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Project "routerbot" - an easy way to build a robot

#1

Hello,

I’d like to share one idea hoping to get some feedback about it. The idea is building a simple robot as easy to build and program as possible. My first try is this “routerbot” - a router turned into a teleoperated robot.

Here’s a small video showing Linksys WRT54GL router combined with SSC-32 servo controller, couple of servos and wireless camera: youtube.com/watch?v=BtXiXpSmG9c

The project is described here: andrey.mikhalchuk.com/category/robots

Currently I’m working on programming autonomous behavior + extending the list of commands.

I would appreciate any comments on this project - how to make it simpler, more entertaining and educational etc.

Thanks!
Andrey Mikhalchuk

#2

Those are some shiny wheels. :open_mouth: :laughing:

#3

WOW! Thats pretty good. I have a lynksis router sitting around that will most likely never be used. I think a new project is in order :wink:

#4

Thats thing is awesome XD

“Are you excited abou bweing in this new world?”
Body shake no XDXDXD

#5

lol, mine won’t be either, I plan to send it down places no man can go :imp: :smiling_imp:

he shows ya how to do it ya know :smiley:

#6

amc,

Nice use of the Linksys router.

You may have a problem with the music you are using.

The Star Wars theme is copyrighted and unless you have a license to use it, you might hear from Lucas Productions as 20th Century Fox does monitor youtube.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

#7

maybe you could edit it to make it more original??

#8

I’ve seen the router mods in the past, but haven’t noted any bidirectional communication capability. What would be interesting would be to modify or add an embeded web server in the router that can have bidirectional communication with the onboard serial port (and the gizmos attached to it).

#9

Really? I would have thought they all have biodirectional communication. My router is located in my father’s home office which is in one corner of our house, and we have computers all around the house which connect to our network. I would have thought this would be biodirectional, I just never looked into the operation of routers…until now

#10

I think he means between the router robot and the computer, and an embedded system would allow it to comminicate, jus tthe the other computers at your house communicate with each other…in a way

#11

WOW, how did i miss that. Sorry, working late on an assignment again :blush:

apologies to Zoomkat for the stupid :wink:

#12

Unfortunately I’m not very much experienced in music editing, so I’d probably just take the music out. I thought that Fair Use Act would protect me in this case. I also saw tons of other clips that contain nothing original but clipping from the Start Wars movies and they still exist. So it looks like Lucas Productions just punt it. I just hope so as I don’t have time to take the music out - working on sensors take all my spare time :slight_smile:

#13

Those are CDs, just to keep it as simple as possible. Also this is the hardest part to tune as they bend. But I don’t see any good replacement for them for now.

#14

That’s what this robot does. You telnet or ssh to the router and then you can control the servos using regular serial port. I.e. you can send regular SSC-32 commands and it will execute them. A few helper functions loaded into the shell make this process just simpler. For instance if you login and issu comand “say yes” it will shake its head like it is saying “yes”. Full set of commands is listed here: andrey.mikhalchuk.com/2008/02/23/how-to-build-an-inexpensive-yet-powerful-robot-how-to-turn-your-router-into-a-routerbot.html

Actually you can esily extend it with shell script or any other programming language.

Unfortunately Web server won’t work here - once you hit some button in the web interface it will take a long time to reload the page and take the action. Some standalone executable would work though, but I just don’[t have time to write it.

I’m working now on sensors attached to the robot so it can “see” what’s around it. So soon it will be possible to write more complicated code like

if [ $distance -lt 10 ]; then
stop
turn left90
distance=get_distance
fi

The goal is to make it fully autonomous and easy to program.

#15

Yeap, you’re right :frowning: My wife noticed that mistake too. I’ll change that in the next version of the video.

#16

Keep it! I thought it was funny :smiley:

#17

Yea same here, it looked awesome, i thought it was terribly afraid to be in the new world xD

#18

Web action can be reasonibly quick, especially if the server doesn’t have to send back a real web page. You can see the type speed I get using a web server setup to control servos (below).

geocities.com/zoomkat/ezservo1.htm

#19

Wow, that looks cool!
I’l make something like that, thanks for the idea!

#20

Nice project :slight_smile:

I’ve got a Linksys WRT54GL router sitting right next to my monitor here that I got for a project last year to do with creating a public access point, will have to dust it off and have a play :slight_smile:

All the best.

Richard