01 - 2007

Cover.
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Vol. 5 No. 1
SERVO MAGAZINE
VINNIE INTELS OPEN CV DIVIDERS AND TIMERS SOUNDGIN
Get an HB-25 Two-pack (#29150) for only $79.95
and save $20! The Parallax HB-25 Motor Controller (#29144;
$49.95) provides a simple and dependable motor control system
for your motorized projects. With an efficiently integrated heat
dissipation design, the HB-25 easily manages 12V motors drawing
25A of current! These are sizable motors, as shown in our two
example robots which are both controlled by HB-25s.
Motor Size: 0.5 HP Max - No Minimum

Motor Supply: 6.0 vdc min - 16.0 vdc max
Load Current: 25 A Continuous 35 A Surge (13.8 V)
Standby Current: 50 mA @6 V 80 mA @13.8 V (fan on)
PWM Frequency: 9.2 kHz
Pulse Input: 1.0ms Full Reverse, 1.5ms Neutral (off), 2.0ms Full Forward
# of Motors: 1 (or 2 in same direction)
Protection Circuits: Over Voltage, Over Current, Over Temp.
Indicators: Power (green), Fault (red)
Cooling: Forced Air - Ball Bearing Fan
Terminals: Screw Post with 35 A Rating
Weight: 2.5 oz (71 grams)
January 2007
Size: 1.6 x 1.6 x 1.9

Mounting: (2) 6-32 screws on .800 centers
Included: (1) 25 A Fuse
CoverInside.qxd 12/6/2006 1:12 PM Page 2
Perfect holiday gifts for kids of all ages!
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Full Page.qxd 12/6/2006 9:56 AM Page 3
SERVO 01.2007 3
TOC Jan07.qxd 12/7/2006 4:59 PM Page 4
Columns Departments
08 Robytes by Jeff Eckert 06 Mind/Iron
Stimulating Robot Tidbits
10 Twin Tweaks 07 Bio-Feedback

by Bryce and Evan Woolley
Mighty Morphing Bioloid 23 Robo-Links
16 Ask Mr. Roboto by Pete Miles
24 New Products
Your Problems Solved Here
20 GeerHead by David Geer

67 Events Calendar
RoboGeddon It! Are You Getting It?
74 Programmable Logic 72 Robotics Showcase

by Gerard Fonte
Dividers and Timers
73 Menagerie
82 Robotics Resources
by Gordon McComb
Shopping the Electronics General Store 80 SERVO Bookstore
86 Appetizer by Lawrence Feir
90 Advertisers Index
Take Me to Your Leader
Meet Robbie the Robot
87 Then and Now by Tom Carroll

Shuttle Remote Manipulator
System/Canadarm
ENTER WITH CAUTION!

26 The Combat Zone
SERVO Magazine (ISSN 1546-0592/CDN Pub Agree#40702530) is published monthly for $24.95 per year by T & L Publications, Inc.,
430 Princeland Court, Corona, CA 92879. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT CORONA, CA AND AT ADDITIONAL ENTRY MAILING
OFFICES. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SERVO Magazine, P.O. Box 15277, North Hollywood, CA 91615 or
Station A, P.O. Box 54,Windsor ON N9A 6J5; [email protected]
4 SERVO 01.2007
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01.2007 VOL. 5 NO. 1
34 Exploring Soundgin
by Gordon McComb
Robotics and sound generation
are natural playmates. Use this
Features & Projects
synthesizer to add life to your builds.
39 DARwIn
by Karl Muecke, Patrick Cox, and 57 Beginners Robotics on
$50 a Month
Dennis Hong
Part 2: Parts, wires, and motors.
by Paul Pawelski
44 Hacking Roger
Part 2: Building the CIRC bot.
by Monty Reed
Roger Robot makes a perfect platform
62 Seeing With OpenCV
by Robin Hewitt
for beginning hackers. Part 1: An Introduction to OpenCV
Intels free, open-source computer
52 Robot Safety vision library. Learn where to get it,
by Bryan Bergeron how to set it up on your computer,
A discussion of robot design, and work with the OpenCV interfaces.
68
construction, and operating practices
that can improve the survivability of ROBOGames Prep
your robots and minimize the safety by Dave Calkins
risks to you and bystanders. This month: Tetsujin.
Page 20
SERVO 01.2007 5
Mind-FeedJan07.qxd 12/7/2006 2:31 PM Page 6
Published Monthly By
T & L Publications, Inc.
430 Princeland Court
Corona, CA 92879-1300
(951) 371-8497
FAX (951) 371-3052
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Mind / Iron Subscriptions
Inside US 1-877-525-2539
by Michael Simpson Outside US 1-818-487-4545
P.O. Box 15277
North Hollywood, CA 91615
Last year, I built a walker robot energized at once. PUBLISHER
for the Robot Fest. I christened this The Face Walker always had to Larry Lemieux
robot Face Walker. It was featured have three legs in contact with the [email protected]
in the August, September, and ground at any one time to support
October issues of SERVO Magazine. the total weight of the robot. Even ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/
VP OF SALES/MARKETING
My goal was to create a robot that when standing still, a walker will use Robin Lemieux
would catch the attention of the large amounts of power. This is not [email protected]
spectators and hold their interest true with a wheel-based robot.
while I gave my presentation. I The 7.2V 3,000 mAh battery CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
had a nice little speech all planned. pack would power the Face Walker Jeff Eckert Tom Carroll
Gordon McComb David Geer
What I had not planned on was the base for about five minutes before it Pete Miles Kevin Berry
freak factor. needed an hour charge. On a Dave Calkins Bryan Bergeron
What actually happened was that wheeled robot of the same weight, Karl Muecke Patrick Cox
the spectators were so enthralled by you get over an hour of run time on Dennis Hong R. Steven Rainwater
the look of Face Walker, that they the same battery. This makes walkers Paul Pawelski Robin Hewitt
Monty Reed Lawrence Feir
didnt hear a word I said. Many very inefficient for most tasks. Michael Simpson Gerard Fonte
individuals left only to return with However, when it comes to education Bryce Woolley Evan Woolley
friends or family members. What is or studying the human condition, you Aaron Taggart Brian Benson
it that made the Face Walker so cant beat a walker. Adam Wrigley Bradley Hanstad
awe-inspiring? The Face Walker had In order to top last years Robot
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
what I now call the freak factor. Fest, I have started early on my next Tracy Kerley
I had a chance to review videos robot exhibit. This robot will be a [email protected]
that were taken of the spectators biped walker with 19 servos
while they were watching the Face controlling various limbs, as well as WEB CONTENT/STORE
Walker in action. Almost all of them the neck. Lets call him Kronos. Michael Kaudze
[email protected]
were watching the face. The face Kronos is still in the experimental
would animate and make noises as stage but while he is in the PRODUCTION/GRAPHICS
the robot would move. Individuals sitting position, I added a random Shannon Lemieux
saw this walker robot thingy that movement generator and created
looked something like a spider, but as some routines to simulate breathing. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Debbie Stauffacher
it turned to face them, it would wink The bots chest would simply move in
or say something. Immediately they rhythm and the head would turn Copyright 2007 by
would smile and point. It is when we slightly at random intervals. T & L Publications, Inc.
start to add human characteristics to This was freaky enough, but I All Rights Reserved
machines that we start to evoke wanted to take it a step further and All advertising is subject to publishers approval.
emotions, which can range from added some random fidget We are not responsible for mistakes, misprints,
amazement to outright fear. movements. He started moving his or typographical errors. SERVO Magazine
So, I created a really cool robot, arms or would change the angle of assumes no responsibility for the availability or
but what can it do? This is the kind his legs as though he was trying to condition of advertised items or for the honesty
of the advertiser.The publisher makes no claims
of question I often get when get comfortable. Let me tell you, for the legality of any item advertised in SERVO.
showing walker robots. The power this even freaked me out. Is it This is the sole responsibility of the advertiser.
requirements for a fully articulated memories of Chucky or is it that Advertisers and their agencies agree to
walker are massive. In many cases, we just are not used to human indemnify and protect the publisher from any
you have 12-24 servos that are all attributes on a mechanical device? and all claims, action, or expense arising from
advertising placed in SERVO. Please send all
editorial correspondence, UPS, overnight mail,
Mind/Iron Continued and artwork to: 430 Princeland Court,
Corona, CA 92879.
6 SERVO 01.2007
Mind-FeedJan07.qxd 12/7/2006 2:31 PM Page 7
Dear SERVO:
Thank you for running Paul Pawelski's "Beginner's
Robotics on $50 a month." Sure, it's fun to lust after multi-
jointed 'bots costing four figures, but robotics doesn't have
to be expensive. This series promises to be an excellent way
for newcomers to become acquainted with the field or
hobby without risking a lot of cash. Paul's article affirms that
SERVO Magazine continues to appeal to a broad range of
ages and personal budgets.
K. Bower
Kamloops BC
Did you know that if youre a paid subscriber

to SERVO Magazine, you can get the online
version for FREE?
Go to www.servomagazine.com
(&5"3&"--*'&
3FBEZ TFU HPy
HFUZPVSESFBNKPC
.BLF BZFBS
XJUI/0DPMMFHFEFHSFF
Its probably a little of both.
What is the Robot Fest?

Robot Fest is an annual event held each year in
Linthicum, MD at the Historical Electronics Museum. The
next Fest will be held on April 28, 2007. This is a free
event that exposes many individuals children and adults
to varying types of robots. Everything from the large
BattleBots to the smallest walker will be on exhibit.
Be sure to check out the Robot Fest website at
www.robotfest.com.
Hope to see you there! SV
SERVO 01.2007 7
Robytes.qxd 12/7/2006 1:30 PM Page 8
Robytes by Jeff Eckert
re you an avid Internet surfer that of the Demonstrator, but with an arts sake has only one function: to
A who came across something
cool that we all need to see? Are
additional 1,000 lbs (increased to
3,400+ lbs) of payload that can be
fall apart and reassemble itself
autonomously.
you on an interesting R&D group used for increased range, endurance, The chairs operation involves
and want to share what youre or mission hardware. Interestingly, 14 motors, two gearboxes, and
developing? Then send me an Boeing says that the unmanned various other mechanical parts, and
email! To submit related press hardware and paraphernalia devel- a computer uses special algorithms
oped for this program can be adapted to tell the chair how to find missing
releases and news items, please
to any helicopter. components and rebuild itself.
visit www.jkeckert.com
Waxing philosophical, Dean noted
Jeff Eckert that its operation is somewhat like
what we do in our own lives. We
Give em the Chair fall apart and put ourselves back
Unmanned Helicopter together.
Takes Off Maybe it has no utilitarian value,
but it could have significant
entertainment value if you place a
couple of them at the dinner table
and invite the in-laws over. In any
event, the chair will be exhibited in art
shows and museums around the
world and eventually sold to a gallery
or collector.
Boeings ULB Demonstrator on its

first unmanned spin around the block.
Bot Cleans Up After You
Photo courtesy of Boeing.
Late last year, Boeing Co.

(www.boeing.com) flew what is
dubbed the A/MH-6X light-turbine
helicopter for the first time. Under
development since 2004, it is actually
a hybrid manned/unmanned aircraft
that combines the abilities of the
existing A/MH-6M Mission Enhanced
Little Bird (MELB) with the unmanned
The robotic chair in different stages
aerial vehicle technologies of of collapse and reassembly.
the Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) Photos by Raffaello DAndrea, A plate-grabbing robot, graduate
Demonstrator shown above. The courtesy of Cornell University. students Ashutosh Saxena and
latter is a modified MD 530F civil Morgan Quigley, and Assistant
Professor Andrew Ng (L to R) all
helicopter that is readily available Like many things we encounter part of the STAIR project. Photo
from MD Helicopters, Inc. (www. in life, the Robotic Chair, a creation courtesy of Stanford University.
mdhelicopters.com). of Cornells (www.cornell.edu)
So far, the Demonstrator has Prof. Raffaello DAndrea and artist On a much more down-to-earth
logged about 500 flight hours. In the Max Dean, admittedly has no utilitar- level is the latest creation of Prof.
latest test, the A/MH-6X was flown for ian value. And, like many people we Andrew Ngs Stanford Artificial
14 minutes as a piloted aircraft, but encounter in life, its brain is locat- Intelligence Robot (STAIR) project.
future testing will involve both ed in its seat. But not everything The dream here is to, within a
manned and unmanned operations. needs to have a mundane purpose, decade, put a robot in every home
Aircraft performance will be similar to and the chair designed as art for and office to take care of routine
8 SERVO 01.2007
Robytes.qxd 12/7/2006 1:30 PM Page 9
Robytes Industrial
jobs that you dont really want to do, Pittsburgh. You are invited to nomi-
Strength
such as cleaning up after a party,
taking out the trash, loading the
dishwasher, sobering up Uncle Ralph,
nate your favorite robot at www.
robothallof fame.org/nominate.
php. Only one nomination is allowed
Motor Control
and so on. According to Ng, a
practical maidbot will need to
unite areas of artificial intelligence,
per computer, and (duh!) previous
inductees are not eligible. for All
including speech processing AX2550
navigation, manipulation, planning, AX2850
reasoning, machine learning, and
One for the Gripper
vision into one package, which If your bot is having trouble
poses a substantial challenge. grasping things using rubber-clad fin-
In the present stage of develop- gers or other standard end effectors,
AX1500
ment, the team designed an maybe you should consider grippers
algorithm that allowed STAIR to that are fitted with razor-sharp
recognize familiar features in various needles. Assuming you arent doing a
objects and select the right grasp to pick-and-place operation on hamsters,
pick them up. The robot was trained the operation could be improved with
in a computer-generated environment the GRN needle grippers from SAS
to pick up a cup, a pencil, a brick, a Automation (www.sasgripper.com).
book, and a martini glass. The The company recently upgraded AX3500
algorithm locates the best place for the product to incorporate titanium
the robot to grasp an object, such as needles rather than the previous steel
Get the DC Motor Controllers
a cups handle or a pencils midpoint. ones, thus offering longer production that are at the heart of many of todays
The robot takes a few pictures, life and lower overall replacement worlds most demanding Industrial,
reasons about the 3-D shape of the costs. The needles extend from 3 to 5 Military and Research Robots, and other
object based upon computing the mm from the gripper body and are innovative Motion Control applications.
location, and reaches out and grasps pneumatically activated. The grippers
the object, Ng said. are compatible with the entire - RS232, RC, or Analog input
In tests, the robotic arm picked SAS end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) line - Speed or Position Mode
up items similar to those for which it and come in both 14 and 20 mm - Dual channel output up to 140A
was trained, as well as unfamiliar mounting shaft sizes. Among the - Optical Encoder Inputs
objects including keys, screwdrivers, usual applications are gripping fabric - Intelligent Current Limiting
and rolls of duct tape. Which brings or mesh, insert molding for floor mats - Thermally Protected
- Field Upgradable Firmware
up the question of what STAIR will and other automotive materials,
- Enclosed and Board-Level versions
do with the duct tape after picking it and handling of lightweight porous - and many more advanced features ...
up. Is a Red Green robot in the matting. SV
works?
Model Amps Features Price
AX1500 2x30A B $275
AX3500 2x60A O-R-B $395
Add Your AX2550 2x120A A $495
Nomination AX2550HE 2x140A A $645
AX2850 2x120A O-A $620
AX2850HE 2x140A O-A $770
Just a reminder A=Aluminum Extrusion, B=Board-Level, O=Optical Encoder In,
that the fourth annual R= RC outputs. Qty1 price. Contact us for OEM Qty prices
induction ceremony
for the Carnegie
Mellon Robot Hall of
Fame is scheduled for
this summer (date to The GRN grippers now feature titanium needles. 8180 E.Del Plomo Dr.
Photo courtesy of SAS Automation. Scottsdale AZ USA 85258
be announced) in
(602) 617-3931 - [email protected]
www.roboteq.com
SERVO 01.2007 9
TwinTweaks.qxd 12/7/2006 1:32 PM Page 10
THIS
MONTH:
Mighty
Morphing
Bioloid
R obots come in all shapes and sizes,

