the end land.

As well as drones, the Sphero robots can be controlled using Tickle (that is how I first came across it). This does also include the entertaining and popular Sphero Star Wars BB-8. Which is well worth a play, if you get an opportunity. Dash and Dot (see http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/cutest-computational-thinking-in-world.html for more details)  are also controllable through Tickle was well. 


Also a number of devices such as Punch Through Design's Arduino-based LightBlue Bean (https://punchthrough.com/bean-teaser), a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) microcontroller are supported- I have get to play with this one though.

I like the Tickle App because of its easy of use but mainly for the company's expansion of the range of devices supported.




Feedback
Please add comments with other software choices.



All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. The author does not and can not take responsible for any harm cause by the software discussed - if you are unsure do not use the software.

Sphero Droid BB-8 on patrol

Sorry not programming this time, but this is a great little toy. An App-control robot from Sphero based on the Star Wars new Sphero BB-8 Droid . The video shows it in patrol mode, which in the case of my one is either rolling under the chair or rolling around the room.



One of the other parts of the app include an augmented reality option where on the tablet it appears to be projecting messages and videos (included ones you create).



It is difficult to resist playing with this one.