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Linux-Controlled Segway Robot

Posted by timothy on from the idle-rich-adjust-the-throttle dept.

ptorrone writes "It was just a matter of time until the Segway technology would be used as a robotics platform. University of Southern California Robotics Lab's Segway RMP (Robotic Mobility Platform) has a lot of great information if you're looking to convert a Segway to a robot. On the site there are videos as well as instruction on how to build your own." Update: 07/13 21:30 GMT by T : Dr. Andrew Howard writes with an important clarification about the project: "This is *not* a standard Segway HT that we have converted to robotics applications. Rather, this is a customized, limited production unit that has been specially modified by the manufacturer. The web-site does *not* show how to convert an existing Segway HT into a robotic platform."

26 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. World's most expensive consumer RC toy by curtlewis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you laughing at the economic woes of other Americans? Have plenty of money to blow?

    This THIS is the toy for you!

  2. I know evrybbody has laughed at it already but.... by botzi · · Score: 4, Funny

    ....if there's still someone who's not seen the original presentation vids........You don't know what you're missing;o))

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    1. No sig. 2. ???? 3. Profit!!!
  3. falling over by spiritu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I particularly enjoy the shot of it falling over.

    Seriously, though. Why would you use a Segway instead of, say, a four-wheel RC car?

    1. Re:falling over by Grunhund · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Partly because unlike a 4 wheeled robot, the segway is dynamically stable. It poses interesting problems as the robot falls when it is not moving unlike most 4-wheeled robots. The fact is wheeled also allows additional mobility when compared to the traditional hopping and walking dynamically stable robots.

    2. Re:falling over by SEWilco · · Score: 2, Funny
      When will someone invent a 2 legged table with dynamic stability?

      Give me $6,000 and I think I can find some epoxy.

    3. Re:falling over by jd_esguerra · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Seriously, though. Why would you use a Segway instead of, say, a four-wheel RC car?

      Because it is easier to model and control the segway. Think of it this way: You have a robot based on the segway, and one based on a 4-wheeled rc car. They are both pointing north. Consider how much easier it is to get the segway to point south, while maintaining the same position (Just changing orientation). If the RC car had differential steering (like a tank), then yeah, you don't need a segway.

      If you look at most lab grade wheeled/tracked robots, most all have differential steering. What the segway based version has going for it is that it maintaines a constant vertial orientation--it is a stabilized inverted pendulum: It's always "righted" or "pointing up." (Well, in cases where the wheels are at the same Z, anyway.)

      From the computer vision point of view, this is really nice to have. If you had a camera mounted on any other type of robot, and wanted to visually point "out" at something, you'd need to measure the changing orintation of the robot as it clambered over objects or moved up and down hills. The most common way of doing this is to put a gyro or other angular rate sensor or inertial reference unit on the robot base, and then feed-forward the dynamics of the base to a pan/tilt type mechanism to move the camera. (All the extra work & crap required to do this would offset the cost of buying the segway, by the way...) Alternatively, you could close a loop around a video tracker to adjust pan/tilt, but that's been done before, too.

      What would be really cool would be to stabilize the segway in 2 angular degrees of freedom. Then, a vision system could be decoupled--easily-- from the robot platform in roll & pitch.(An additional single axis rotation stage could offload any yaw.)

  4. what I want to know is... by ubiquitin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Can this thing mow my grass? I wonder if the segways have enough torq to push a lawn mower.
    Anybody that has know know the answer to this? If they do, you could make a little device that it goes and attaches to which fits a lawn mower onto the segway. Add some voice recognition, and you're one "Segway, please mow my lawn." away from enjoying a lime and tonic while your grass gets cut.

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    http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
    1. Re:what I want to know is... by BlueOtto · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Robomower is among one of a few companies that already make automatic lawn mowers. I'm sure these would do a better job of mowing your lawn than a hacked segway trained to push a regular lawn mower. These robot lawnmowers have all different neat features like auto-going back to the recharging station, some are solar powered, alarm features so they don't get stolen, they are quiet, etc.

  5. well sign me up! by donutz · · Score: 3, Funny

    I better add another Segway to my Amazon.com wishlist: that way I can have one to drive around myself, and I can train my linux-robot-segway (I'll name him Frank) to follow me around, and guard my segway when I leave it outside as I shop. Unless I can take it into the store, in which case I'll just have to make Frank into a self-propelled grocery cart.

    Excellent!