and the Bioloid from the Korean
company Robotis certainly takes
that to heart. When we first received
Gestalt Assault
The specific kit that we received was
the comprehensive Bioloid kit, which
curriculum that will teach any roboticist
about the intricacies of modular robotics.
The Beginner Bioloid kit comes with
just the basics the CM-5 (the main
the Bioloid kit, we thought we would included the most structural pieces and brain for the robot), some structural
be dealing with a robot that looked like 18 Dynamixel servo modules. The Bioloid bits, four Dynamixel servo modules, and
the one in the advertisements and on is also available in two other kits: the one Dynamixel sensor module. Many of
the box itself a bipedal servo walker. beginner and intermediate. We think the robots detailed in the instruction
We were pleasantly surprised to discov- Robotis deserves a standing ovation for manual that can be built with the begin-
er that the Bioloid is much more than this innovative marketing strategy, ner kit are indeed rudimentary, the sim-
just a humanoid walker; it is quite because we really feel it provides a viable plest being a crossing gate that acti-
literally whatever you want it to be. educational platform the Bioloid is, vates one servo module with the touch
While many bipedal servo walkers use after all, an educational robot kit. of a button. But dont think that the
modular design as a means for the end Apparently there is also an Expert kit that beginner kit is by any means boring it
of achieving an anthropomorphic form, includes a canned curriculum, but we is, in fact, the kit with the greatest
the Bioloid takes full advantage of the think the distinctions of the Beginner, variety of robots detailed by step-by-step
modular design and truly invites the tin- Intermediate, and Comprehensive kits instructions in the manual. Other
kerer to let their imagination run wild. create an effective naturally progressive possible robots include a crocodile
mouth and an interactive duck, and
THE BIOLOID KIT. OOOOOOH, THE INSIDE! every different design teaches the user
about a new aspect of construction or
programming, like how to utilize the
expansion PCB and the use of for loops.
The intermediate kit provides some
more complicated designs that use up
to eight Dynamixel modules, including
a simple spider and a battle droid.
The intermediate designs are generally
more interactive, and they usually make
use of a sensor module that is part of
the Bioloid kit. We think that the
inclusion of a sensor module is a must
10 SERVO 01.2007
Mighty Morphing Bioloid
for an educational robot, because it Robots in Disguise ... much difficulty. Most of the beginner
allows the Bioloid to achieve true auton- designs can be built in a matter of
omy and interact with its environment. As Other Robots minutes, even for novice roboticists.
The comprehensive kit includes We decided that an effective way Next we tried our hand at an
designs for four impressive robots with to gauge the Bioloids effectiveness as intermediate level robot the spider. We
up to 18 joints. The four advanced an educational tool would be to follow found out that dealing with the pockets
designs are a puppy, a tyrannosaurus the natural curriculum of the kit. With becomes somewhat easier with practice.
rex, the ultra-cool sounding King Spider that in mind, we set out to build the A thin screwdriver is a handy way to pro-
and, of course, the iconic humanoid. simplest model a crossing gate. While vide some extra leverage on the nuts, as
Apart from all of the obviously cool this might seem like an underwhelming long as youre careful not to screw up the
stuff in the kit, there are some final project to build first out of such a cool threads. Intermediate level bots take a bit
touches that we really appreciated. kit, we appreciate the fact that Robotis longer to build more like a few hours
Probably the biggest pleasant surprise has provided a simple way for novice instead of tens of minutes. But once that
was that the Bioloid came with batter- tinkerers to get their feet wet. A curso- spider was finished, it was really exciting
ies included, a phrase practically ry glance at the kit reveals some pretty to see that a ho-hum crossing gate could
unheard of nowadays. And if that intimidating stuff tons of tiny fasten- morph into something so cool.
wasnt cool enough, the batteries are ers, intricate frame pieces, lots of cables After graduating from the interme-
rechargeable, and the kit comes with a of various lengths, and a whole mess of diate level designs, we felt confident
charger. We had been working with the Dynamixel servo modules. With such a enough to tackle an advanced design.
kit for a while before we realized that daunting kit on hand, a painfully simple The puppy seemed like a good choice,
the charger was made for AC outlets, design doesnt look so painful after all. because it would be interesting to see
but adapters are pretty easy to find. The crossing gate did indeed use how this modular robot dog compared
very few parts, but it still provided an to other robots that were designed sole-
Commanding the adequate introduction to the kit and its ly with imitating mans best friend in
Bioloid unique attributes. One such attribute is mind. The advanced designs take many
a component of the Bioloids design, hours to complete, so it might be a good
The programming environment for presumably intended to make construc- idea for roboticists that cannot devote
the Bioloid is an interesting beast, and, tion easier: on every servo module and their undivided attention to the Bioloid
like the kit itself, comes in multiple the CM-5, there are pockets that capture to find a good stopping point in the mid-
forms. The main program editor for the the nuts. This sounds like a nice way to dle. Fortunately, thats pretty easy to do
Bioloid looks like a Frankensteined free up some hands when building the with the Bioloid puppy the limbs are
version of Easy C and Visual Basic, with robot, and it often is. Sometimes, built first, and then everything is
literal blocks of code that encompass though, we think the Bioloid kit falls vic- connected to the body. The synthesis of
familiar commands like if, else, and for tim to a stack up of tolerances. When the limbs into a complete bundle of
loops. Sometimes the written youre dealing with mass produced plas- puppy joy is by far the most difficult step,
commands inside the blocks are accom- tic parts that are already a tight fit, small but the end result is wonderfully enter-
panied by curious pictures perhaps imperfections can stymie even the most taining. All it takes after construction is a
meant to appeal to the more visual tenacious of efforts. Unfortunately, it quick download of a sample program
programmer, but often times we found seems like to us that this might from the CD, and the puppy is ready to
our selves scratching our heads and wish- sometimes be the case with the Bioloid. bring smiles to the faces of young and
ing for a Rosetta stone of programming. It could just be us, but it seems like on old roboticists alike. The robotic puppy
The other programming environ- some of the modules that we could only can scamper along at a brisk pace,
ment is the Motion Editor, something ever get three of the requisite four nuts perhaps not with the agility of other
akin to what most other servo based captured in the pockets. Even so, the
robots have. Individual servo motors crossing gate came together without THE BIOLOID SPIDER.
are assigned values
to move to certain YOU GUESSED IT ... THE CROSSING GATE!
positions. The cool
thing is that a series
of commands in
the motion editor
can be saved in
a block and
implemented in the
behavior control
editor. Synergy is a
beautiful thing.
SERVO 01.2007 11
Twin Tweaks ...
SEE ANY RESEMBLANCE? THE CM-5. VINNIE!!
robot dogs, but its certainly quick and tured nuts hullabaloo was worth some- more traditional robotic designs, so
quirky enough to hold its own. The robot thing when the ear fell off, not a single modular robots are the perfect candidates
puppy can sit, eat from your hand, and piece was lost. The Bioloid, like many for technological mimics. The snake was
even do head stands. And as a testa- other robotics kits, is afflicted with the literally quite straightforward to build, but
ment to the Bioloids interchangeable robotic equivalent of the common cold since there was no example program on
nature, a few modifications to the snout loose screws. Its an inevitable malady the CD, we had to come up with our own.
later we had a passable robot cat, quite unless you use Loctite or Nylocks or some An inchworm-like motion was
effective at mimicking the real thing. All other preventative measure, all of which perfectly suited to a synthesis of the
we had to do was reassign some of the are out of the question for modular Bioloids motion editor and behavior
behaviors in the program to buttons on robots that are disassembled and programming. The motion editor is
the CM-5 (we had removed the sensor reassembled repeatedly. While the folks reminiscent of the classic programming
module to achieve a more cat-like face), at Robotis have not implemented a solu- environments for many multiple servo
and the new robot cat was capable of tion for loose screws in the Bioloid, their based robots. By hooking the CM-5 into
the behaviors characteristic of real cats; somewhat frustrating design elements of your computer, you can dictate the motion
namely eating and sleeping. When one little pockets and such will hold onto the of each individual servo, and you even
of the cats ears fell off, we affectionate- loose pieces for dear life, at least cutting have a cool 3D animation for feedback.
ly nicknamed him Vinnie. down on the frustration of trekking out Programming a snake motion was
Vinnies ear problem actually alerted to your local hobby store to find replace- fairly easy we just had to have our line
us to one of the pleasant aspects of the ments for lost mini nuts and screws. of servos give a passable imitation of a
Bioloids design. Apparently, all the cap- sine wave. Our single pulse of snake
Modular Mayhem motion could then be saved and imple-
SLITHERING ALONG ... mented in the behavior control program-
Once we were thoroughly mer. In many programming environ-
acquainted with the designs ments, a repetitive motion like the one
included in the Bioloid kit, we we wanted for our slithering snake could
were ready to branch out with best be achieved by the brute force
our own creations. A classic method of copy and paste. The Bioloids
guise taken by modular robots software allowed for the much more
is that of a snake. The highly elegant solution of a for loop or some
articulated nature of the slithery similar command. We think this inclusion
reptile is hard to replicate with of real programming in the Bioloid kit is
very important for the Bioloids educa-
THE ALL-TOO-FAMILIAR ROBOT SNAKE. tional goals, because programming in lan-
guages like C is much more common than
the gait tables proffered by most modular
kits. Soon, we had a slithering snake that
was no where near as smooth as the real
thing, but it did indeed move.
Another advantage of modular
design is the prospect of shape shifting
on the fly. Sure, we were able to turn a
crossing gate into a spider into a puppy
into a snake, but each time we had to
12 SERVO 01.2007
Mighty Morphing Bioloid
SNAKE WHEEL! DYNAMIXEL SENSOR MODULE. DYNAMIXEL SERVO MODULE.
completely disassemble and reassemble fly. The best we could do was to add a as it consumes every Dynamixel module
the bot. What would truly be amazing is claw to the end of the snakes tail and available in the kit. After assembling
a robot that could take the shape of a hope that would be enough to keep the beginner and intermediate designs,
crossing gate, spider, puppy, and snake wheel together. Unfortunately, we constructing the limbs of the humanoid
all without human intervention. Thats already had a flat tire because we need- should be a snap for any roboticist, but
right. Were talking about transformers. ed to include the not so sleek CM-5 in our attaching everything to the body is
snake, and the shaky connection made where the real challenge begins. At times
Shape Shifting for a wheel that any unicyclist would we were wishing for more than four
Snake Eyes avoid. Perhaps the time had come to collective hands, but eventually we were
move onto something bigger and better. able to complete the humanoid Bioloid.
If cool factor isnt compelling The humanoid Bioloid is filled with
enough of an argument, there are a The Derivative of personality. With the demo program,
multitude of practical reasons that shape Optimus the Bioloid will fend off obstacles with
shifting robots are a popular quest karate moves, dance, lay down, and of
among roboticists. Simply put, wheels are Advertisements for the Bioloid and course walk all over the place. While
great for smooth terrain, but when the the box of the bot itself are emblazoned perhaps not as agile as other bipedal
going gets rough, legs are more capable. with the iconic form of the humanoid servo walkers that we have worked
So why not always use legs? Because servo walker, so it seems appropriate that with, none of those other servo walkers
wheels are so much faster on smooth ter- the humanoid bot is the final, and could brag that they had been a puppy
rain. A conundrum there seems to be a presumably most difficult, design mere hours earlier. But is the Bioloid the
tradeoff between speed, simplicity, and detailed in the instruction manual. The proverbial jack of all trades, and there-
the ability to grapple with uneven terrain. humanoid design is indeed a challenge, fore master of none? Perhaps the
With shape shifting modular robotics,
there doesnt have to be a trade; you can A PROGRAM!
have it all. There is the possibility of hav-
ing a snake to tackle uneven terrain turn
into a wheel to race across flat ground.
Thats what we were aiming to
achieve with our snake bot a snake
that could curl up into wheel. It seems a
bit underwhelming, but its harder than it
sounds. Real shape shifting modular
robots have ways of reconfiguring on the
fly, something that the Bioloid lacks. Real
shape shifting robots have ways of recon-
necting and disconnecting modules with-
out human intervention, either through
autonomous latches or some other fancy
bit of technology. The only way the
Bioloid modules are connected are
through nuts and screws, so there really
wasnt an easy way to reconfigure on the
SERVO 01.2007 13
Twin Tweaks ...

formed product looked kind of like a confusing for novices. The beginner kit
sprint racecar, or if that was perhaps is, however, perfectly suited for begin-
too flattering maybe an old style ners looking for something closer to
buggy, the kind that supplanted horse real robots (as per the Bioloids slogan)
drawn carriages. Since one of the than something like LEGO Mindstorms.
preprogrammed behaviors of the The Bioloid doesnt come with an explic-
humanoid Bioloid was to lay down, all it curriculum, but we really think that
we had to do was modify that to going through and building the robots
include a very painful looking yoga detailed in the manual provides a
position and we had our buggy. Only comprehensive walkthrough of the con-
the front two wheels were powered, so struction and programming for the kit.
our buggy might have benefited from a Also, we think that to be an effective
BIOLOID RACECAR ... ER ... BUGGY!? robotic horse. If we had another educational tool, the kit has to be widely
Bioloid kit, we would have made one. accessible. Any bipedal servo walker can
Bioloid cannot claim utter mastery in teach a roboticist of any level something
any of its more complex forms, but its Saving the World, about human motion and mechanical
versatility is nothing short of impressive. One Robot at a Time limitations and adaptation, but kits
Never ones to be anthropomorph- upwards of one thousand dollars simply
centric, we realized that the Bioloid Overall, we are overwhelmingly arent going to reach that many people.
humanoid might benefit from some impressed with the Bioloid kit. It pro- The Bioloid beginner kit will presumably
shape shifting. Inspired by the robotic vides a truly viable educational platform only run a couple of hundred dollars,
heroes on the television shows of our while being undeniably entertaining. making it far more accessible to roboti-
youth, we set out to give the Bioloid And even if it cant live up to the stan- cists, particularly novices looking for a kit
wheels. Not wheels to replace his feet, dards of reconfigureability of real world with which to get involved in robotics.
of course, but wheels that would modular robots, that is hardly a bad Once new roboticists are hooked by
allow the Bioloid to transform from a thing. The folks at Robotis have created the beginner kit, the Bioloid kit tells you
humanoid into a car. Without the luxury a kit that stimulates the imagination and exactly what additional parts you need
of reconfiguration on the fly, we had to educates roboticists of all skill levels. to be able to build the intermediate and
come up with a way for the Bioloid to We really think the offering of the advanced robots. This step-by-step pro-
fold up in order to become a car. Thats Bioloid in three different kits in particu- gression that leads up to a bipedal servo
the way the Transformers did it too, so lar is very conducive to the robots stat- walker is effective for not tossing novices
we were confident when we set about ed goal of being educational. As any down a mercilessly steep learning curve
giving the Bioloid a new set of arms. type of robot, modular robots like the and also for providing motivation to con-
We think that our final trans- Bioloid can be very intimidating and tinue working and learning with the kit.
The great motivation that the Bioloid
provides is that the new designs keep
getting cooler and cooler. Once a bud-
HobbyEngineering ding roboticist has built the spider, of
course theyll want to build the king
The technology builder's source for kits, components, supplies, tools, books and education.
spider next. And if just the idea of a cool
new robot isnt motivation enough, the
Robot Kits For All Skill Levels ICs, Transistors, Project Kits CD comes with videos demonstrating the
abilities of every design detailed in the kit.
Motors, Frame Components The Bioloid is a truly inspirational kit.
and Scratch Builder Supplies.
Even though our first experiences build-
ing with it were a bit tedious, we quickly
Order by Internet, phone, fax or mail.
got past that to realize that the Bioloid is
www.HobbyEngineering.com flat out cool. And when theres an edu-
Books and 1-866-ROBOT-50 cational robot kit with great potential for
1-866-762-6850 effectiveness that is undeniably cool,
Educational K 1-650-552-9925 everybody wins. And thats how the real
1-650-259-9590 (fax)
[email protected]
Transformers would have wanted it. SV
180 El Camino Real
BEAM Kits and Components Millbrae, CA 94030
Visit our store near SFO! Recommended Website
For more information on the
Most orders ship the day received! World-wide shipping. Convenient payment options. Bioloid, go to www.robotis.com
14 SERVO 01.2007
S C t
helping change the face of robotics

REX shows a few of its many expressions
Interactive Cybernetics REX model uses 46 servos controlled

exclusively by Yost Engineerings ServoCenter 3.1 controller boards.
Unlike other servo controllers, The independent control of both servo

position and speed makes the ServoCenter
the unique features of the Yost controllers especially us
applications such as robotics, animatronics,
Engineering ServoCenter 3.1 motion control, automation, retail displays,
controller allow us to produce and other areas where independent or
FRRUGLQDWHGXLGVHUYRPRWLRQLVGHVLUHG
lifelike facial expressions and The
realistic lip sync says REX
EX
developer Walter Buist.
Visit www.icrex.com for REX scheduled servo motors.
www.YostEngineering.com
icrex.com
cre com
SERVO 01.2007 15
MrRoboto.qxd 12/7/2006 8:21 AM Page 16
Our resident expert on all things

robotic is merely an Email away.
[email protected]
Tap into the sum of all human knowledge and get your questions answered here!
From software algorithms to material selection, Mr. Roboto strives to meet you
where you are and what more would you expect from a complex service droid?
by
Pete Miles
Q . I have an odd question for

you. I am thinking about
buying a mini-lathe, but find it
hard to spend that much money on just
one tool. Can you give some reasons
parts than to build them yourself.
But it is always nice to have your
own tools to make the exact parts that
you want. Sometimes this is for func-
tion, sometimes it is for appearance,
the hub. I made up some drawings and
sent them to local machine shops. The
quotes I got were around $600 for the
set of hubs. Well, at that time, the
mini-lathe I wanted cost a little less
why a hobbyist would want to buy one and sometimes it is to save money. than $400. So I bought a lathe and
for their own use? When people need a special or critical about $100 worth of tools to go with
Troy Alexson part they cant buy off-the-shelf, they it, and made the hubs myself. In the
Toronto, Canada are left with three choices: abandon the end, I got the hubs made, saved a
need for it, have someone make it for $100, and got a lathe for a bunch of
A . The first thing that needs to be

considered is, if it is really need-
ed. There are a lot of parts that
can be bought that would meet your
needs. Sometimes they are not the
you, or make it yourselves. If you have a
friend make the parts for you, you
usually end up compensating them for
their time. If you go to a machine shop,
this will cost you more money than hav-
other projects. So buying the lathe can
actually save you money.
For most people, making parts
with their own hands is what brings
them joy, and it is the main reason why
best fit, but they can be either modi- ing a friend make it for you. Depending they buy the tools for their hobbies. Its
fied, or the rest of the projects design on what the part is, a machine shop a really addicting passion, making pre-
altered to fit the parts. Even if you have may be the only practical option. cision parts to make machines work.
the tools to make the parts yourself, In my case, I bought a mini-lathe to This is why the whole robotics hobby
many hobbyists still look for existing save money. Well, I always wanted one, exists, making things for yourself.
parts to use first before resorting to anyway. I had a project where I needed If you decide to get a lathe, I
making them themselves. In most some special hubs to mount some R/C would recommend that you get a
cases, it is less expensive to purchase tires to an axle and hold a sprocket to bigger lathe than you think you will
need (assuming you can afford
Figure 1. Lynxmotion Wireless PS2 Controller. Figure 2. Lynxmotion PS2 Adapter Cable. it). Eventually, you will want to
make things bigger than the
lathe you are currently looking at
can handle. The machines them-
selves are usually the cheapest
part of the expense. All of the
tooling that you get to use the
lathe eventually costs much
more than the lathe does. And if
you end up getting a bigger
lathe down the road, you may
find out that all the tooling that
you currently have no longer
works with the new lathe. So, to
save money in the long run, get
the bigger lathe up front.
16 SERVO 01.2007
Q . I recently got a wireless PS2

controller from eBay to
remotely control one of my
robots. The problem I have is that I
cant get it to work with my BASIC
their robots. Most of the example
programs from Lynxmotion use the
Basic Atom microcontroller (www.
basicmicro.com), which is fast and
quite powerful.
plugged it into my Playstation game
console. This was very puzzling.
To try to figure out what is going
on, I tapped into the test circuit with my
Parallax USB Oscilloscope (www.paral
Stamp. I have tried using the example In order to try to figure out why a lax.com part number 28119) to analyze
programs that you showed in the July wireless controller doesnt work the the signals going between the controller
06 issue, but they dont work. I know same way as a regular wired PS2 and the BASIC Stamp. I discovered
the controller works fine since it works controller, I obtained one of the new something very different than what was
on my Playstation. Do you have any wireless controllers that Lynxmotion expected (see http://sophiateam.undr
idea why your example program works sells (model number RC-01); see Figure gnd.free.fr/psx/index.html). The
with a regular PS2 controller, but does- 1. At $19.95, it is a pretty good deal spec says the data signal begins when
nt work with a wireless PS2 controller? for a wireless controller, cheaper than the clock signal changes from high to
Mark Martin the regular PS2 controller I have. As a low (leading edge); see Figure 3. But
Via Ethernet side note, I like the feel of Lynxmotions with the wireless controller, the data
wireless controller in my hand because signal actually begins before the clock
A . Thanks for pointing this out.

When I wrote that article, I
assumed that a wireless controller
would work the same way as a regular
PS2 controller. Since I didnt have a
it is a little larger in size and is easier to
hold. Lynxmotion also has a very handy
adapter cable for the Playstation
compatible controllers (Model Number
PS2C-01) that has the odd shaped con-
signal, and changes state when the
clock signal changes from low to high
(trailing edge); see Figure 4. Figure 5
shows a screen capture of the first two
bytes of data, device ID $73 analog
wireless controller to test at that time, I nector that plugs into the controller mode, and ready $5A.
made this incorrect assumption. The and has a set of regular 0.1 inch With this bit of knowledge, it
code I presented was based on the code spacing connectors that easily interface becomes obvious that the previous pro-
by Aaron Dahlen on his PS2 controller with other electronics; see Figure 2. gram shouldnt work with a wireless con-
article controlling a five-axis Lynxmotion Their $4.95 price tag make this connec- troller since the SHIFTIN functions Mode
(www.lynxmotion.com) arm pub- tor cable a better choice than buying was configured to use the LSBPOST
lished in June 03 in Nuts & Volts and hacking the six foot extension (read the data Least Significant Bit first
Magazine (www.nutsvolts.com), and cable I mentioned in my July article. after sending the clock signal) mode.
Jon Williams PS2 article that was When I got the controller, I hooked Since the data bits actually occur before
published in September 03 in Nuts & it up to the same test setup
Volts. These example programs all work shown in my July article, and to Figure 3. Standard (wired) PS2 Data Signal.
well with a regular wired PS2 controller. my surprise, it did not work.
Lynxmotion has quite a few example And just like you mentioned, it LSB MSB
programs using the PS2 controller with worked perfectly when I
CLOCK
Figure 5. Screen capture of the Parallax USB Oscilloscope.
Blue line is the clock line, and the red line is the data line.
DATA
$73 (11001110)
Figure 4. Wireless PS2 Data Signal.

