Slashdot Mirror
Stair-climbing Robot Built From R/C Car Parts
dpa writes "The ability to
climb and descend stairs (5M mpg) is one of the unexpected behaviors of this new home-brew
off-road autonomous robot platform. The robot has a custom chassis and uses standard suspension and drive components scavanged from old R/C monster trucks. Here is a
link to the build log, and here is a
link to a hi-res version of the video (20M mpg)."
I think (cross fingers) we can handle it. dpa
It's relatively easy to build a robot that can do NNN (eg: Climb stairs/vacuum floor/avoid pitfalls/get a beer) but the challenge is that biological organisms do so MANY of them, so well.
Show me a robot that can climb stairs/vacuum floor/avoid pitfals/get a beer ALTOGETHER for a reasonable price, and I might get interested.
But "reasonable price" doesn't mean "more expensive than the sports car I can't afford".
PS: What kind of sadist posts a direct link to a 20 MB video on slashdot? Somebody must HATE the guy who made this!!!
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
This is *not* a remote control vehicle.
Although this robot is built from remote-control car parts, it is fully autonomous using a Motorola 'brain' and inertial navigation. It also includes ultrasonic object avoidance detectors.
I think you'd be fairly hard-pushed to find an 'off the shelf' vehicle that could do that autonomously over reasonably rough terrian.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
...but will it also protect us from the terrible secret of space?
English is easier said than done.
well, it is actually a lot of fun to play with. Did you see the video of the robot dodging through the woods? It will do that same thing with a crowd of moving people, and you can chase it around and try to block its way. It's quite persistent. It did not occur to me when I posted the video that people would assume it is an R/C car. Hmmmm. Perhaps the word "autonomous" is not a widely understood term, more of a buzzword among robot builders. Not sure how else to say it, though. You really have to watch the videos to understand what its doing, I think.
thanks! Ah most observant Dunbal! You are correct. The posted video is spliced together from two different runs, one up and one down. It was about a 12 foot dropoff, and I was so busy looking at the video camera that I only grabbed it at the very last second before it plunged to its destruction. I think that little robot still needs his Daddy nearby for a while longer... It did a lot better offroad in the woods, like this video (10M) and also this one (22M).
No, no. It's an -autonomous-, self-directed car. Yes, it's miniature and motorized. But WTFM.
...welcome our stair climbing robot overlords.
To really climb stairs you need legs since stairs are designed for people. If you are interested in such robots take a look here: http://www.walking-machines.org/ (btw. additions are are welcome.)