  6. No fun by poptones · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Why the fuck would someone want to tear apart an umpteen thousand dollar toy and, in the process, make it even more useless?

    Yeesh. Build your own balancing bot and have at it. This isn't even a hack worthy of mention - it's more like a Segway sales pitch targeted at overbudgeted academics with too much time on their hands.

  7. Seems to kinda defeat the purpose... by catbutt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ..since the only really impressive thing about the segway is the way it interacts with human balance. If you take the human out of the equation, the problem is just so much simpler. True, balance in a robot is a challenge in itself, but I just wouldn't start with a system whose design centers around maintaining balance with a human rider (at least if money was a factor), since you have to throw away so much of their technology.

    1. Re:Seems to kinda defeat the purpose... by jericho4.0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But that's what makes the segway a good choice as a platform. It's ability to support 200 lbs of shifting mass over changing terrain lets you design the rest of the robot with a lot of latitude. Building a custom platform with the same range of specs would be very expensive.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
  8. I'm a real man.. by craigtay · · Score: 2, Funny

    I used Visual Basic .NET to build MY Segway robot. These people who use Linux are nuts!

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    Paint.NET, a Free Image Editor, with Source Code Available!
  9. Catchy headline by beaverfever · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Please, humour me...

    Is the fact that this thing runs on Linux so important that it should lead the headline? Really, is the story about the robot or the OS it uses?

    Would there be a similar headline if it used XP or OSX?

    I'm just wonderin'.

    --
    RTFM; please, I beg you.
    1. Re:Catchy headline by arcanumas · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is slashdot man.
      If it run Win XP, the article would read:
      Maniacal robot running Windows XP is unleashed unto the world. How long before it kills someone?

      --
      Slashdot Sig. version 0.1alpha. Use at your own risk.
  10. Linux by Fux+the+Pengiun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Whenever there's a story about a Segway on /., some troll asks "Yeah, but does it run Linux?" Well, buck up, buttercup, the answer is YES!

    --
    Consensual sex is boring.
  11. Silly people... by AntiOrganic · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dean Kamen is a robot.

    Haven't you seen his house? He has a machine shop next to his kitchen. The only plausible explanation for this is that he eats nuts and bolts.

    1. Re:Silly people... by The+Cydonian · · Score: 2, Funny
      How about, he is a nut?

      (*ducks and runs... err, bolts*)

      --
      More than mere navel gazing.
  12. Re: yeah, torque is cheap by ubiquitin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A typical 200 pound adult riding a segway is centered directly over the axle and actively balancing to stay there (so I understand, I've never ridden one). On the other hand, a typical lawnmower is located several feet away from the same axis of rotation. Big difference. Will there be enough weight on a typical segway to provide enough torque to actually accomplish the horizontal push you need? Easily fixed with sandbags or redesigning to put the blades directly under the wheels I suppose, though.

    I give an off-hand estimate that my lawn mower weighs 75 to 125 pounds. It is self-propelled, but the self-propelling gear ratio is not enough to move it by itself: you still have to push. Automatic mowers don't really need self-balancing like the Segways have, but kicking back and watching the robots attack your low grass is a savory idea.

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    http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
  13. Just don't run a server on it... by rasafras · · Score: 2, Funny

    You don't want the /. effect taking a few walls and shelves with it as a rouge segway careens down the halls... unless they put a webcam on it :)

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    webpage
  14. Matt Groening's Dream Realized by Ilan+Volow · · Score: 4, Funny


    Why the fuck would someone want to tear apart an umpteen thousand dollar toy and, in the process, make it even more useless?

    Because it puts us one step further towards the dream of robots that drink alcohol and steal things.

    --
    Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
  15. This mowes your lawn by milkki · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Automatic solar powered lawnmower: http://www.solarmower.com/

  16. Toaster: Check by PhilMills · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well... an Athlon 800, anyway.

    --
    Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, will be quoted out of context on
  17. They are not the only ones by goatbar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hmmm... this is not the only group doing this. I put my hands on another group doing exactly this couple weeks ago.

    Also got to ride a segway. I thought they were pretty lame before I tried one. Especially off road.

  18. Re: yeah, torque is cheap by EvilAlien · · Score: 3, Funny
    The typical adult is 200 lbs?!

    If that is the case, its time to ditch the segways and buy friggin' STAIRMASTERS.

    --
    perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
  19. Harry Potter sucks by Idlechat · · Score: 2

    he really does.
    segway sucks too. :(

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    -0-0- idle