LSB MSB
CLOCK
DATA
$73 (11001110)
SERVO 01.2007 17
LSB MSB
with both wired and MadCatz (www.madcatz.com) and
wireless controllers. the Lynxmotion controllers require
CLOCK Only one line of faster speeds to keep up with the
code needs to be controllers, whereas the Pelican
changed, depend- (www.pelicanper formance.com)
ing on whether you and Thrustmaster (www.thrust
STANDARD COMMON TIME are using a wired or master.com) have been shown to
PS2 DATA OVERLAP
wireless controller. work with regular BS2 Stamps.
If you are using Logitech (www.logitech.com) has a
a regular wired wireless controller, but I havent heard
WIRELESS
PS2 DATA
controller, set the of anyone successfully interfacing their
Mode to 3, and set controller with a microcontroller.
the mode to 1 for a It is interesting how processor speed
Figure 6. Data signal comparisons between wired and wireless controller. has a significant effect on how well you
wireless controllers with respect to the same clock signal. Figure 6 shows can interface a wireless controller and
the electrical wiring not critical when interfacing with a
the clock signal, the SHIFTINs mode for this circuit. regular wired PS2 controller. For exam-
needs to be changed to LSBPRE (read This doesnt answer the whole ple, a Basic Atom microcontroller doesnt
the LSB before sending the clock signal). question, however. The wireless con- need to read the data in before the clock
The program shown in Listing 1 troller has a much tighter timing require- pulse (LSBPRE mode), whereas the
includes these changes, and will work ment than the regular PS2 controller. If BASIC Stamp does. In fact, the Basic
the Stamp takes too Atom will not even work if you try to
Listing 1 long to process the read the data in before the clock pulse.
data to and from It needs to use the LSBPOST mode in the
{$STAMP BS2px} the controller, the ShiftIn function to properly read in the
{$PBASIC 2.5} wireless controller data. Measurements on the actual clock
This demo program has been shown to work with
BS2p24 and BSpx24, and does not work with regular
will time out for a signal from a Playstation console indicate
BS2 Stamps with the Lynxmotion wireless controller. moment and lose its that its natural clock speed is about 125
wireless connection kHz. Since it is transmitting 21 bytes of
clk PIN 7 Clock Line with the receiver, data, the time required to read in the
att PIN 6 Attention Line
dat PIN 4 Data Line
and only sporadic data from both controller types is about
cmd PIN 5 Command Line information is trans- 0.3 ms. A Basic Atom will read in the
mitted. I have tried data in about 4.5 ms. This speed is prob-
Mode CON 3 1 = Wireless Controller = LSBPRE three different BASIC ably why the Atom syncs up well with
3 = Wired Controller = LSBPOST
Stamps with this pro- the controllers. A BS2px24 takes about
Temp VAR Byte(8) Controller data gram. The BS2p24 13.8 ms to read in all the data from the
i VAR Byte Loop Counter and the BS2px24 are controller. Though the Stamp still works,
fast enough to keep it requires reading in the data in a
Main Wireless Controller loop
up with the commu- different format. A regular BS2 Stamp is
Main: nications with the about six times slower, and does not
GOSUB Wireless_PS2 wireless controller, sync up with the Lynxmotion wireless
GOTO main but the regular BS2 controller. This indicates that the com-
Wireless_PS2: Stamp doesnt work mon overlap time where both systems
Read Controller mode $41=digital, $73=analog because it is too work is not much slower than 14 ms.
LOW att slow. Figure 6 illustrates this. Slowing the clock
SHIFTOUT cmd, clk, LSBFIRST, [$01] I am not the speed increases the common overlap
SHIFTIN dat, clk, mode, [temp(1)]
HIGH att only one that has time, but longer clock times can result in
Read controllerr observed all this. the wireless controllers timing out.
LOW att Read the discussions Interfacing a microcontroller to a
SHIFTOUT cmd, clk, LSBFIRST, [$01,$42,$00] on the Parallax wireless controller is pretty straight-
FOR i = 2 TO 7
SHIFTIN dat, clk, mode, [temp(i)] forums (http:// forward, but it should be done with the
NEXT forums.parallax. faster microcontrollers such as a BS2px24,
HIGH att com/forums/defa Basic Atom, or even the new Propeller
Display Results ult.aspx?f=5&p=5 chip from Parallax. This is kind-of a long
DEBUG CRSRXY, 0, 2,Mode: ,IHEX2 temp(1), , CR
DEBUG CRSRXY, 0, 3,BIN8 temp(2), , BIN8 temp(3), &m=138508) about discussion about wireless controllers in
, DEC3 temp(4), , DEC3 temp(5), , what other people general, I am hoping that it provides you
DEC3 temp(6), , DEC3 temp(7), CR have learned. It enough information to get your controller
RETURN
looks like the to work with your robot. SV
18 SERVO 01.2007
Geerhead.qxd 12/6/2006 11:48 AM Page 20
by David Geer Contact the author at [email protected]
RoboGeddon It!
Are You Getting It?
You could be getting into RoboGeddon a good-sized scale version
of events like BattleBots or Robot Wars without traveling very far.
The portable robot battle game comes to you via trailer at your
local amusement park or event, as well as being available as a
permanent install at some attractions (mostly in the UK for now).
he mobile or static, High Octane the creators like to say, meaning set operated by a live operator.
T Robotic Combat System brings the
arena and ready-made battle bots
permanently in one place) and four 80
kg robots. The robots can flip each
During game play, you try to score
points by ramming your bot into the
wherever an event or gathering hires other over and get themselves upright other players bump goals, behind
the system and its operators/makers when fallen in battle (with player which the respective players also
to come. Highly successful since assistance by remote) by use of the control their robots. The early
2004 when RoboGeddon debuted at same, single flipper. prototype bumpers on the bots, says
LEGOLAND of Windsor (UK), the game There is also a computerized game RoboGeddon representative Andrew
has gone on to be a highly sought control system with music, a public Cotterell, were made of steel but we
attraction by amusement vendors and address system, and sound effects that discovered that a 80 kg robot traveling
consumers. interact with game play. Robots are at 6 mph into another traveling at the
controlled by radio transmissions. same speed tended to bend the
Part-speak RoboGeddon can be coin-operated bumpers we now use plastic
in stand alone mode (controlled by bumpers with shock mounts.
RoboGeddons parts include the the master computer control system), A winner is decided by highest
Arena (either portable or static as as in a large arcade attraction or be score after a round of two minutes.
A RoboGeddon battle in progress, flippers a-flying! Fully inflated RoboDome surrounds RoboGeddon
while crowds watch.
20 SERVO 01.2007
GEERHEAD
People Watching
Assessments
Surrounding
RoboGeddon
In actual play, younger
children generally defeat older
kids because they have a much
greater mastery of the joystick
control and a familiarity with it,
according to the RoboGeddon Player console close-up with lots
maker (RobotsRUs) company of colors and buttons. RoboGeddon Raptor robot close-up.
representative Andrew Cotterell.
Likewise, girls generally beat the
boys as they concentrate more on how
ence centers, fair grounds, trade shows,
malls, museums, and go-kart tracks.
Static Install Statistics
to score points and figure that part out RoboGeddons gaming arena is 36 A permanently installed
more quickly. All the boys want to do square meters, topped by an inflatable RoboGeddon can be had cheaper
is flip and bash other bots, says RoboDome. Four Cyber Raptor robots because the cost of the trailer system
Cotterell (not surprising). Sometimes, come with each setup and can be which is not required is subtracted
players will find out they have been manipulated to flip other robots over or from the total cost. Installs of the
watching the wrong robot and wonder out of the way or to put themselves static system are highly customizable
why it isnt responding to the actions upright again once they have been including the size of the arena itself
they take with the controls. flipped. The flipping and repositioning to suit your permanent location.
helps your robot to successfully get to This system is suitable for venues
Back to the Tangibles an opposing robots corner to score. similar to those for the mobile system
Each robot is powered by a rapid and includes piers, zoos, campgrounds,
The mobile version of RoboGeddon recharge cell that can be recharged in and other locations. Multiple game
comes with a trailer system with the charge control system in about 45 formats are available for programmed
hydraulically-operated sides that drop minutes. There are four spare cells so computer-assisted play.
down to form the actual gaming plat- that the robots dont ever have to be Systems also come with four
form. The platform installs in about an without power. player controls/consoles with coin
hour and is quite sturdy and permanent The system also comes with instal- operation mechanisms, score panels,
looking. This is an all-weather gaming lation and maintenance manuals, as and bump goals. Remote score panels
system with a site space requirement of well as training manuals for operation. are also available.
11 meters square. Outside maintenance contracts are RoboGeddon cost around 900,000
The RoboGeddon makers had available from the company, as well as a GBPs (about US $1.7 million) to build
thought that it would take longer to phone number for expert consultation. from initial research to todays product
put up the mobile system in bad
weather, but it actually takes less time ROBOSOCCER UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
as the crew works harder to get it up
and get out of the rain. RoboSoccer involves four players maneuver the soccer ball and other
The trailer system is complete unto and four robots in soccer play in a players around the playing field. The
itself with a foldout crowd barrier space of about 7.5 by 5 meters. actual area that is available for play is 24
This rugged system is designed to feet by 16 feet. There are two goal
system. Ask the company about
be used constantly, so it is protected by stations, two player stations, and each
additional add-on features. In addition impact-resistant barriers and surround- station controls two robots. The game is
to coin-operated and human-operated ed by a crowd-retaining barrier. operated by a computer system that is
game play, RoboGeddon can be set up Its integrated goal system and play- programmed to control cash payments
for free play if you are providing it er control system are each fitted at both to play or free play, as well as the sound
gratis for your family or guests. Game ends of the playing field, where players system for effects and background music
play is computer assisted. stand and manipulate the controls for a and the robots. The robots operate on
The system is appropriate for indoor game of soccer that can last up to four four batteries/power cells one each
and outdoor attractions and anywhere minutes. The game system and equip- and there are four spare cells, as well.
guests or customers may congregate ment can be set up in three hours. You can see RoboSoccer in the UK
The system comes with four robot and via video clip (provided in the
including theme parks, family entertain-
combat vehicles for soccer play that can Resources).
ment centers, hotels, resorts, confer-
SERVO 01.2007 21
GEERHEAD
RoboGeddon trailer, arena open

Trailer arena close-up with robots. Circuitry. with dome, close-up.
over a three-year span. The mobile system worked well for same basic robot builds but no flippers.
events but theme parks and ongoing The game is played on a soccer field
Upgrades venues required the static systems. inside the game arena by two blue and
The robots themselves have been two red robots. Players win by using
Initially, the game format was improved upon many times for reliability. the robots to score soccer goals.
extremely complex, too much so for Improvements to the four robots have The included soccer ball is 14 lbs.
the general public to easily use and included improved drive belts, motor This is a coin-operated game for theme
appreciate. Much of the engineering control, lifter mechanisms, bumper sys- parks and similar venues. The robots
and upgrades went into resolving this tems, crash absorption devices, power run all day with no recharge.
problem. The initial system was only handling, heat control, sound use, playa- RoboDerby is a soon-to-be-released
static, for example, which was too bility, and the ability to use add-ons. robotic horse that can carry an adult.
expensive a system to succeed com- Further planned upgrades include RobotsRUs the company behind
mercially. This led to the mobile system. robot feedback to the control system RoboGeddon, RoboSoccer, and
so it knows how much power the RoboDerby plans to sell sets of four
RESOURCES robots have left. The system will soon robot horses so the new owners can
be able to tell for certain which robots transport them by trailer to events and
www.robogeddon.com/index.asp do the actual flipping over. Right now, run the horses as robot race horses.
RoboGeddon site it only knows when points have been By pulling the tail of the horse in front
scored. The game currently factors of you, you can slow it down by 25
www.Robosoccer.co.uk who has won by the number of points percent and gain the lead on it.
RoboSoccer site given up by other opponents.
www.robogeddon.com/movies/Robo US Availability
soccer_streamer.rm Rock em, Sock em,
RobotsRUs is in talks with many
RoboSoccer Streaming Video RoboSoccer and domestic event promoters who have
www.robogeddon.com/links.asp RoboDerby expressed an interest in involving
RoboGeddon permanent install themselves in bringing the
locations and entertainment providers RoboSoccer has just been RoboGeddon system to the United
launched. This robot game uses the States. Stay tuned! SV
Team Razer robot.

ROBOGEDDON FUN FACTS
RoboGeddon is the first commer- The actual robots, according to
cially sold, mobile robot combat RobotsRUs representative Andrew
system for game play, available in the Cotterell, are a cross between a Bat
UK for almost three years now. Mobile and a Humvee. Theyre fast
The most unique design problem yet maneuverable, since they were
was giving the robots the ability to designed by world champion robot
reposition themselves upright from battlers and engineers, Team Razer.
whatever laying position they had Those who have followed Robot Wars
been flipped in. Other challenges and BattleBots may know of Team
included keeping the system fun while Razer, the Razer fighting robot, and Ian
also affordable. Lewis, designer and owner of Razer.
22 SERVO 01.2007
RobolinksJan07.qxd 12/7/2006 9:17 PM Page 23
Electronic Parts & Supplies

Since 1967
For the finest in robots, parts, and services, go to www.servomagazine.com and click on Robo-Links.
SERVO 01.2007 23
Jan07NewProd.qxd 12/7/2006 7:55 PM Page 24
New Products
N E W P RO D U C T S
throughout the entire landscape, yet specific sounds at
SENSORS specific locations when the train arrives or passes by.
Perhaps you want to add different sounds to every room
of a dollhouse. Or, add sounds to your robot or animatron-
Brushless Motor RPM Sensor ics character. All this is possible with the SoundPlexer8000.
E agle Tree Systems announces their innovative new

Brushless Electric Motor RPM Sensor/Tachometer. The
brushless RPM sensor makes it easy to measure RPM.
SoundPlexer8000 features include:
To measure RPM on a brushless electric plane, heli, Records up to eight one-minute tracks.
car, or boat, just tap one wire from the tiny new sensor
into one motor lead, enter motor parameters to the soft- Built-in LCD display screen with an intuitive menu system
ware, and you are ready to go. The brushless RPM sensor for quick and simple programming, recording, and play-
is compatible with Eagle Trees MicroPower, PowerPanel, back. No computer or host system needed.
Seagull, and Data Recorder products. Using the Brushless
RPM Sensor with Eagle Trees Seagull and Data Recorder Record from either the built-in microphone or line in
products requires firmware level 4.XX or higher, which has from any sound source line out.
been shipping since approximately August 2005.
For further information, please contact: Playback any track through one or all eight speakers
4957 Lakemont Blvd. SE, Ste. C-4, PMB 235
simultaneously.
Eagle Tree Bellevue, WA 98006
Systems Email: [email protected]
Website: www.eagletreesystems.com
Each output is capable of driving an eight-ohm speaker
with one watt of continuous and up to two watts of peak
power.
SOUND PROCESSING
Master volume control.
All New SoundPlexer8000
Eight selectable inputs which are edge triggered. Either
T he SoundPlexer8000 unit from GB

Innovations will allow you to
record/playback sounds and route
low or high going sensor pulses will trigger the input.
Programmable delays which will delay the track from

them to any of the eight speaker out- playing after an input has been triggered.
puts, in any combination (for example,
sound track 1 can be heard out of Program any switch input to trigger any track (sound)
speakers 2, 5, and 7 or sound track 7 out of any of the eight speakers via the user programma-
can be routed to all eight speakers ble Play list. Play lists are stored in EEPROM for data
simultaneously). The SoundPlexer8000 can also be config- retention.
ured to trigger these sounds via simple switches or PIR
sensors (for example, sound track 2 can be sent to speak- Built-in +-5V supply, via phoenix-style connectors for all
ers 2, 6, and 8 when input 2 is triggered). Any combina- sensors/switches.
tion of speakers/inputs/outputs can be programmed
through the intuitive menu system via the built-in LCD dis- PIR sensor compatibility.
play. The SoundPlexer8000 makes adding sound to any
environment/project easy. SoundPlexer8000s are being distributed through Blue
Point Engineering and can be ordered directly from Blue
What Can the SoundPlexer8000 Do? Point Engineerings website.
For further information, please contact:
Imagine the sound of a ghost following someone
Tel: 6318918034
down a hallway, or a haunted room with different sounds GB Innovations Email: [email protected]
coming from different objects around the room. Or, how Website: www.bpesolutions.com/
about a model train layout with different sound effects asoundeuipspecial.html
24 SERVO 01.2007
Page 25.qxd 12/7/2006 7:49 PM Page 25
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SERVO 01.2007 25
CombatZone.qxd 12/6/2006 11:39 AM Page 26
Featured This Month

Participation
26 First Aid for Bot Builders
by Kevin Berry
27 Entering Combat Robotics at

a Young Age by Aaron Taggart
Feature
28 Gone Postal: The Building of
PARTICIPATI N
a 12 lb Robot by Brian Benson First Aid for Bot Builders
by Kevin Berry
Events
29 Results Oct. 14 - Nov. 13
32 Upcoming Jan. and Feb.
B ot builders are famous for
getting minor dings when
building bots, both at home and
seemed to think germs had
the same priorities he did that is,
finishing the bot counted more
in the pits. Every builder should than treating wounds.
Technical Knowledge have a minimal first aid kit around, Some things, such as bleeding
with bandages, peroxide, antibiot- puncture wounds, chest pains, dizzi-
30 Four Bar Lifters in Combat ic ointment, and aloe vera (for ness, and double vision, need imme-
Robotics by Adam Wrigley minor burns). The other thing diate medical attention. A dead bot
builders should have in their kits is builder is good to no one, and by
Product Review a sense of their own vulnerability. the way, cant compete in events (at
Some injuries can be safely treated least in most of them, anyway.) So
32 Astroflight 109 Charger at home, some require medical build safe, and judge well when it
by Bradley Hanstad assistance. A few need immediate comes to injuries and illnesses. To
9-1-1 calls! mangle an expression, the builder
Ive seen a builder, in the who has himself for a doctor has an
absence of proper supplies, poke idiot for a patient. SV
himself in the knuckle with a
power drill, staunch the bleed-
ing with a dirty paper towel,
and slap a strip of duct tape
over the whole enchilada.
Two days later, after finish-
ing the bot and competing
in the event (I won, by the
way), this mystery man
finally treated the wound
with proper supplies, and
amazingly didnt get blood
poisoning. I, er I mean, he,
26 SERVO 01.2007
Entering Combat Robotics at a Young Age

by Aaron Taggart
S o, you may have seen the show

Battlebots on TV, or heard about
the Robot Fighting League (RFL) or
by Team Infinity, the builders of the
Super Heavy Weight robot Final
Destiny, who had appeared on TV
Resources
RFL www.botleague.net
the North East Robotics Club (NERC) on Battlebots. I did pretty well for my NERC www.nerc.us
in the local news or on the Internet first time, placing 3rd with three wins
Botrank www.botrank.com
and liked what you saw. If you were and two losses, losing to the 1st and
like me, you probably thought to 2nd place robots. BuildersDB www.buildersdb.com
yourself Hey, that looks like fun, I Since then, I have competed at
could do that! 20 events and attended 23. There werent for the advice given to me by
The first time I saw Battlebots on have been times when I was frustrated friends Jr. of Team Mad Cow, Jon of
TV I was 11 years old and flipping enough to think about taking a break Team Anarchy, and James Arluck.
through the channels one day when I for a while after doing poorly at an With their advice, tricks, and
was bored. I became hooked on the event, but then I bounced back and general knowledge I was able to
show, and followed it from then on did well for the next few. As of this learn a lot of things I would never
until its final season on Comedy Central writing, I have the #1 ranked active have thought of on my own. The
in 2002. Around 2000-2001, I started 12-lber, according to Botrank (an best part of going to an event is that
to get more interested, looked around online robot ranking service), and the you can see first hand what works
online for more information, and found 3rd ranked 12-lber historically. There is and what doesnt. There isnt really
the Battlebots Forum on Delphi. I no limit to what you can do if you anything to be taught in a classroom
lurked around for a while before apply yourself and are willing to learn. about this, as it is more of an
becoming a member in late 2001. I The best advice I can give to acquired skill/understanding. You
casually chatted with other builders in young people is to look around. Look will pick up many skills that can be
the chat room, who were very helpful. at peoples websites, read build useful later in life if you decide to
Around 2002 I discovered the reports, and watch fight videos. This pursue a career in engineering, man-
North East Robotics Club, which was will help you get an idea of what is ufacturing, or machine work, and it
composed of smaller events primarily going on, and also give you some also looks good for college applica-
based around the PennsylvaniaNew ideas of your own. Be prepared to tions as an extra-curricular activity.
Jersey area with weight classes learn a lot. There are a lot of tricks One important thing to remem-
ranging from 1 lb to 30 lbs. In June of you can pick up by watching what ber is if you come off as a jerk,
2003 when I was 13, I went to my first others do. There are no real tricks to people will generally react in an
event, 12 lbs of Pain, hosted by Pound winning, but there are plenty of according manner. (Dont be the per-
of Pain and the NERC in Concord, NH. ways not to lose. If you find an event son who gets ribbed on all the time,
I went to watch, and to see what going on near you, go check it out. you want to be with the in-crowd
going to an event in person was like, You will have a good time, you will who does the ribbing.) The easiest
since I had only seen videos online get to see the robots in person, and way to get on the nerves of builders
and Battlebots on TV. The fights were you will meet the builders. Do your is by asking questions that have
great and the builders some of best to make some friends in the answers that are easy to find. When
which I had talked to previously online community, which will help you online, poor spelling turns off a lot of
were friendly. I then competed at immensely in the future; a good people so use some kind of a spell
my first event in August of the same friend goes a long way. I would not checker. When you go to your first
year, in Syracuse, NY that was hosted be nearly as successful now if it event as a competitor, remember to
Author and Vadim Chernyak setting up From left to right: Brad Handstad, Chad New, Author at House of NERC 2006 working on
the arena at the House of Slackers event. Darci Trousdale, Aaron Taggart, Jon Durand. Rants Pants. Photo taken by Jon Durand.
Photo taken by Ray Barsa. Photo is from 2005 RFL Nationals in
San Francisco, CA.
SERVO 01.2007 27
bring all of your parts and tools you have to go hunting for tools from back what you borrow. There is a
will need. It is always important to others. However, do note that many vast amount of information available
have spares, as well as tools and builders will be more than willing to on the Internet, and the best way to
other necessities such as a power- lend you a tool or plug into their get ahead and off on the right foot is
strip so that you dont constantly power strip, but remember to bring to use it to your advantage. SV
GONE P STAL
THE BUILDING OF A 12 POUND ROBOT
by Brian Benson
T here are many different tech-

niques and approaches to building
12 pound combat robots. They range
components and the materials to
build the frame out of. For the
mechanical and electrical compo-
in order to get a basic idea of how
well I would meet the 12 lb maximum
requirement, shown in Figure 1.
from the extreme of designing the nents, I choose: two IFI Victor 833
entire robot on the computer, to the speed controllers because I already The Frame
gathering of a pile of parts and put- had them on hand; three 12 volt
ting it together whatever way looks Harbor Freight cordless drill motors; With the components chosen, I
best. For builders that are just begin- batteries from the drill for power; a was able to determine the basic frame
ning, the second method is a great Team Delta Bigger Dual Ended Switch size and begin. I cut the 1/2 UHMW
way to get a robot built, have some (Part #RCE225) to control the hammer outer frame with a wood saw and the
fun, and gain some experience. I had motor; a PCM receiver; and 4 Colson aluminum base plate using a plasma
only two weeks to build Gone Postal, wheels. For building materials, I want- cutter, although a jigsaw would have
so this technique worked out well. ed something durable, lightweight, also been a fine substitute for the
I decided I was going to build a and easy to work with. I chose 1/2 plasma cutter for those without one.
12 lb robot because many of the inch thick UHMW (ultra high molecu- Figure 2 shows the frame members
parts I had would fit easily into a lar weight polyethylene) for the sides, and base plate laid out.
robot that size, and I could cost- 1/8-inch thick 6061 aluminum for the
effectively use cordless drill motors base plate, and .09-inch thick surplus Drive Train
and batteries. My first step was deter- carbon fiber sheet for the top plate.
mining what type of weapon the With my pile of parts gathered, I could Now that I had a frame, I needed
robot would have. After considering begin on the robot! to start on the drive train. I used off-
a variety of designs, I concluded that the-shelf wheel hubs made specifically
a hammer robot would be the best Organized Pile of Parts for attaching Colsons to drill motors. I
choice. It would allow for the drive modified the drills to lock the clutch
and weapon motors to be the same, I began by assembling the batter- and used more of the 1/2 UHMW for
it would be easy to build, and not ies; building two 12 volt packs using the motor mounts. I cut out the cen-
many hammer robots were around so the cells that had come with the drills. ter holes with a hole saw on the drill
it would be a little different. Now that I had the basic compo- press and a scroll saw for the second
nents, I played with different layouts square shaped hole. Figure 3 shows
Components until I found one that I was happy
FIGURE 3. Motor mounts cut out and ready to go.
with based on how well it would drive
My first choice before building and perform and how compactly it fit
the robot was picking the mechanical together. I then weighed everything
FIGURE 1. Weighing the components. FIGURE 2. Test-fitting the frame pieces.
28 SERVO 01.2007
FIGURE 5. The wedge is completed

and attached.
FIGURE 6. Gone
Postal prepped and
FIGURE 4. Everything is nearly mounted. ready for battle!
the finished mounts ready for use. shows the robot nearly done! gone four iterations since it was first
Everything was complete except built, gaining spring steel armor over
Finishing Touches for the top armor, the hammer, and the the side UHMW and a titanium
wiring. I made the top armor out of .09 wedge and hammer arm. In each
With the motor mounts com- inch carbon fiber sheet for its strength iteration, it has become a little
plete and sides cut out, all I had left and minimal weight. For this, I used a smaller and a little tougher, but the
to do on the base plate was to cut diamond wet saw, the key word being same core building techniques have
out the holes for the wheels, which I wet. Carbon fiber dust can be extreme- been used each time.
did using a plasma cutter. With each ly harmful and should not be breathed Figure 7 shows Gone Postal in its
subcomponent complete, it was time in under any circumstances. prime. It is ranked historically in 30th
to combine them. I decided to use Through a combination of hav- place out of over 250 robots, racking
10-24 size screws to fasten it togeth- ing water constantly pumping onto up a 35 fight record and known to
er. The motors were mounted, the the cutting edge to eliminate dust many as the bot that just wont die. It
sides were attached to the base and a respirator, I was able to easily has proved to be one of the most fun
plate, and the electronics shock and safely cut the top plate. The ham- bots I have built and competed with,
mounted. Shock mounting is always mer was more fun, for this I found a being cheap, effective, and different.
critical for electrical components. As piece of 1/8 steel and used the Further details on Gone Postal includ-
you can see in Figure 6, the speed plasma cutter to create the hammer ing photos and videos can be found
controllers and relay board were shape I was looking for. To attach the at www.robotic-hobbies.com. SV
shock mounted to an 1/8 sheet of hammer to the drill, I took advantage
polycarbonate, which was then shock of the threaded shaft, clamping the FIGURE 7. Gone Postal
version four with its 1/2
mounted to the frame. The batteries hammer arm between the shoulder diameter titanium arm
and spring steel skin.
must always be easily accessible; to of the shaft and a tightened nut. The
meet this requirement, I chose to use nut and threaded shaft then had an
Velcro straps to secure them. 1/8 hole that a pin went into to
At this point, as you can see in keep the nut from backing off. With
Figure 4 the robot was missing the everything mounted and ready to go,
front half. For this, I chose a wedge I wired the robot up using primarily
to allow me to gain control of other 14 gauge wire. Figure 6 shows Gone
robots to help me use my hammer to Postal at the event ready for battle.
its full effect. After choosing an
angle, I made the wedge and Conclusion
attached it using the same methods
as the rest of the frame. Figure 5 Overall, Gone Postal has under-
EVENTS
RESULTS October 14 - November 13
H ouse of NERC
2006 This
event was held on
Wichendon, MA. Results are as follows:
Antweights 1st: Absolutely Naut VDD, spinner,

10/14/2006, in Anarchy Robotics; 2nd: Disctruction 2.0; 3rd Almost
SERVO 01.2007 29
There, Wedge, Small Bots. Falls, OH. Results are as follows: follows:
Hobbyweights 1st Rants Pants Fleaweights 1st: Mr. Fleaweights

(of Doom), Wedge, Not So-Boring Bigglesworth, saw, Udanis, 2nd: 1st:
Robots (Botrank #1); 2nd: Igoo, Low Lift. Change of
spinner, Mad Scientist; 3rd: Shake Heart, wedge, Misfit; 2nd: Atom
Appeal, spinner, EMF. Antweights 1st: Hit or Miss, Bomb.
saw, AC/DC; 2nd: Fred Fred
Featherweight 1st: Gnome Burger, wedge, Udanis. Antweights 1st: Fire Eagle,
Portal, lifter, Robotic Hobbies; 2nd: wedge, Missfit; 2nd: Stumpy, wedge,
Mangi, spinner, Half Fast Beetleweights 1st: D2, drum, DMV; 3rd: Pooky, wedge, ICE.
Astronaut; 3rd: Power of Metal, D2; 2nd: Chop Chop.
beater, EMF. Beetleweights 1st: Toe Poke,
H ORD Fall 2006 This event was

held on 10/21/2006 in Omsted
H
in
alloween Robot Terror This
event was held on 10/28/2006
Gilroy, CA. Results are as
lifter, Kick-Me; 2nd: Unknown
Avenger, flipper, ICE; 3rd: Itsa,
spinner, Bad Bot. SV
TECHNICAL KN WLEDGE
Four Bar Lifters in Combat Robotics
by Adam Wrigley
W hen it comes to flipping and

lifting weapons, four bar mecha-
nisms are the crme of the crop. Youve
different methods for powering a
four bar lifter. Electric motors can be
used along with several stages of
Finding Input Torque
Now, we are looking at a four
seen them on TV or at your local gear reduction to power either the bar mechanism with torque being
combat robot competition, and now front or rear bar through torsion. applied to either the front or rear
you want to know more about them. If Linear actuators can be geared using bar. What do we do now? We could
youve never seen one, take a look at a rack and pinion method to get an equation for the trajectory
Figure 3 on the next page. The largest accomplish the same end result. based on the powered bar angle
benefit of the four bar design lies in its Other mechanisms include linear input, do a force balance, and a
ability to have any tip trajectory you actuators to nearly any part of any dynamic analysis. We could do that.
desire. You can lift an opponent nearly bar or joint in the mechanism, or to However, that isnt really necessary.
straight up, or out and up, as seen in any bar through a pin/slot The simplest way to solve this prob-
Figure 1. The out and up motion is technique. There really is no simple lem is to look at it as a work balance.
what most people tend to use, and way to explain the system. In fact, The work you put in the system will
allows you to actually tip over the there are entire college courses and equal the work you get out of the
opposing robot. Simple lifters as seen textbooks devoted solely to analyz- system. The work you put into the
in Figure 2 tend to lift up and away, ing four bar mechanisms. To keep system is equal to:
causing the other robot to fall off the this article shorter than a 400 page
tip before full extension is reached. textbook, Ill simply concentrate on Work = Torque * Angle
four bar systems powered by torsion.
How Are They Powered? Torsion power is the simplest With angle being in radians
method of powering a four bar, both (radians = degrees * pi/180) and
There are a huge number of in construction and analysis. equal to total angle traveled by the
input bar. The work output is:
FIGURE 1
Work = Weight * Height
where weight is the weight

of the opposing robot and
height is in the same units as
your torque (if you used
FIGURE 2 ft-lbs for torque, use ft for
30 SERVO 01.2007
height). Drawing out your four bar in the system gets close to these ratio. A conservative calculation for
system to scale in fully collapsed and values, there will be binding. figuring out your gear ratio is this:
fully extended forms will allow you Powering the front bar leverages
to measure the height difference the other robot in such a way Gear Ratio = 4 * (Torque read from
and angle difference from start to that binding rarely occurs during graph)/(Stall torque of motor)
finish. This will allow you to figure extension of the arm.
out the average torque you will It is important, however, to The gear ratio you use should
need to lift the opposing robot by make sure that your mechanism be read as Gear Ratio:1 and is the
setting the previous two equations does not fully extend, and you ratio going from the motor to the
equal to each other and using the should have a mechanical stop to front arm. Using this equation, you
result: prevent this. If your mechanism fully can also look at the RPM of the
extends, then it could have problems motor and try to figure out how
Average Torque = (Weight * collapsing because of binding. A fast you will extend your arm. A
Height)/Angle front bar powered system only simple equation for time is listed
avoids binding in extension, not below:
Average torque can be useful, retraction.
however, you will probably want to Time = 60*{(Angle/360)/
find the maximum torque. To find Using the Graph [(RPM/2)/(Gear Ratio)]}
the maximum, you would need to for Design
draw many scale drawings of the Time will be in seconds. RPM is
system at many different locations When using the program I the no load RPM of the motor, and
through the trajectory, and do this mentioned earlier, it will show some Angle is the total angle difference
procedure for each set of two forms of binding on the graph. If from start to finish of the front arm.
drawings. After doing this, you you see a spike, then your system is This equation wont be exact, but it
would be able to plot a torque vs. binding. Make sure to have your will give you a good approximation
angle graph. It would also be mechanical stop kick in before the of the time needed.
extremely time consuming. Luckily spike in the graph. The spike should
for you, Ive made a program that be at the end of the motion of the Final Design Ideas
does all of this work without you arm. If it is not, then you should
needing to draw anything. change your design. When trying to You can start typing values into
Go to www.totalinsanity.net/ read off a torque for your design the program I mentioned earlier, but
tut/mechanical/4barfrontbar.php. calculations, there are also some it is always best to start with good
This page has the download link, as other concerns that need to be values at your first iteration. The rear
well as a description of how to run taken into account. bar of the four bar mechanism
the program. The program currently Normally, the highest torque is should always be the shortest. The
only solves systems powered by the at the start of the motion of the bottom bar, which is normally part of
front bar, but you will most likely arm. There is a spike seen at the end the chassis, should be the largest.
want to use a front bar powered of the Torque vs. Angle graph in The top bar, which is part of the arm,
system, anyway. It will output a most systems, but this value should should be the second longest, and
graph showing the trajectory of the not be used, since your mechanical the front bar should be the second
tip, as well as a Torque vs. Angle stop will kick in before this. Also shortest.
graph. The graph can then be used important to remember is that the This is pretty much all you need
to find a relative maximum torque torques shown with this program to know to design your first four bar
to use in calculating your gear or calculated by hand using the mechanism using an electric motor
ratios. same method are the torques to power the front bar. If there is
needed to hold the opposing robot. enough interest, I can provide a
Binding You will want a larger torque value similar explanation for different four
than this if you want to lift the bar systems in future issues. SV
Binding is a problem that opponent with
occurs when any of the joints in the some speed. One FIGURE 3
system gets close to 180 or 0. The last mistake that is
system simply gets stuck, and the commonly made is
forces go through the roof when using the stall
this happens. If no force is applied torque of your
to the system and the front bar is motor when calcu-
rotated, then whenever any angle lating your gear
SERVO 01.2007 31
PRODUCT REVIEW Astroflight 109 Charger

by Bradley Hanstad
T he heart and soul of a combat

robot comes down to the batter-
ies you use, but one thing that most
capacity. The scheduled 12 pounder
was going to have up to a 22.2V
pack for the weapon setup. There
three-phase charging sequence,
which will act like a trickle charge at
the end of phase 3 to make sure the
people never consider is the charger was an obvious need for a new pack is fully charged before damage
needed for said batteries. I have charger to handle the higher voltage. can be done by over-charging. The
used several chargers over the years, I searched for a charger to Astroflight 109 can charge up to
and as times change, so do batter- handle over four cells, but many nine cells in series, which is a 33.3
ies. The shift to lithium-polymer, lithi- simply dont, until I found the volt pack! It can also charge at a
um-ion, and even lithium-manganese Astroflight 109. I bought it and rate of 50 mA to nine amps!
has evolved combat robots in the tested it right away on a smaller This is an awesome all-around
smaller classes. As the technologies antweight robot t. Its simple it is to lithium charger that will be used
ever expand and grow, bigger and use, and gives tons of information. heavily in all of my robots that use
higher capacity cells are being made. Just plug your battery pack in lithium technology. I am so thankful
This meant I had to find a charger to before giving the charger power, to the kind people at Astroflight for
support the batteries I wanted to use and it will begin discharging the making this available to people like
for a 12 pound combat robot. pack, but not into the all-so-critical me, so I can get my dreams of
Most would assume the Triton dead voltage range. It automatically bigger and more destructive bots to
as a natural choice for charging as it senses the number of cells, and be a realization! SV
has excellent flexibility (charges mul- wont damage them thanks to its
tiple types of batteries), as well as its low voltage cut-off. After discharg-
two new forms (Triton 2 and Triton ing is done, unplug the pack and it
Jr.), but I have found my new favorite automatically goes into charge
charger to be the Astroflight 109 mode. Adjust the knob to the
(www.astroflight.com) lithium desired AH rating of the pack, and
charger. The Triton is only so flexible, plug it back in. It couldnt be
as it is limited to four cells in series simpler.
(14.4V) and only five amps max cell The Astroflight charger uses a
EVENTS
UPCOMING January and February
K ilobots X This
event will take
place on 1/20/2007
event in
this annual
series; a
tive at time of publication.
at Cameco Spectrum convention-

2007 at the al insect
University of Saskatchewan.
The Saskatoon Combat Robotics
Club is having its 10th Kilobots event
battle run by some very unconven-
tional people. Fun for the whole
family. This event data is tentative at
M otorama 2007 This event
takes place on 2/16/2007-
2/18/2007 in Harrisburg, PA. Go to
January 20-21, 2007. The venue is time of publication. www.nerc.us for further informa-
the largest student-run engineering tion. 150g-30lb Combat Event. Ants
exhibition in North America! Go to
www.kilobots.com for further
information on this event.
C omBots Cup 2007 This event
takes place on 2/9/2007-
2/10/2007 in Oakland, CA. Go to
fight in 8 box, Fairies fight in the 5
x 5 insert. Beetles-Featherweights
fight in 16 x 16 box. All completed
www.robogames.net for further forms and entry fees must be
B ay Area Robot Fights This event

will take place on 1/27/2007
in St. Petersburg, FL. It is the fourth
information. $10,000 Heavyweight
prize, $3,000 Middleweight prize.
Venue and schedule dates are tenta-
received by 1/15/07. This is going
to be another awesome event at
the Farm Show Complex! SV
32 SERVO 01.2007
February 9-10, 2007 in Oakland, CA
33 SERVO 01.2007
McComb.qxd 12/7/2006 8:24 AM Page 34
ExploringSOUNDGIN
Six Voice Sound/Music/Speech Synthesizer
My first fascination with electronics was sound-making gizmos

sirens, warblers, choo-choo train effects you name it, I built it!
When the venerable 555 timer IC was introduced, it seemed that
every other issue of the electronics magazines had a project using
this chip to make noise. I made each one, of course.
b y G o r d o n M c C o m b
R obotics and sound generation are

natural playmates. They go togeth-
er like R2D2 and C3PO. Yet curiously,
However, simply wanting to add
a sound effects module to a robot is
different than actually doing it. Most
music, and even speech. The Soundgin
which also goes by its more formal
name of SSG01 Sound Coprocessor
few of the robots you see demonstrat- sound circuits are analog; the typical is available as a standalone DIP or SOIC
ed at clubs or on the Internet have a robot controller is digital, so there are surface mount chip that you can inte-
sound feature, even a simple one like extra interfacing steps to take. While grate in your own designs. It is also
chirping when an obstacle is detected. many of the popular microcontrollers available in a prototyping board that
Nearly every toy robot includes sound have sound-related functions, they includes its own built-in amplifier,
effects, and our custom designs are limited to simple notes or DTMF power regulator, and optional RS-232
should, too. The reasoning is the same: telephone tones. Music is simplistic, serial converter the latter if you wish
Sound effects are an effective user and voice synthesis is impossible. to connect it to a PC. Probably the
interface. R2D2-like bio sounds are a A new product just introduced more common connection scheme is to
useful diagnostic tool. Music and voice aims to change all of this. The wire it directly to a serial port on
help to humanize a robot. And the Soundgin, from Savage Innovations, is a microcontroller. The Soundgin is
sounds can aid the entertainment a six voice synthesizer that is capable of compatible with the OOPic (also made
value of the bot. reproducing complex sound effects, by Savage Innovations), Parallax BASIC
Stamp, and many others.
Lets take a closer look at the
Soundgin: whats inside, how it works,
and ways you can use it to add cool
sound, music, and speech effects to
your robot.
Figure 1. The Soundgin prototyping

board includes the Soundgin chip, an
integrated audio amplifier (with volume
control), and an optional RS-232 level
shifter with DB-9 serial connector. The
latter is used if you want to operate the
Soundgin from a PC.
34 SERVO 01.2007
From Oscillators to A Closer Look at sound fades out. These parameters

Mixers to Sound Soundgins Oscillators along with the wave shape define the
timbre of the sound. Its what helps
In order to better understand the The heart of any sound-making makes the oscillation sound like
Soundgin or any sound-generating module is its oscillators, and the something familiar to us a piano or a
device its handy to know a little Soundgin is no exception. As noted violin, for instance. Each of these instru-
about sound in general. Sound is above, Soundgin consists of six inde- ments has a peculiar ADSR envelope.
waves that travel through some type of pendent oscillators. Each oscillator is a Soundgin provides further sophisti-
medium, like air or water. The size of separate sound synthesizer, or voice. cation in the sounds it produces by
the waves determines its amplitude, or Any voice can be used by itself, though using separate ramp and target con-
volume, and how close the waves are it is common to use them in combina- trols for each oscillator. These controls
from one another determines its tion to produce more elaborate sounds. have a similar function to the ADSR
frequency. The farther apart the waves, For example, the output of one oscilla- envelope, but are more robust and
the lower the frequency, and vice versa. tor can feed into another to produce a trickier to use. When the oscillators
When humans speak, a curious lit- slow rising and falling siren effect. amplitude target is set, the amplitude
tle doodad in the throat called a larynx Each voice consists of a frequency of the oscillator will move towards the
vibrates, and as air from the lungs generator, an amplitude modulator, an target at the rate determined by a
passes by the larynx, sound waves are envelope generator, and a ramping/ special transition value, until the oscilla-
produced. These waves travel through target console. tors amplitude has reached the target.
the air, and anyone nearby hears us The frequency generator controls One use of this feature is to make
when the waves enter their ears. A the pitch of the sound. The lower the various rising and falling sound effects,
similar process is involved in making frequency, the lower the pitch. If you like phaser guns or alien bio sounds.
sound from a guitar string (the string picture a piano keyboard, the keys to
vibrates, disturbing the air around it) or the left have a decreasing frequency, Mixing and Matching
a saxophone (a wooden reed vibrates so they have a lower pitch. The keys to
as air is blown over it). the right have an increasing frequency, You can create a multitude of
The Soundgin doesnt use a larynx, so they have a higher pitch. sounds simply by setting Soundgins six
string, or reed. But it does use the same Not all sounds are at the same oscillators to some frequency, adjusting
general principles of making waves. volume level, and any sound-making the amplitude and wave shape, and
Sound production begins in one of its six device needs a way to control the over- having them run completely independ-
oscillators. These oscillators are akin to a all level of any oscillation. Each of ently. Whether such a mix would sound
larynx, except the Soundgin has six of Soundgins oscillators contains an pleasant is another matter! And it miss-
them. As such, it is said to be a six voice amplitude (volume) control that can be es a lot of potential of Soundgin as a
sound synthesizer. The oscillators are varied from 0% which is no signal complex sound and effects generator.
grouped in two sets of three; each set is output at all to 100%. As noted above, Soundgin allows
routed to its own mixer, so that the Sound is often characterized by you to control one oscillator with anoth-
signals from the oscillators can further the shape of the waves that produce it, er. In music synthesis, this patching tech-
be controlled. More about this in a bit. not just the frequency of those waves. nique is used to produce an infinitely rich
Finally, the outputs of the two The shape of the wave affects the har- flavor of sounds. On the average analog
mixers are combined into a final audio monics of the sound harmonics can synthesizer, any oscillator can be patched
output. This output is connected to an be said to be the interaction of the to any other oscillator. The Soundgin chip
amplifier to increase the level of the wave with itself and other sound waves does not provide for unlimited inputs and
signal produced by the Soundgin chip. being produced at the same time. output patching, but rather it predefines
Most any audio amplifier will do. Soundgin produces eight types of wave the patching between specific oscillators.
The Soundgin prototyping board uses shapes, including sine wave, square This technique greatly simplifies the
the LM386 sound amplifier, which is wave, and saw tooth. programming youll need, yet you are still
inexpensive, easy to use, and requires The envelope generator is a kind of able to produce a wide variety of sound
few external parts. dynamic volume control that changes and music effects.
The proto board, shown in Figure over time. The envelope is character- Recall the Soundgin has six oscilla-
1, can be powered by a nine volt bat- ized by four distinct phases: Attack, tors, and that these oscillators are sepa-
tery, and has connections for a DB9 seri- decay, sustain, and release often rated into two sets of three each. The
al cable, power, and speaker terminals. referred to simply as ADSR. These phas- oscillators for the first set are labeled A1
From the amplifier, the signal is sent es are graphically shown as a series of through A3; the oscillators for the sec-
to a speaker. Until now, the sound ramps. Attack indicates how fast the ond set are labeled B1 through B3. The
from the Soundgin has just been electri- oscillation comes to full volume. Decay functionality for both sets are identical.
cal impulses. The speaker turns those is how fast the oscillation ceases. Oscillator 2 (A2 or B2) can control the
impulses into physical vibrations that Sustain is a constant volume of the amplitude modulation of Oscillator 1 (A1
move air. Our ears pick up that air move- sound after the decay until the note is or B1). Similarly, Oscillator 3 (A3 or B3)
ment and perceive it as sound. released; and release is how quickly the can control the frequency of Oscillator 1.
SERVO 01.2007 35
Figure 2. The Soundgin Windows

control panel provides a graphical
interface for programming and
experimenting with the Soundgin chip.
Music Generation
Music is little more than sound
that has certain qualities that we
humans find aurally pleasant. By linking
one tone to another, a musical score is
produced. Soundgin generates music
by setting its oscillators to frequency,
wave shape, and ADSR envelopes to
make piano, organ, and other instru-
ment sounds.
As with general sound production,
the Soundgin Windows control panel can
be used to experiment with music synthe-
sis. In the console window click the
Keyboard icon, and a 49-key keyboard
appears. Use the mouse to click any of
the keys, and its corresponding note is
Example of amplitude patching: the sound making features of the played through the Soundgin chip.
Oscillator 1 produces a steady 1,000 Hz Soundgin is to use its program control Note that the keyboard uses just
tone. Oscillator 2 produces a slow 1 Hz panel, which runs under the Windows one oscillator to produce the sound,
tone, which would ordinarily be below PC environment (see Figure 2). The and you can select which oscillator to
the range of human hearing. By software can be downloaded from the use. This allows you to readily experi-
patching the output of Oscillator 2 into Soundgin website see the Sources ment with different effects. Play around
Oscillator 1, the output changes in vol- box for additional information. The with the ADSR ramps, for example, and
ume once a second. It creates a phas- console graphically depicts Soundgins you change the timber characteristics
ing effect that sounds like something six oscillators, and shows how the of the notes. The sound wave buttons
out of an old science fiction movie. oscillators can be patched together. similarly change the color of the tones.
Example of frequency patching: You also see the ADSR envelopes and Notice, for instance, that a saw tooth
Oscillator 1 again produces a standard other controls by which you can wave makes the sound a lot more
1,000 Hz tone. Oscillator 2 produces a modify the sound effects. reedy, like that from a saxophone.
slow 1 Hz tone, and is patched into the For a great introduction to By combining two or more oscilla-
frequency modulator of Oscillator 1. Soundgin and its capabilities, click on tors to produce separate voices you can
Rather than alter the volume (amplitude) the Presets button in the lower-right create a kind of musical ensemble. The
in this patching, Oscillator 3 changes the corner. You will see a collection of 31 Soundgin Windows control panel can
frequency of Oscillator 1, producing a preset sound effects, as shown in only play one note at a time through
rise-and-fall wailing siren effect. Figure 3, such as Space Drive, Wow, one oscillator at a time, but the
Soundgin provides additional mix- Chopper, and Blip Chatter. Click each Soundgin itself is capable of playing
ing and patching options that greatly one to hear what theyre like. As the multiple notes through multiple oscilla-
increase the variations in the sounds it effect plays on the Soundgin, note the tors, giving you a polyphonic sound
can produce. The options are too action of the oscillators. (If any sound is and music synthesizer.
numerous to mention here, but are too loud, you can adjust the volume by
reviewed in the product documenta- scaling down the Master Volume I Am Tobor, Your
tion. And remember that Soundgin has Control.) Robot!
two fully independent mixers that feed Now try combining two sound
into one final output. The A and B sets effects together. Click Mix A beside the Perhaps the most remarkable
of oscillators can each produce their Presets list, and choose a sound effect. feature of Soundgin is its ability to pro-
own sounds, and can be mixed togeth- Click Mix B, and choose a different duced synthesized voice. Again, its all
er to make overlay effects: a siren on sound effect. Both sounds are now done by cleverly combining the chips
top of a warbler, for instance. combined into the final output of the oscillators to produce the elements of
Soundgin. Play with different combina- speech. When these elements called
Using the Soundgin tions by selecting Mix A or Mix B, and phonemes are strung together, the
Windows Control Panel clicking on a new sound. You can quiet sound is recognized as speech. This all
any mix by selecting preset number 32, appears simple enough, but in reality
Perhaps the best way to play with which is silence. its quite difficult to achieve completely
36 SERVO 01.2007
synthesized speech, and still have words. You can enter these same grams like the Soundgin Windows con-
the speech be recognizable. Soundgin phonemes into the Phrase Editor and trol panel, and others to come, promise
does a remarkable job, and the Soundgin will speak them. This is a to make programming the chip easier.
mechanical voice that it makes is good way to experiment with phoneme- To send data to the Soundgin, you
perfect for the average robot. based speech synthesis. You can try send a series of bytes that always begin
The Soundgin Windows control substituting different phonemes to with the Escape character (decimal 27
panel is the easiest way to experiment make different sounding words. In all, or 1B hexadecimal). Program state-
with, and develop, speech synthesis for the SGWords.txt file contains several ments then consist of one or more
your robot. Click the Speaker icon in hundred word definitions, and you can bytes, until all the data has been sent.
the lower right, then click the Phrase add your own, as well as modify exist- Soundgin supports hardware flow
Editor button right above. A Phrase ing ones. You can also load new words control so that the chip requests data
Editor window appears, shown in into the dictionary file by entering them as it needs it. The Soundgin toggles
Figure 4, where you enter the text into the Phrase Editor, but I found one of its pins the CTS line when
and/or phonemes you want the manually editing the file to be easier. its buffer is half empty. In this way
Soundgin chip to speak. there is no interruption in sound
For example, to have the chip say Programming the playback, as long as your PC or
hello, you merely type hello into the Soundgin controller is keeping a watch on the
Say Data box, and click the Say It CTS line. Soundgin regulates the
button. Soundgin responds by saying So far, weve looked at operating playback speed, so your robots micro-
the word. The default voice with its the Soundgin from its Windows control controller can send the data at the
male-like pitch is automatically select- panel. This is a good way to learn required baud rate, then continue with
ed for you. But you can change the about the capabilities of the chip, but it its other chores. In the event of a series
pitch by clicking on one of the Musical is not a practical means of program- of programming commands, such as a
Scale buttons on the left-hand side. ming sounds for your mobile robot. continuous song, the microcontroller
As noted previously, Soundgin Communicating with the Soundgin must listen on the CTS line to see when
works with parts of speech known as is relatively straightforward. It uses a it toggles, and feed data to Soundgin
phonemes. These phonemes are standard serial interface that is sup- before its buffer runs out.
displayed in the Phrase Editor dialog ported by the PC and most microcon- Even the voice synthesis feature of
box. They include the th of this, or trollers. Soundgin supports data rates Soundgin is programmed by sending
the wuh (w) in water. You can play of 2400 or 9600 bits per second. serial bytes to the chip. After setting up
with the various phonemes sounds just When used with the PC, you need the chips registers for voice synthesis,
by clicking on their corresponding a Maxim MAX323 interface chip, or the phonemes are sent one per byte. For
buttons. The sound continues until something similar, in order to convert example, to say hello, the chip receives
you click another phoneme, or hit the the five volt TTL signals required by the the sequence 212, 206, 221, 221, 228.
Shut Up button. Soundgin to RS-232 levels needed by
When you enter an English phrase the PC. Note that the Soundgin Maximizing the Sound
such as hello, the Phrase Editor prototyping board is available with an Output
actually does a lookup to see what optional RS-232 level shifter chip
phonemes are contained in that word. and DB9 connector for hooking up a All sound-making devices are
The dictionary lookup table is stored in standard serial cable. limited by the mechanism that turns
a simple text file in Windows INI Soundgin is programmed by
format. This dictionary file, named setting its various internal registers. Its Figure 4. Use the Speech Phrase Editor
SGWords.txt, is found in the Soundgin not a particularly easy process, but pro- window to produce intelligible speech
output from the Soundgin.
directory on your PC. Looking
up the definition for hello, you
see the phonemes that make it
up are:
.he .e .le .le .oe
The leading periods indicate

to Soundgin that these are
phonemes, and not English
Figure 3. There are 31 sound

effect presets built into the
Windows control panel. Try them
alone or in combination (one for
Mix A, the other for Mix B) to see
what the Soundgin can do.
SERVO 01.2007 37
good quality speakers, preferably one surface of this remarkable workhorse.

RESOURCES already in an enclosure. The enclosure Savage Innovations provides a lengthy
Soundgin integrated circuit (in SOIC maximizes the air movement and documentation file on understanding
and DIP packages), information increases volume, and it makes the and using the Soundgin chip. Its in
and dealer contacts sound richer. There are a number of Adobe Acrobat format, and is available
small and inexpensive unpowered for free download on the Soundgin
Savage Innovations speakers you can use. Unless your website. Also provided are schematics
www.soundgin.com design absolutely requires it because of for the available prototyping board, as
size, weight, or both, avoid the use of well as a rundown of the registers used
vibrations into air movement. With the small piezo speakers, or dynamic in the chip.
Soundgin, thats a speaker of some speakers that are not in an enclosure. Learning by example is perhaps
kind. The rule is pretty simple: the bet- Though the Soundgin has its own the best way to master any new
ter the speaker, the better the sound. amplifier, you may opt for a powered technology. The Soundgin Windows
You will find your Soundgin-based speaker. These have their own amplifier console download includes two
projects are greatly enhanced by using built in. I use an old pair of speakers sample files, named Sound1.sgs and
designed to connect to a sound card in a Sound2.sgs. These are in Windows INI
PC. Soundgin is monaural only, so I use text format, and contain nothing
ABOUT THE AUTHOR just one of the speakers, and leave the more than register settings used to
Gordon McComb is the author of the other one disconnected. The speaker reproduce the sound. Try modifying
best-selling Robot Builders Bonanza, uses a nine volt external power adapter, these sound effects, or any of the
Robot Builders Sourcebook, and but I found that internally it requires only presets, and saving them to a new
Constructing Robot Bases all from 5 VDC. This makes it easier to adapt the sgs (Soundgin Sound) file. Open
Tab/McGraw-Hill. In addition to speaker for use on a mobile robot. the resulting file in a text editor
writing books, he operates a small for review.
manufacturing company dedicated to
low-cost amateur robotics (www.bud
Learning More About With all the options available with
getrobotics.com). He can be reached Soundgin the Soundgin, make it a New Years
resolution to add some life to all your
at [email protected].
Ive only been able to scratch the 2007 projects! SV
38 SERVO 01.2007
Hong2.qxd 12/6/2006 2:34 PM Page 39
PART 2:
Parts, Wires,
and Motors
by: Karl Muecke, Patrick
Cox, and Dennis Hong
RoMeLa (Robotics & Mechanisms
Lab) at Virginia Tech;
www.me.vt.edu/romela
L
ast month, we introduced DARwIn (Dynamic
Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence) a
humanoid robot capable of bipedal walking
and performing human-like motions. This month, we
will show you how we built DARwIn, including details
on motors, wiring, parts, force sensors, and the fabrication
process. Developed at the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory
(RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech, DARwIn is a research platform for
studying robot locomotion and also the base platform for
Virginia Techs first entry to the 2007 Robocup competition. This
article should give you enough information to build your own DARwIn
biped!
Design Considerations
There are a few items to keep in mind when designing a bipedal
robot. You want to design the structure to be rigid and strong so your links
and joints dont break or flex too much. An easy solution to make your
robot rigid would be to design it all out of steel, but this would be
a tremendous amount of weight that your motors probably could not
handle. The goal is to design a robot that is both lightweight and rigid.
Depending on what you want your robot to do, you need to decide
what kind of range of motion you need for each joint. If the biped
is always walking and never has to stand up, you can relax your
requirements for range of motion in certain areas. If youre trying to
make your robot as human as possible, you will need a large range
of motion in many of the joints. This leads to one more design
consideration: human factors. There are certain proportions that
dictate the distance between joints and the overall height in
a human being. If you scale down your robot from a
person, you need to make sure that all the links and joints
are proportional. David Winters Biomechanics and Motor
Control of Human Movement is an excellent resource for
human proportions.
Hong2.qxd 12/6/2006 2:34 PM Page 40
SPECS
CPU PC/104 (Planned)
Height 600 mm legs. It is possible to house hardware in
other cavities in the robot, some such
Mass 4 kg
cavities may be in the leg or foot
Degree of Freedom 21 (depending on the design). Though the
Power 2 Li-poly @ 7.4V batteries are in the chest for the current
design, next year, we plan on placing the
Sensors Rate gyro, force
sensors batteries in the feet of the robot. This
< FIGURE 1/TABLE 1. Here is a photo and placement will make room for our new
statistics table for DARwIn. PC/104 board computer, IEEE 1394 PC
board camera, rate gyro, DC-DC convert-
has a maximum torque of 64 kg-cm er, and protection circuits.
(Table 2). Both have built-in position and
speed controllers. All user control is done Lets Be Honest:
with RS-485 serial communication. Materials and
If you are on a tight budget, regular
R/C servo motors are fairly inexpensive,
Machining
but since you get what you pay for, the Finally, before you start designing
performance may be unacceptable. You the links and joints, determine what
can also use miniature DC motors, but materials you can afford to buy and
you need to design your own position what machining tools you have
feedback controller or purchase one access to (milling machines, welding
such as the allmotion boards, which equipment, etc.). This will dictate how
Select Your Motor can be expensive. Different actuators ornate (or how simple) your robots
have different torque properties and design can be. If you have access to a
One of the biggest decisions you mass properties; so if keeping your four-axis CNC mill and large amounts
have to make when building your bipedal robot lightweight is a must, you may of bar stock aluminum, you have much
robot is what kind of actuators to use. want to put the stronger, heavier motors more freedom in your design than if
We used Robtis Dynamixel servo motors, in the joints that see the greatest load. you only use sheet aluminum.
model DX-117; and will upgrade to the For DARwIn, time constraints and
RX-64 for the next version of DARwIn Kinematic Design availability led us to use sheet alu-
(Figures 2 and 3). The DX-117 has a max- minum for almost the entire structure.
imum torque of 39 kg-cm and the RX-64 Once you pick your actuators, you With some experience under our belt,
TABLE 2. Table of specifications for need to decide on your kinematic struc- were designing and building DARwIn
Robotis Dynamixel DX-117 servo motor. ture this is one of the most impor- 2.0 in half the time and using a four-
tant things to do in the design process! axis CNC mill to create most of our
DYNAMIXEL DX-117 You can make your own or use ours parts. Figure 6 shows a CAD drawing
Mass 66 g (Figure 4). Your kinematic model will of our new hip design. We recommend
Resolution 0.35 determine how you design your joints using aluminum for the structure of the
Angle Range 300
and how you attach the actuators. robot because of its price, weight,
strength, and the ease of machining it.
Voltage 12V-16V
Where to Put Stuff If you have the funds, using rapid pro-
Torque 29 kg-cm 39 kg-cm totyping would be an excellent option.
Next, decide on
FIGURE 2. RX-64 motor. FIGURE 3. DX-117 motor.
a location for your Design
extra hardware: CPU,
batteries, sensors, Now that youve nailed down
etc. We decided to the essentials, youre ready to start
house everything designing the links and joints of your
except for the force robot. You can get as creative as your
sensors in the chest imagination lets you, but if you need a
for simplicity (Figure starting point, here are some tips and
5). One issue with examples from DARwIn.
placing everything
this high is it creates Start Simple The Elbow
a larger torque on A good place to start design is
the motors in the coming up with a simple elbow/knee
40 SERVO 01.2007
Hong2.qxd 12/6/2006 2:35 PM Page 41
FIGURE 5. Exploded view of chest.
FIGURE 6. New hip design that will

use a CNC mill.
> FIGURE 4. Kinematic

diagram of DARwIn.
joint. They are the simplest joints in the a series of brackets to create kinemati-
entire robot since they are only one cally spherical joints for the shoulders.
degree of freedom (DOF). Figure 7
shows a simple way of designing a A Step Up The Ankle
bracket for the elbow joint. If you are comfortable with design-
ing the arms and knees, try designing
Kinematically Spherical Joint
Design The Easy One
In our opinion, the next easy
joint to design is the kinematically
spherical joint at the shoulder. You
have a lot of freedom when placing the
motors and mounting them for the
shoulders since the shoulders are natu-
rally broad. In order to create a kine-
matically spherical joint, all three axes
of rotation must intersect at the same
point (Figure 8). This is fairly simple in
concept, but getting configuration and
dimensions correct for the design can
be tricky. Figure 7 shows how we used
> FIGURE 8. Photo with lines showing
spherical joints on DARwIn. FIGURE 7. Exploded view of arm.
SERVO 01.2007 41
Hong2.qxd 12/6/2006 2:36 PM Page 42
< FIGURE 9. Exploded view of the feet.

motion. Youll notice that as you start
the servo motor attaches to the link. connecting joints together, your links
start to interfere with each other and
The Hard Part Hips limit your range of motion. Figure 11
Even if you can handle the design of shows how we designed the link going
the rest of the body, the hips can stop from the knee to the ankle. We put a
you in your tracks. Creating kinematically bend in the link to add structural rigidi-
spherical joints with human proportions ty and to increase the range of motion.
(optional), good range of motion, and You may also notice that the rendered
good structural stability is very difficult drawings are a little different from our
especially if you have a waist motor in the final design. In our final design, we
area. Figure 10 shows how we made our removed material from the knees,
the ankle joint next. A deceptively tricky hip joints. Two of the motors are joined shins, and forearms to decrease weight.
joint, the ankles design challenge comes together in the hip to reduce the space This is also a good point in time to
in allowing for a large range of motion requirements of each motor. If you have consider how you want to mount the
while keeping a lower pivot. The ankle trouble fitting all of the motors together motors to your joints and links. What
from our design has two DOF. Both in the hips, moving the waist motor into kind of screws and nuts do you need?
axes of rotation intersect to more closely the chest can free up some space. What kind of holes (threaded or not)
imitate a humans ankle and make and hole placement do you need?
the kinematic and dynamic equations Links Deciding on a standard screw pitch
simpler for control of the robot. Figure 9 and size greatly helps in assembly.
shows how we made our ankle and Once you design the joints, youre Link design is also an appropriate
feet. Notice how it can be challenging to about halfway done. Next, decide how time to start considering wiring issues.
figure out how to support your links. you want to join each link together. How are you going to get power/
We used ball bearings in most cases There is a careful design balance communications to your actuators?
to reduce the bending moment where between structural rigidity and range of How are you going to connect your
sensors, CPU, and power source?
FIGURE 10. Exploded view of the hip. FIGURE 11. Exploded view of the legs. We created many of our own wiring
connections since we wanted to reduce
any excess weight or volume. Robotis pro-
vides male and female connectors so you
can create wires to your desired length
for wiring up your servo motors (Figure
12). Figure 13 shows a picture of one of
our custom-made wiring connections.
Force Sensors
Obviously an optional feature for
your robot but important enough for
consideration during physical design
force sensors can be used to give infor-
mation to your CPU to help stabilize
the walking motion of the robot. The
number and placement of the force
sensors can be tricky. We recommend
using four for each foot: one placed at
each corner. Once you place the force
Thank Yous
Thanks to the 2005-2006 senior
design team members that built DARwIn
1.0 (Patrick Cox, Joo Gil, Chris Greenway,
Jeff Kanetzky, Karl Muecke, Patrick Mulliken,
Raghav Sampath, Daniel Zokaites) and to
our advisor Prof. Dennis Hong.
42 SERVO 01.2007
Hong2.qxd 12/6/2006 2:36 PM Page 43
FIGURE 13. Photo of custom wiring.
FIGURE 12. Photo of how to make

custom wiring (www.robotis.com). a resistor to measure force, you usually
need to construct a calibration circuit to
sensors, you need a way to connect to get the greatest sensitivity and range of
them since they are on the bottom of load detection. After calibration, you FIGURE 14. Photo of FlexiForce force
sensor (www.tekscan.com).
the foot. We cut out slots for each also need an Analog-to-Digital convert-
force sensor to slide through. er to convert the signal to a digital aspects of DARwIn and how you could
There are many different types of signal that the computer can read. make your own. Next month, the
force sensors you can use. Tekscan last part of this series will detail some
makes FlexiForce sensors which are very Next Month ... of the software used to control
thin piezoresistive force sensors (Figure DARwIn, as well as a peek of next
14; www.tekscan.com). When using We showed you the physical years design. SV
SERVO 01.2007 43
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 8:05 PM Page 44
Hacking ROGER
I n the basement of North Seattle
Community College (in Seattle,
Washington), there is a Robotics
Club. Members meet in a room
called the TECHTRONS LAB that
resembles a weird science laboratory
from a sci-fi movie. It is a little
cramped, but it is ours! says one of
FIGURE 1. Roger Robot just out of
the box before dissection begins.
the students as they squeeze into the

b y M o n t y R e e d
room to work on robotics projects.
The room has been in the control of able, simple project anyone could do. these projects just could not be done
students for three decades, as far as North Seattle Robotics Group (The without his advice and help.
any of the old timers who work in official Robotics Club at North Seattle We have several microcontrollers
facilities can remember. Its great for Community College) is always looking in the lab to choose from and plenty
the students because there is freedom for inexpensive toys to hack into robot of support from advisors, faculty, and
to work on projects without being projects. Roger Robot (Figure 1) from staff. The Parallax BASIC Stamp
graded. For many students, the Lab is Big Lots (www.biglots.com) was microcontroller (see Figure 2) is used
a refuge allowing a few hours to relax $19.95. It is currently available from in classes at NSCC and is a popular
and work on robots or electronics proj- www.eBay.com or other resellers. choice among students. There is a lot
ects, or just have a cup of coffee. For The price is right for students and just of tech support, documentation, and
others, it is a place to ask for help about anyone who wants to learn information available. Most of my
on an electronics project, math, or about robotics and have fun doing it. experience has been with the BASIC
computer programming. All students When considering buying a toy to Stamp, so that was my choice to use.
are welcome. Occasionally, students hack, look for one with a tethered or For this project, I wanted to do as
or visitors from the community drop in wired controller. This way you are not little hacking as possible to make the
just to see what the others are up to. paying for the wireless capability, robot controlled by a microcontroller
We were looking for an afford- advises Doug Bell, a Volunteer and I wanted to also be able to
Community Advisor to North Seattle continue to use it as a tethered remote
Community College Robotics Club control, so I planned for a 25-pin
since the Fall of 2001. He comes to connector to be placed in line with the
the lab twice a week tether from the controller. This way,
FIGURE 2. Parallax
microcontroller to volunteer, helping the microcontroller or the handheld
with the Board students with their remote could be plugged in. To make
of Education. projects. Many of this more sophisticated, you could
add a switch instead of plugging
NOTE: All codes/programs are and unplugging the remote or the
available on the SERVO website at microcontroller. Also for this project,
www.servomagazine.com. we will not install a switch.
44 SERVO 01.2007
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 8:05 PM Page 45
Another goal for this project was right forward or

to learn about subroutines and to get the left back. For the FIGURE 3. Tools and
robot layed out on a
some experience using them with the a Spin Left the clean workbench with
BASIC Stamp. This became part of the left side drives the remote opened up.
pseudocode (programming outline) for reverse and the
the programs that would run Roger right side drives forward. This type
Robot and give him new life. of steering is much easier for a
You can do this project even if you robot to use and easier for us,
do not have much experience. as humans, to program the
First things first check your parts robots movements. The treads are
and be sure you have everything you desirable because it is easier for the
need for the project before you begin robot to navigate rugged terrain.
(see Parts List 1). Nothing is more frus- Become familiar with Roger
trating than being at a crucial point in Robots controls. Drive him forward
your project at 2:00 am and realizing and back, make him spin in place,
you are missing a part and cannot go and operate his arms. Roger
on. You have consumed all the coffee Robots arms open and close for
and pizza needed to finish the project, grasping things and the arms go up
but a single component keeps you and down for picking things up and
from success. Do not let this happen to setting them down. For simplicity,
you or your crew. Be prepared by my goal was to pick up a cup,
checking your parts before you begin. back up, turn around, and drive
Be sure you also have all the tools away. The next step in future
you need before you begin (see Figure programming could include picking
FIGURE 4. Remote
3 and Parts List 2). up and placing the cup in a specific with cover.
Its a good idea to have a clean location, moving other items, etc. After the
workbench or workspace when you Roger Robot also has light-up eyes. controller is open, examine the wires
start a project like this. A friend of mine We decided to not use this function in and where the wires are connected.
has a roll of butcher paper mounted on this project because we wanted to save The idea is to determine what each
one end of his workbench in a dis- the batteries. We will explore this in a wire does by looking at the color that
penser. It is the width of his workbench future project. If you like what you see goes to each individual switch and
and whenever the paper on the work in this project and want more info, what happens when that switch is in
bench gets dirty or he begins a new go to www.theyshallwalk.org and different positions. Look at the front
project he clears the bench, pulls a new watch the pages of SERVO Magazine cover (see Figure 4) and compare it
sheet of paper the length of the bench, for future projects. to the inside wire locations (see
and tapes it down. The clean white Figure 5a).
paper makes it easy to find small parts. Open Controller to To start with, look for the black
To help you in reassembly, you may Trace Wires and red wires. These should be ground
want to grab your digital camera and and power, respectively, but there is no
take some pictures as you build, just to Remove the screws that hold the guarantee especially when it comes
be sure you know were everything controller together. Place them into a to low-cost toys.
goes. secure tray or zip lock bag to ensure We discovered in our version of
Next, take Roger Robot out of the you have all the pieces so you can put Roger Robot that there was a red wire
package, follow the instructions to put Roger Robot back together again. I connected to the majority of the
in his batteries, and power him up. strongly recommend the zip lock bag switches. After we verified that the red
Become familiar with his controls. approach, especially if you have wire was power, we traced the colored
Roger Robot has tank-style steering, multiple projects like I do. Mark the wire connected to the
which is very desirable for robotics. A bag with the name of your project FIGURE 5a. other part of the switch
robot can have tank steering without and the date you began it, as well Remote with
cover removed.
having tank treads Roger Robot as the contents of the bag. Usually
happens to come with treads. Tank in a Disassembly Project, I will
steering is when a robot has a left and have a series of snack, sandwich,
right propulsion device that can be and gallon size bags placed inside
controlled independently or in concert. of each other. The zip lock bag
This allows for a full range of steering approach is also very important
controls. All Ahead Full uses both if you share a workbench space
drives in a forward motion. Reverse is with others. Boxes or trays can tip
driving them both backwards. Turn Left over and the contents become
can be accomplished by driving the mixed or lost.
SERVO 01.2007 45
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 9:31 PM Page 46
connector will be attached to the orig-

FIGURE 5b. Drawing of Reverse inal wires inside the robot that lead to
switch; top toggle type reverse
switch, (bottom) push button the various components. The pin side
Toggle type reverse switch. will be connected either to the original
controller or the cable coming out of
Read through these steps the project box that is connected to
and think about how the microcontroller. Mine is mounted
each component interrelates on the back and to the right a little.
before proceeding to cut, However, it can be mounted anywhere
bend, attach, mutilate, or you prefer. Make sure that you choose
glue! the location for your connector at this
Push
Button step because you need to connect the
Before you cut any wire, robot wires (noted in the following
take some time to think steps) before you attach it to the
about wire placement. At the robot frame.
Reverse Switches ME Lab at the University of Determine where to cut the
Washington, you will be access holes in the project box for the
to determine what component each constantly reminded by Russ Noe to cable coming from the microcon-
switch controlled. Our results are listed measure twice and cut once. This troller; keep in mind this cable needs
in Figure 6. applies to anything you are cutting. to reach your 25-pin connector.
This version of the robot has sev- Its much easier to shorten something If you are not sure how to decide
eral reverse switches (see Figure 5b) in than to lengthen it. for yourself, you can just cut the
it. These are the push button type. Measure the placement of the tether in the same way we did.
When they are not being pushed, the project box and decide where you will Measure from Roger Robot 12 inches
wires are connected in one way and put it. I put mine on the back and to and make the cut with wire cutters.
when they are pushed, the wires are the left a little. The project box makes For a cheap way to get the
connected in another way. it look like the bot has a little backpack connectors, check your local thrift
on (see Figure 7). store for a standard parallel extension
Tether Disassembly We will be mounting a 25-pin cable. The common use is as an
connector on the robot. You have extension cable for printers and other
The next few steps will take some a parts option of purchasing 25-pin peripherals. I have seen them priced
forethought connectors or hacking a 25-pin cable. from $1-$3. Look for the cable that
FIGURE 6. Tether and planning. Either way, the solderable side of the has a female and a male connector.
Wire Results Chart. Disassemble the cable for
the parts.
Red = 9 VDC power Black = Ground
FIGURE 7. Back You may choose
Gray + Red = Lights up Robots Eyes of Roger Robot to mount the 25-pin
showing the
project box connector in any
Brown + Black + and the 25-pin other location.
Purple + Red = Arms Down connector. Decide where you
are going to mount
Purple + Black +
the connector before cutting
Brown + Red = Arms Up
the tether.
Green + Black + Slice open the insulation
Orange + Red = Arms In carefully for the robot side of
the tether with an Exacto
Orange + Black + knife (see Figure 8) or razor
Green + Red = Arms Out blade. Be careful not to cut
or damage the insulation on
White + Black +
the smaller wires inside.
Blue + Red = Right Tracks Forward
Remove enough of the outer
Blue + Black + insulation so that all of the
White + Red = Right Tracks Backward wires can be seen. Usually
two inches is enough, if you
Pink + Black + prefer, you can cut less.
Yellow + Red = Left Tracks Forward Using wire strippers,
Yellow + Black + FIGURE 8. Tether being sliced
Pink + Red = Left Tracks Backward open with an Exacto knife.
46 SERVO 01.2007
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 8:06 PM Page 47
strip a quarter
inch of the insula- FIGURE 9. Tether
with individually
tion off of each of stripped wires.
the wires from the
tether (see Figure 9). Repeat
opening and stripping the
tether for its controller side.
Solder the wires from the
robot tether to the male 25-pin
connector and the wires from
the controller tether to the
female 25-pin connector. When
soldering a lot of wires to a FIGURE 10. Wire and 25-pin connector
being held by the Helping Hands tool
connector, it is handy to have another the back, remove it by loosening the while the solder and soldering iron is
person hold the wires in place while screws. Later, we will install it on the being held by the author.
you solder so you can move quickly back of the project box so you can still
from wire to wire. If you do not have a use the remote mounting bracket. ate screwdriver (philips or standard).
helper available, I recommend the When drilling pilot holes for self- Mount the remote control bracket on
Helping Hands soldering tool from tapping screws in plastic, I like to test the back of the project box (see Figure
Harbor Freight. It has a weighted base the size of the drill bit and the screws 20). You can use the screws that came
and a couple of alligator clips to hold on scrap plastic. Find a local plastics with it or some of the self-tapping
the wire being soldered and the supplier and purchase some scraps by screws.
connector you are soldering to. Solder the pound. These will come in handy
the wires to the 25-pin connector, as for all kinds of other projects, as well. Placing and Cutting
shown in Figure 10. Hold the box on the back of Roger Access Holes
As long as the wire color codes Robot and see where the box touches
you found in your robots controller his back. Pick a spot near each of the Your project box may come with
match the table in Figure 6, the order corners inside the box to place your pre-cut holes
in Figure 11 should be followed in screws. If you have a box like ours, you for the cables. FIGURE 12. 25-Pin
soldering the wires to the connectors. may choose to place your screws If this is the connector in place
If your wire color codes are different, where we did. Measure one-quarter case, use them. showing the male
on the left and the
you will need to create your own chart. inch from the corner and mark the female on the right.
After you have completed solder- hole. You can do this with a wite
ing your male connector, mount it to out type marking pen if you are
the spot you previously selected (see using a black box. You can use a
Figure 12). Sharpie marker if your box is any
Plug in the controller tether and other color. Alternatively, you could
test to see that all of the switches do all place masking tape over the area
of the same functions they did before near the corner, then measure for
you cut the tether. If there are prob- the cut.
lems, troubleshoot now. Refer to the I prefer to drill through the box
chart of functions and wires (Figures 6 into the robot at the same time.
and 11) to see where you may have Some people prefer to measure
gone wrong. When this test is success- and drill the hole in the box first,
ful, continue. then hold the box on
the robot and mark Pin # Wire Color Action/Purpose
Mounting the the robot through the 1 Red (9 VDC)
Project Box holes in the box, then 2
3
White
Blue
(Right Tracks Backward)
(Right Tracks Forward)
drill the holes in the
4 Pink (Left Tracks Backward)
In this phase, you will attach the robot. It is best to tape
5 Yellow (Left Tracks Forward)
project box on the back of the robot. It the box in place on the 6 Brown (Arms Up)
will look like a backpack. Four screws robot and then drill 7 Purple (Arms Down)
will be enough to hold it securely in your holes. 8 Green (Arms Out)
place. You may choose to use Super After the holes 9 Orange (Arms In)
Glue instead. I like to use screws for have been drilled, 10 Gray (The first step of the project )
this so that I can remove the box later drive the self-tapping 11 empty
if I choose to for aesthetics, repairs, or screws into the robot 12 empty FIGURE 11.
13 Black (Ground) 25-Pin
modifications. If your Roger Robot has through the project Connector
14-25 Available for future development.
a bracket for the tethered remote on box. Use the appropri- Wiring Chart.
SERVO 01.2007 47
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 8:06 PM Page 48
the robots left. I

FIGURE 14.
Project box used self-tapping
after cutting screws and some hot
large hole glue to hold them
for cable.
both in place. The
BOE was mounted inside the
hinged lid opposite of the robots
back (see Figure 15).
Breadboard Layout
FIGURE 13. Project
box with Dremel Place both of the L293D
cutting the plastic
like a hot knife If you do not leave it that way. motor driver chips (quadruple half
through butter. have precut The best way to cut holes in H drivers). Place the 74HCT164 shift
holes or you plastic that I have found is a Dremel register chip.
want to run cables in a different way, type hand tool with a metal striated Starting at the top of the bread-
follow the hole cutting procedure bit. With the bit spinning at high board, place the first L293D centered
outlined here. Measure and mark the speed, the friction heats the plastic up on the breadboard. The top of the
hole on the bottom of the box. Be and it cuts like a hot knife through L293D (pin 1) should be in the fourth
sure to make the cut big enough for butter (see Figures 13 and 14). row, and be sure the other chips have
the connector to pass through. three holes (rows) between them.
You will want a hole cut for the Mount the BASIC Place the 74HCT164 shift register last
ribbon cable, DB9 connector, and two Stamp and Parallax (see Figure 16). Follow the schematic
switches. I decided to cut the hole for
the ribbon cable on the bottom of the
Board of Education and photos in Figures 15-17 for details
of component placement.
box, the hole for the DB9 on the side, Place the Board of Education
and one on the top and the other on (BOE; see Figure 2) or your microcon- Terminal Block and
the side for the switches. troller board of choice into the project Breadboard Layout
I used a standard cabinet hinge box. Make sure it will fit before you
for the project box. I like to use a start drilling holes. It is best to mark Pick a terminal block that you like
hinge because I know I will return to the holes inside the project box so you and be sure it will fit inside of your
the robot to hack and hack again. If know were to drill before you start. project box. In Figure 18, I used the
you are planning on very little Doublecheck to be sure all of the holes one in the upper right hand corner.
modifications, match up, then start drilling. Use a bit Number the terminal block 1-15.
FIGURE 15. Back of you can use that is smaller than the self-taping Solder the ribbon cable wires to the
Roger showing the the standard screws so the screws will have terminal block according to the Cable
terminal block on
the upper left, screws to close something to grab onto when you Pin Connection Chart in Figure 11. On
breadboard upper the box and tighten them. Place the stand-off the other side of the terminal block
right, and BOE spacers on the holes, place the attach the lead wires for the bread-
lower center.
BOE on the spacers, and drive the board in the order in Figure 19. Use
screws through the BOE and spacer wire markers or masking tape and a
to secure it to the inside of the pen to number the wires near the end
project box. that plugs into the breadboard. My
Inside the box, I mounted a breadboard came with two columns,
standard breadboard on the robots then a space, five columns, a gap, five
right side and a terminal block on more columns, a space, and two more
columns. I used the first two for
the Ground buss (G1 and G2).
For this chart, G stands for
ground and on the breadboard
it is the first and second
column. I numbered the next
10 columns 1-10. The last two
columns are numbered P1 and
FIGURE 16. Breadboard inside of

Roger Robots backpack. Two L293D
chips at the top and the 74HCT164
shift register at the bottom.
48 SERVO 01.2007
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 8:07 PM Page 49
FIGURE 17. Schematic of

the shift registers and
Quad Half H Bridges.
P2. P stands for

power. These last
two columns are
the power buss.
Note: Some bread-
boards need a lead
wire to connect the
columns at the mid
point and some do
not. It is always
best to check it
with an ohmmeter
to be sure whether
or not it is connect-
ed throughout. The
breadboard I used
for this project does
not connect all the
way through so I
had to add jumper
lead wires from row
G25 to row G26 in
columns 1 and 2
the first two
columns. I added
jumpers on P25 and P26, as well. top of the robot so if something goes between ground and the enable
wrong, it is easy to kill the program resistor (EN on the schematic). The EN
Cabinet Hinge or power. Place the switch so that flip- is connected to the five-volt DC power
ping it backwards puts it in the kill posi- supply buss. On the schematic, there
Mount the cabinet hinge on the tion. This way, when the robot is trying are connections from the L293Ds
bottom of the project box (see Figure to run away, you can hit the switch and marked EN. These will all be wired
14) if you have a project box that does shut down the system. Hold the switch to row 58, column 1-4. In the Go
not come with hinges. Close the box up to the box where you want to position, the H-bridges can drive
and place the hinge centered between mount it and look to be sure it will fit the motors. In the kill position, they
the top and the bottom. Mark the and that you can get the wires con- cannot.
holes and then drill making sure the bit nected. Use the Dremel to cut a hole Repeat this procedure for the
is small enough for the self-tapping for the switch in the top of the box as power switch on the side. You can
screws to hold the hinge in place. described earlier. After cutting the mount it in a different
FIGURE 19.
hole, place the switch in it and tighten location but be sure it Terminal
Kill Switch and the mounting nut. block lead
Power Switch The kill switch Terminal Block - Breadboard
wires chart.
will be wired From 1 to Row 1 Column 6
I mounted a From 2 to Row 6 Column 3
kill switch on top From 3 to Row 9 Column 4
of the project box From 4 to Row 9 Column 7
(see Figure 20). From 5 to Row 6 Column 7
From 6 to Row 17 Column 3
I like to use
From 7 to Row 20 Column 3
a toggle switch From 8 to Row 20 Column 10
with a one-inch or From 9 to Row 17 Column 10
longer toggle and From 10 to Row 40 Column 1 (Use later)
I feel it is impor- From 11 to Row G1 Column G3
tant to put it on From 12 to Row G1 Column G2
From 13 to Row G1 Column G1
FIGURE 18. From 14 to Row Column
Terminal blocks. From 15 to Row Column
SERVO 01.2007 49
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 8:07 PM Page 50
row 1, column 8 and the

FIGURE 21. Robot other will plug into row P1,
grasping the cup
and lifting it. column P2.
Connect the
Microcontroller
Be sure the switches are in the kill
and off positions. Disconnect the
wired remote at the 25-pin connector
and plug in the microcontroller ribbon
cable. Using nine-inch lead wires,
FIGURE 20.
Kill switch on make a connection from P0 on the
project box. is not near the kill The power switch will be wired BOE to row 32, column 8, from P1 on
switch. The power between the incoming power wire the BOE to row 26, column 2. Connect
switch is in line with the main power from the terminal block (wire number Vdd from the BOE to the power buss
from the battery box in the base of 1) and the power buss. From the row P1 column P41 (see Figure 15).
the robot. power switch, one wire will plug into
Write the
Program or
Parts List 1 Copy and Paste
Qty. Item Supplier
From SERVO
1 Roger Robot Big Lots www.biglotswholesale.com Website
1 BASIC Stamp II Parallax www.parallax.com
1 Board of Education Parallax www.parallax.com Start by loading a
2 L293D motor driver chip Texas Instruments www.ti.com standard blinking LED or
1 74HCT164 shift register chip www.semiconductors.philips.com Hello World program to
1 Breadboard Electronics Goldmine www.goldmine-elec.com be sure the BASIC Stamp
1 Jumper wire assortment All Electronics www.allelectronics.com is connected properly.
1 Ribbon cable 25-conductor All Electronics www.allelectronics.com
These standard programs
18 inches
2 Toggle switch CAT# MTS-5 All Electronics www.allelectronics.com can be downloaded from
1 22 position terminal strip All Electronics www.allelectronics.com the Parallax website.
CAT# TER-220 Once you know all is
2 Resistor 10K ohm RadioShack www.radioshack.com well with the BASIC Stamp
1 Spool of 28-gauge pre-tinned RadioShack www.radioshack.com and your connections, I rec-
insulated wire ommend you try loading
1 Project box 7x5x3 270-1807 RadioShack www.radioshack.com the GoForward program.
1 Machine screws RadioShack www.radioshack.com
Both left and right tracks
#4-40. Pack of 42.#64-3011
1 Self-tapping screws RadioShack www.radioshack.com will move forward. Run it
8 Stand-off Spacers RadioShack www.radioshack.com and then if all is well, load
10 Ceramic capacitor RadioShack www.radioshack.com the Pick Up Cup program.
Catalog #: 272-134. If you are going to do more projects, we recommend you buy the Since we have not
272-801 set of 100 disc capacitors for $4.95 instead of the ones above. added any sensors to Roger
1 Cabinet hinge Home Depot www.homedepot.com Robot yet, he is blind and
Additional items www.eBay.com; he cannot find a cup and
http://stores.eBay.com/They-Shall-Walk-Foundation pick it up so you will need
(Be sure you can solder to these)
to experiment with the
2 25-pin parallel extension cable with male and female connectors or
2 25-pin female connector DB25 Thank Yous
1 25-pin male connector DB25
A special thank you
to the NSCC faculty
Note: You can purchase the machine screws and self-tapping screws at Home Depot or Harbor members who have
Freight (www.harborfreight.com) if it is more convenient or a better deal. been very helpful: Frank
Jump, Lynda Wilkinson,
Project Box We used a spare one that was sitting around the lab. The one from RadioShack has Chris Saunders, Tracy
an aluminum lid and a plastic lid included, and has partial cutouts for both DB-9 or HD-15 comput- Heinlein, and Deborah
Bedford. Thank you to
er connectors and DB-25 connector. This will work better and require less fabrication. Doug and Cecelia for all
you do.
50 SERVO 01.2007
Reed.qxd 12/7/2006 8:07 PM Page 51
location of the cup. Sensors will be added in a future article. Extreme Robot Speed Control!
For the program Pick Up Cup to work, you will need 6 14V - 50V
6 Dual 80A H-bridges 150A+ Peak!
a paper or plastic cup (plastic is better in case the robot 6 Adjustable current limiting
crushes it by squeezing too hard). Place the cup 12 inches in 6 Adjustable speed slew rate
6 Temperature limiting
front of the robot. Turn on the power and push the reset 6 Three R/C inputs - serial option
6 Many mixing options
button so the program will start. Since I did not add any 6 Flipped Bot Input
6 Rugged extruded Aluminum case
sensors, this robot is running blind and requires you to set up 6 4.25" x 3.23" x 1.1 - Only 365g
the environment in a way that the program will function $399
correctly. Watch how the robot and the program work. If the
cup is too far to the left or right, or too far forward or back,
move it so the robot will be able to pick it up.
You can move the cup until you find the right distance
for placement every time. With my robot on my floor, the cup $79.99
$29.99 $119.99
placed 12 inches in front and centered works perfectly. Scorpion Mini Scorpion HX
I then modified the program so the cup could be placed 6 2.5A (6A pk) H-bridge 6 Dual 2.5A (6A pk) H-bridges
Scorpion XL
6 6 Dual 13A H-bridge 45A Peak!
5V - 18V 6 Plus 12A fwd-only channel
two feet directly in front of the robot. 6 1.25 x 0.5 x 0.25 6 5V - 18V 6 5V - 24V
6 6 2.7 x 1.6 x 0.5
Control like a servo 6 1.6 x 1.6 x 0.5
When the program is launched, the robot moves 6 Optional screw term. 6 Four R/C inputs
6 Three R/C inputs - serial option
6 6 Mixing, Flipped Bot Input
forward while the arms go up and out. Then the robot stops, Only 5.5g 6 Mixing, Flipped Bot Input
6 Only 28g
6 Only 22g
the arms go down around the cup, the arms close grasping
the cup, the arms go up lifting the cup (see Figure 21), the OSMC - Monster Power H-bridge
6 14V - 50V and 160A over 400A peak!
robot turns 180 degrees and, moves forward taking the cup. $199 6 3.15 x 4.5 x 1.5
6 Control with Stamp or other Micro
Have fun changing the program to change the directions 6 3 wire interface
Roger Robot will go and the amount of time he will run. 6 R/C interface available
MADE IN
All Robot Power electronic
Troubleshooting products are proudly
THE USA
Capacitors and resistors have been included in the Parts

List in case you have a problem with electronic noise from the Introducing Dalf
low-cost parts of this robot. I wrote the program in a way that Advanced dual motor
the noise should not bother the function of the robot. The drive with closed-loop
symptom of the electronic noise shows up when you run a control functions
program that operates any of the onboard motors. When the
program tells a motor to move one direction is when the Only $250
problem may show its ugly head. Symptom: motor moves a Embedded Electronics, LLC along with our exclusive reseller Robot Power are
little, stops, then moves in a random direction and moves for proud to introduce a feature rich, customizable Dual Motor Controller: Dalf.
random amounts of time. Also, other motors may randomly Designed to work out of the box or to host your application specific code; Dalf
makes it simple to create a complete turn-key brain for your application with
move different directions and for different times. I will go into full-closed-loop motion control. Just take a look at these features!
the placement of filter components in a future article. SV Motion Control Functions Application Support
Drives all sign-magnitude brushed DC motor 6 PIC18F6722 CPU running at 40MHz
drives such as the OSMC 6 60k+ FLASH available
6 Serial bootloader, no programmer needed
Parts List 2 Closed-Loop Features
6 Closed-loop control of two motors
6 Serial command/monitor in both terminal
and high-speed binary API mode
6 Full PID position loop 6 I2C slave command interface
Dremel 6 Trapezoidal path generator 6 Firmware implented in C andASM
Dremel bits 6 Adjustable slew rate for smooth transitions 6 C source for main loop and utility routines
6 Non-volatile storage of PID parameters provided free
Drill 6 Step-Response PID motor tuning support 6 Linkable device driver function library
Drill bits 6 Quadrature encoder support for each motor provided for building custom applications
6 Terminal mode for interactive tuning and 6 Extensive documentation with Owners
Exacto or razor knife debugging Manual and Getting Started Manual
6 Windows GUI under development provided on CD
Electrical tape 6 Custom code development services
Helping Hands (to help with soldering) Open-Loop Features available (contact EE)
6 Two R/C command modes (3 input
Multimeter channels)
I/O Connections
6 Two open-loop pot control modes
Needle nose pliers 6 Interactive terminal control of motors 6 Two RS-232 serial ports
6 Adjustable slew rate 6 36 GPIO
Pliers 6 I2C master and slave ports (2 ports)
Screwdriver philips and standard 6 Two motor drive outputs
6 Two quadrature encoder inputs
Soldering Iron For more Dalf information visit 6 Two Hall-effect current sensors inputs
Solder www.embeddedelectronics.net 6 Six 10-bit A/D
6 Two channels of cooling fan control
Vise 6 Standard ICD connector
Wire cutters Also from Robot Power
Wire markers (or tape you can write on)
Kits, parts, schematics
Wire stripers Planetary gearmotors
Wite Out Marking Pen (or white paint or correction www.robotpower.com
fluid) Phone: 253-843-2504 [email protected]
SERVO 01.2007 51
Bergeron.qxd 12/7/2006 7:51 PM Page 52
ROBOT SAFETY
by Bryan Bergeron
My first robotic arm kit a six DOF,

all-metal model with high-speed, heavy-
duty servos, and ample power supply
taught me not to be lulled into the
apparent plug-and-play world of hobby
robots.
computational challenges, protects onboard electronics and

the dangers associated minimizes damage to anything or
with building and operat- anyone unfortunate enough to be hit
ing robots extend beyond by the robot body or effectors.
keyboard-induced carpal tunnel For example, in designing a
When I syndrome. This is especially true with crawler, consider using rubber cushions
applied power the current trend toward heavier, to provide hard limits on the range of
to the servos, the joints abruptly hyper- faster, and more complex robots. leg motion so that the legs dont clash
extended, flinging a hot soldering iron Following is a discussion of robot into the body while you experiment
against a wall. Then, when I applied design, construction, and operating with various gaits. This safety precau-
power to the servo controller, the practices that can improve the surviv- tion can limit damage to the robot
uncalibrated servo chain contracted, ability of your robots and minimize the body and servos, and minimize pinch
digging the gripper into the work- safety risks to you and bystanders. points that can entangle your fingers.
bench. The unsecured arm flipped onto Similarly, avoid sharp edges and
its side, knocking over a hot glue gun Design protruding corners on fast-moving
in the process. Fortunately, the gun wheeled robots over a few pounds,
and iron landed harmlessly on the shop Safety should be explicitly which have a way of colliding with
floor and the arm was undamaged. designed into a robot, as opposed to furniture legs and shins. I have several
Robotics presents a real-word test an add-on made in response to a injury robots based on the Traxxas e-Maxx
of AI, computer vision, and sensor or robot failure. Appropriate platform truck chassis a popular platform
technologies. Moreover, because layout, the use of safety subroutines, for robot development. Because the
robotics involves physical, as well as as well as physical sensors, intuitive e-Maxx drive system is capable
state indicators, energy manage- of speeds in excess of 30 mph, the
ment hardware and software, and potential for damage to both person
kill switches all contribute to a and robot is significant.
comprehensive safety design. If youre working with a high-
speed platform, consider a roll bar and
Platform Layout sturdy frame to protect electronics and
In designing a robot platform a bumper system that will minimize
layout, the primary goal is to pro- damage to human and furniture legs.
vide a stable support for sensors Ive found a pair of calf-high boots
and associated electronics within a handy when debugging high-speed
structure capable of withstanding robots capable of sudden and unex-
the mechanical stress of motion. pected acceleration.
In addition, the platform should
be configured in a way that Safety Subroutines
Safety subroutines can be the
FIGURE 1. Physical tilt sensor based easiest safety measures to implement
on mercury switches. if you do your homework in selecting
52 SERVO 01.2007
FIGURE 2. An LCD screen and multi-state

LEDs provide internal state information
in this case, low motor voltage (red
LED, left, and LCD), but adequate main
voltage (blue LED, right). Control buttons
are not shown.
components and microcontrollers. One

of my favorite processor boards
the ATMega128-based Mavric-IIB
features a watchdog timer. This
independent timer can be used to reset
the microcontroller if the program
executing on the controller hangs.
Using the watchdog timer, you can
assure that the microcontroller resets
in a controlled manner following a
power glitch, robot impact with Although several motor controllers microprocessor operation.
something in the environment, or a support a timeout feature, most I like to install a hard tilt switch
variety of other causes. components require custom safety across the control input of solid-state
The less powerful but easier to use subroutines to automatically disable relays that control motor current. The
Parallax BS2 and related chips dont autonomous functions. The basis of physical tilt switch cluster shown in
provide this independent watchdog operation can be a specified time of Figure 1 is composed of four mercury
timer function. However, safety rou- inactivity or sensor data, such as a tilt switches, each accompanied by a 1K
tines neednt reside exclusively in the reading from an onboard accelerometer. series resistor. When the tilt of the
microcontroller. Consider the Parallax robot platform is greater than the
HB-25 motor controller, which has a Physical Sensors angle defined by the position of the
communications timeout function that Software subroutines assume mercury switch on a given axis, the
stops motor activity if it doesnt receive functional sensor-microcontroller microcontroller control signal is
a refresh pulse every four seconds or communications, but this assumption shunted to ground, thereby opening
less. With the timeout function frequently doesnt hold following a the relay output circuit.
enabled, the HB-25 will render the mishap. For this reason, its a good A more compact circuit can be
robot immobile following an accident idea to supplement soft safety constructed with an accelerometer, but
or component failure that results in the subroutines with hard wired physical it can be rendered useless if the
loss of refresh pulses. sensors that are independent of microcontroller is damaged or runs into
FIGURE 3. Schematic of an optically-

isolated analog voltage sensor that
drives LED indicators, as well as the
digital input of a microcontroller.
SERVO 01.2007 53
FIGURE 4. Energy management with

solid-state relays (upper right) and rides programmatic control systems
blade fuse (upper left). based on soft switching through relays
or transistors. Appropriate capacity
as the status of the controlling standard or self-healing fuses on the
communications link. battery circuit and power supply
In addition to general status output can save microcontrollers,
information provided by single sensors, and battery packs. Mini blade
and multi-state LEDs, backlit LCDs fuses, such as the five amp model
can provide a rich source of shown in Figure 4, are inexpensive and
robot state information. Figure 2 readily available in a range of current
illustrates a robot interface ratings down to 1A. Voltage rating is
composed of both LEDs and a normally not a concern because of the
backlit LCD panel indicating ade- low voltage battery and component
quate main power but low motor circuitry typically used in robots.
battery voltage. Not visible in the The most appropriate current
figure is the blinking of the LCD rating and fuse type depends on the
panel and the audible alarm from time-varying amplitude of the expected
a piezo buzzer that accompany current. For example, a slow-blow fuse
the error state. is appropriate to protect motors and
The state indicators in Figure components with a momentary high
2 illustrate a parallel or layered initial current, such as laser rangefind-
safety system. The low motor ers. Fast-blow fuses are suitable for
a software glitch. Space permitting, voltage indicator LED functions inde- microcontroller boards and sensors
the best approach is to use both a pendently of the LCD panel and of the with relatively constant initial and oper-
microcontroller-accelerometer circuit driving microcontroller. Battery voltage ational current. The most appropriate
and a physical tilt switch. An in this case, from two separate 14.4V fuse rating is as near to the full load cur-
advantage of this dual configuration is NiMH packs is fed to two LM386 op- rent of the circuit as possible. An excel-
certainty that that robot motion will be amps that are used to drive red LEDs lent on-line resource for fuse selection is
halted and the ability to use the event when the voltage of the corresponding the Surge Protection Device Handbook,
to modify robot behavior. battery pack drops below 11V, as set by listed in the Resources section.
the 25K potentiometers (see Figure 3). Solid-state relays are useful in
State Indicators You can respond to the LEDs by secondary power switching because
Once a semi-autonomous robot is powering down the robot, replacing they enable a microcontroller to direct-
programmed and set free, its the battery packs, and rebooting the ly control high currents in response to
difficult to foresee and respond to robot operating system. In addition, sensor readings and remote control sig-
problems without a real-time indication because the output of each op-amp is nals. For example, one of the Crydom
of internal state. Its a good fed through a 4N35 optocoupler to the 10A solid-state relays in Figure 4 is used
safety practice to use LEDs and input of a microcontroller, a software to switch on and off a bank of power
other indicators to communicate routine running on the microcontroller supply modules, including those shown
autonomous behaviors, such as can respond to the battery voltage. in the lower half of the figure.
backing up after sensing an object This response can take the form of an The second relay controls current
ahead, as well as system function, such LCD message, the sounding of a piezo to a single-board PC with a built-in
buzzer, and activation voltage regulator. Solid-state relays
of system shutdown with input requirements of only a few
routines that minimize milliamps and output ratings to 60A
risk of robot damage. and above are available from Crydom
and other manufacturers. On large,
Energy Management complex robots, I devote a processor to
Hardware and sequencing solid-state relays, powering
Software servos and controllers, monitoring
Good energy man- current, and other aspects of safe
agement safety begins energy management.
with a physical main
power switch that over- Kill Switch
Flipping the physical main power
FIGURE 5. An RF on-off switch to avoid an impending disaster
switch and transmitter fob isnt always convenient, especially if the
reconfigured as a remote robot is moving, there are multiple,
kill switch.
active robots, or if the robot is out of
54 SERVO 01.2007
reach. The simplest solution to stop- threat to eyes, ears, and extremities. area with a fire extinguisher rated for
ping a robot in an emergency is to The simple act of trimming a solder class A (common combustibles), B
install a wireless kill switch that disables joint with a pair of diagonal cutters can (electrical), and C (flammable liquids)
motor drive circuitry when activated. launch a wire with enough velocity to fires. An ABC extinguisher based on
An inexpensive kill switch system is embed it in an eye. Halotron is ideal for robotics work
available from All Electronics Corp., in Unfortunately, not all construction because the hydrochlorofluorocarbon
the form of a keychain remote control safety techniques can be gleaned from is an electrical insulator that doesnt
shown in Figure 5. The $19 system common sense. If youre unsure how leave a residue.
which includes a pair of 27 MHz wire- to do something, then get help.
less key fobs is designed to supply Someone skilled in cutting and bend- Ventilate your work area when
12V to a remote device. However, the ing aluminum sheet can show you safe soldering or using adhesives. Avoid
main board can be reconfigured so techniques that could take years to breathing flux vapors, which can cause
that the contacts of the mechanical master. Given this caveat, some basics permanent respiratory problems.
relay are available for direct or indirect that apply to all robot construction
control of the robot motor system. I projects include: Use leadless solder and components,
purchased several of these units and and wash your hands after handling
modified the solder pads on the boards Wear eye protection when using solder. Children are especially suscepti-
and remotes so that any fob can con- power tools and when cutting wire, ble to lead poisoning.
trol any and all robots with a kill switch plastic, or metal with hand tools.
an especially handy feature when Use multi-strand, insulated wire for
working with multiple, fast-moving Wear ear protection when working connections that require flexibility, and
robots. Line-of-sight range is about 100 with power tools to prevent hearing insulate exposed terminals and wires
feet, and about half of that indoors. loss. The high-pitched whine of a with shrink-wrap tubing or electrical
A major limitation of using a kill Dremel can be muffled with in-ear tape. Solid wire is fine for use with
switch as a remote safety device is that plugs available at most hardware plastic prototyping boards, but more
it requires you to recognize something stores. In-ear plugs, while not as com- flexible stranded wire is generally a bet-
is wrong and then press the off fortable as over-ear protection, offer ter choice for interconnecting batteries,
button to deactivate a robot. An superior sound reduction and protec- sensors, power supplies, and proces-
alternative approach is to use a dead tion from potential hearing loss. sors especially when there may be rel-
man switch, which is roughly equiva- ative movement between components.
lent to a watchdog timer in that an Wear short sleeves when working
active signal is required to keep the with power tools. Similarly, avoid loose Use sealed, leak-proof batteries
robot energized. If the onboard receiv- jewelry and anything else that might whenever possible. In addition, dont
er doesnt detect a signal because you become caught in a power tool. leave batteries in your robots for
released a momentary-contact switch extended periods even if they are
on the remote, the receiver is out of Use clamps with a drill press to avoid leak-proof.
range, the battery is dead, or any a trip to the emergency room to
number of other reasons, the robot reattach your fingers. Clamps are Use secure construction techniques,
can be configured to shut down. especially important when step bits are such as locking pins to secure parts,
Although its hard to beat the form used, because they are more likely to instead of relying on gravity or tape.
factor of the fob shown in Figure 5, the bind than straight bits (See Figure 6).
Parallax 433 MHz transmitter and Operation
matched receiver can be used to create Use a lubricant when drilling to mini-
a relatively compact dead man switch. mize binding and reduce noise. I like to Safe robot operation depends on
As with most Parallax devices, setup is use a few drops of
quick and painless. Other than rubbing alcohol
supplying each device with 5V at 5 mA, when drilling alu-
installation is a simple matter of minum sheeting.
interpreting the analog received
signal strength value with an onboard Smooth freshly
processor or using it to directly control cut edges with a
a solid-state relay. Line-of-sight range is file.
about 500 feet.
Equip your work
Construction FIGURE 6. Use a clamp
not hands to
The process of creating a robot, stabilize items on a
whether from a kit or sheet of alu- drill press especially
minum and plastic, poses a potential with a step bit.
SERVO 01.2007 55
the type of robot, the operating Charge batteries in a well ventilated robot safety is how much safety
environment, and the purpose of the area and use a charger that guards overhead is enough. In general, the
robot. What constitutes safe operation against overheating and overcharging. greater the safety risk, the more
of a BattleBot engaged in a fight to the safety should be emphasized in robot
death in a BattleBot arena doesnt nec- Affix robot arms and other stationary design. A kill switch and comprehen-
essarily apply to a robot designed to robots securely on a stable platform sive energy management circuitry
explore robot-robot communications. A prior to power-up. generally dont make sense for a slow
few globally applicable safe operation moving, 12 ounce carpet rover.
heuristics are: Establish a safety zone around a However, a highly mobile, 20 pound
robot within which no one may enter robot equipped with an expensive
RESOURCES during operation. sensor array, significant on-board
processing hardware, and a high-
All Electronics Corp. From Here current drive system may dictate a full
www.allelectronics.com suite of safety technologies.
The above safety measures apply The obvious tradeoffs are safety
BattleBot Rules & Guidelines in varying degrees to experimental for increased complexity, weight, cost,
www.battlebots.com robots and those designed for explo- and development time. Increased
ration and assorted tasks. Robots complexity usually translates to a
Crydom, Inc. intended for competition such as greater likelihood of failure because of
www.crydom.com BattleBot-style competitions must an increased number of failure points.
abide by specific safety guidelines. For example, a dead battery in a
Parallax Even if you are not intending to enter remote enable/kill switch can disable
www.parallax.com
your robot in a competition, its a an otherwise operational robot.
Surge Protection Device Handbook. good idea to review safety guidelines However, replacing a battery is a trivial
Cooper Bussman, Inc., 2002. associated with events for ideas on matter compared with replacing an
www.bussman.com/apen/pubs/ how you can improve the safety of expensive video camera because you
spd/index.asp your robot. couldnt stop your robot from
A common question regarding slamming into a table leg. SV
56 SERVO 01.2007
Pawelski2.qxd 12/6/2006 11:51 AM Page 57
PART 2:
Building the
CIRC Bot
Amateur
robotics is FUN.
Amateur robotics
is EDUCATIONAL.
Amateur robotics
is EXPENSIVE!
Last month, you
purchased the basic
hand tools and
supplies you need to
build a robot and
you learned to
solder. This month,
you will be building a
complete robot. This
robot will be more
F
igure 1 shows the complete CIRC a BASIC Stamp for its microcontroller
Bot. The main body of the robot and modified servos for its motors. than just a platform.
is a solderless breadboard on a Both of those choices are made with
plastic frame. If you have been reading It will be mobile,
SERVO for awhile, you have seen other
breadboard bots (and if you have read
sense its environ-
Nuts & Volts since the mid-1990s, you ment, change how
have seen several more). The big
difference between this robot and the it moves based on
others that have been presented is that what it senses, and
it is built to a tight budget. Most of the
time, a beginners robot is shown with FIGURE 1. CIRC Bot. be easily modifiable.
SERVO 01.2007 57
Beginners Robotics on $50 a Month

using the LED project
described in last months
article, you will be able to
handle it. Three of the 0.1 F
capacitors need to be soldered
to each motor. One cap will be
connected between the two
motor leads. The other two
will connect each lead to
the motor case. In an ideal
FIGURE 3. Caps situation, the caps between
FIGURE 2. Motor and Wires on
Noise Capacitors. Motor. the leads and the case would
both connect to the case in
the assumption that it will be easier BASCOM-AVR compiler complete with the same location. However, with the
for the new builder to use these manual from www.mcselec.com/ configuration of the Gearbox we are
components. However, they add over index.php?option=com_content&ta using, this will not be possible, so we
$50 to the cost of the robot. That is sk=view&id=14&Itemid=41. BAS- will have to solder to two different
more than our entire budget! COM runs on Windows 95 or newer locations on each motor.
For the CIRC Bot, you will be using PCs. We will be programming using the Bend the leads on three capacitors
a $2.99 AVR Mega48 microcontroller. parallel (printer) port, so you will need as shown in Figure 2. Hook the leads
The Mega48 is not only less than a to have a PC available with a parallel from the capacitor with both of its
tenth of the cost of a BASIC Stamp, it port. If you do not already have one, leads bent into the two motor lugs.
is also more powerful. you can often pick up an older PC at a The leads bent into a J shape on the
The robot will be programmed computer repair shop or a second-hand other two capacitors also hook into the
using BASCOM-AVR from MCS store for less than $50. Just make sure motor leads. These capacitors should
Electronics. BASCOM is a version of the that the computers operating system be positioned so that their straight
Basic programming language. You will is Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, or XP. leads touch the metal part of the
need to download a free version of the motor case. Before soldering the
Ordering the Parts capacitors into place, lightly sand the
Description Qty parts of the motor case (which are
The list of components under the capacitor leads) with a very
Solderless Breadboard 830 contacts 1
necessary to build the CIRC rough sand paper or emery board. The
Wire 3 each of red, green, and black 1 Bot is shown in Table 1. The goal is to make the surface rougher so
.1 F Axial Ceramic Capacitor 11 entire component list can be that solder will bond to it easier. Clean
7805T 5V Positive Regulator, 1 Amp 1 purchased as a kit from the roughed areas with alcohol. Apply
100K ohm 1/4 Watt 10 Wright Hobbies. rosin paste to the roughed areas and
the leads so that the solder flows into
360 ohm 1/4 Watt 11
Subassemblies all of the crevices and makes a good
4 AA Battery Holder w/leads 1 bond between the motor and both of
Heat Shrink Tubing 1 Building the Gearbox the leads. The motor is a fairly large
40 Pin Header 1 The gearbox kit comes heatsink so you will need to take some
D-Sub Mini Connector/25 Pin Male 1
with instructions; however, time with your iron. Do not solder the
they are a little limited. connection yet.
DB-25 Hood 1
Wright Hobbies has made a You need to add hookup wires.
6 Conductor 26GA Multicolor Wire 10 video of the gearbox assem- Cut two five-inch pieces of wire: one
1 Squares 1/16 Thick Foam Squares (15) 1 bly procedure. You can find it red and one green. Strip about a
SN754410 Quad Half-Bridge 1 online at www.wrighthob quarter inch of insulation off of each
bies.net/guides/. You will end. With the wires side by side, twist
ATMega48 Atmel Mega48 Microcontroller 1
be assembling the gearbox in them together leaving only about one
Tamiya Truck Tires (1 Pr) 1 its highest gear ratio configu- inch at either end untwisted. Take a
Tamiya Double Gearbox 1 ration (344.2:1). stripped end of the red wire, twist it
Tamiya Universal Plate Set 1 around the capacitor lead going
Tamiya Ball Caster (1) 1 Adding Caps to the through one of the terminal lugs, and
Motors take a stripped end of the green wire
CDS Photoresistor 2
This is probably the hard- and twist it around the capacitor lead
2,200 F 16V Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 1 est part of the build, but if going through the other terminal lug.
TABLE 1. Bill of Materials. you practiced your soldering Now, you can position everything
58 SERVO 01.2007
Pin on DB25 Male Pin on AVR

Signal Header Pin Wire Color
Connector Mega 48
18-25 (ground) GND 1 Black 10
11 (busy) MISO 2 Green 18
5 (D3) CLOCK 3 Red 19
4 (D2) RESET 4 Yellow 1
2 (D0) MOSI 5 Blue 17
TABLE 2. Programming Cable Connections.
and solder it so that it looks like Figure 3. outer cover ends on both
You will probably have to make several ends. On the end with
tries to get the joints between the capac- 1-1/2 inches of the cover
itor leads and the motor case to hold. removed, trim the blue, FIGURE 4.
Just take your time and dont give up. yellow, and red wires so Programming
Repeat this process for the other that only an inch of each of Circuit
Schematic.
motor. them is exposed. Strip one
half inch of insulation from both ends resistor in the cup for pin 4 and take
Making the Programming Cable of all the wires so that the cable looks the third resistor and solder it into the
The simple cable programmer you like Figure 5. cup for pin 5.
will be making is based on a design The resistors and the pin jumpers Lay one of the pieces you trimmed
originally in Sample Electronics which is will be added inside the connector off of the resistors across the solder
also described on the Dontronics web- hood. Because of the short distances cups for pins 18 to 25. Solder it to each
site at www.dontronics.com/dt006_ involved, it will be easier to make of these cups.
programming.html jumpers out of leads trimmed off of The DB25 hood came with several
The only differences between this components than out of the hookup pieces of hardware which are used to
cable and the one on the Dontronics wire. You will have to take your time secure the cable and hold the two
site are the pinout on the end that will while doing this to make sure that pieces of the hood together. The two
connect to the bot and the size of the everything fits. Read the rest of this curved pieces of metal are called cable
resistors. Figure 4 and Table 2 show the subsection several times and lay the clamps. Normally, they go around the
connections. Note that pin 18, 19, 20, pieces out to make sure that you cable where it enters the hood with
21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 of the DB25 understand how everything fits before their concave sides facing each other to
male connector must be connected to you start cutting. form a ring around the cable. However,
each other. To protect your computers Take three 360 ohm resistors and our cable is smaller so we will be
printer port, 360 ohm resistors have trim their leads so that only 8 mm (a lit- placing the two pieces around the cable
been added in series with the MOSI, tle more than a quarter of an inch) is with the curved parts facing the same
RESET, and CLOCK signals. left on each end. Save the pieces you way. Attach the cable clamps around
Cut a four-foot piece of the six trimmed off. The solder cups on the the cable at the end with the 1-1/2 inch-
conductor cable. Cut off one inch of DB25 connector have numbers next to es of exposed wires as shown in Figure
the outside cover from one end of the them. Solder one end of one of the 6. You now need to solder the wires as
cable and 1-1/2 inches of the outside trimmed resistors into the solder cup shown in the photo: the blue wire to
cover from the other end. Trim the for pin 2 (dont forget the rosin paste). the resistor for pin 2, the yellow wire to
white wire so that it ends where the Do the same thing with another the resistor for pin 4, the red wire to the
FIGURE 5. Cable FIGURE 6. FIGURE 7.

With Ends Prepared. Programming Cable Breadboard End
With Hood Removed. of Programming
Cable.
SERVO 01.2007 59

ing rod across the top
of the plate with the
end stubs going into
the notches in the
plate. Holding every-
thing together in one
hand, turn it over and
install the mounting
screws through the
FIGURE 8. Base Plate FIGURE 9. Gearbox tabs and into the
With Notches for Attached to
Gearbox Mount. Base Plate. stubs. The screws are
self-tapping in the
resistor for pin 5, the green wire to the touch the other lead to each pin on the plastic so you must be careful not to
solder cup for pin 11, and the black wire connector (one at a time). The meter over-tighten them or they will strip out
to the jumper you soldered across pins should show infinite resistance on any the stubs. Just tighten them until the
10 to 25. Assemble the rest of the hood pin except pins 18 through 25, which heads of the screws make contact with
around the assembly. should show nearly zero resistance. the tabs. The gearbox assembled to the
On the other end of the program- Move the lead to header pin 2 base is shown in Figure 9.
ming cable, we will solder the wires to (MISO) and repeat the process. This Next, the battery box will be
five header pins. Break off a set of five time, you should get infinite resistance attached. Take three pieces of the
pins from the 40-pin header. Solder the on all connector pins except on pin 11 double-stick foam tape and stick them
wires as shown in Figure 7. The order of where resistance will be close to zero. to the side of the box where the switch
the connections on the header pin side Repeat with the other three header is located as shown in Figure 10. Stick
is GND (Black), MISO (Green), Clock pins. Since these three pins have the battery box to the bottom of the
(Red), Reset (Yellow), and MOSI (Blue). resistors in their circuits, you should get plate just in front of the gearbox with
The plastic used to hold the header pins resistance values close to 360 ohms the switch just clearing the side of the
together will soften fast due to the heat when you touch the correct connector plate as shown in Figure 11.
from your soldering iron. You will need pins instead of zero ohms as you did on The final piece that will be added
to work in fairly quick bursts. If the the previous header pins. to the bottom of the plate is the roller-
plastic softens too much around one of ball. Assembly instructions come with
the pins, the pin will be able to move Base Assembly the roller-ball kit. Assemble the unit for
once the plastic is cool. If this happens, the 25 mm height. The roller-ball is
use a drop of super glue to hold the pin The base for the CIRC Bot is made attached using the two-piece plastic
in the plastic. using the Tamiya Universal Plate Set. rivets from the base kit. Locate the
Since the programming cable is Take one of the plate pieces from the roller-ball so that it is centered on the
the part that will connect your low-cost base kit. Count in seven rows from one plate with its front mounting holes
robot to your expensive computer, you edge. Using angled snips, cut a v from over the third row of holes in the plate.
want to make sure that you built it the edges of the plate to the first and From the top of the plate, push the
correctly. Take your multimeter and last holes in the seventh row as shown in hollow part of the rivet through the
confirm that each header pin is wired Figure 8. These notches will allow you to plate hole and the mounting hole in
to only the intended connector pin. To attach the gearbox to the base. the roller-ball assembly. Push the solid
do this, set your meter to resistance (or Place the gearbox under the plate part of the rivet through the hollow
continuity if your meter has a conti- with the mounting tabs facing up and part to cause it to expand and grip the
nuity tone setting). Touch one lead of located under the notches you just cut roller-ball assembly. Repeat this for the
the meter to header pin 1 (GND) and in the plate. Place the gearbox mount- three remaining mounting holes to
FIGURE 10. Battery
Box With Foam
Tape Attached.
FIGURE 11. Battery FIGURE 12. Roller Ball

Box Attached to Base Attached (note the
(note switch location). four orange rivets.
60 SERVO 01.2007

make the finished assembly. FIGURE 14.
Now, press the wheels Trimmed Rear
Support.
and tires onto the axles
extending from the gearbox.
The base will now look like
Figure 12.
On the top of the plate,
two long angle pieces need to
be added. These angle pieces
will hold standoffs, which will
be added to the robot next
month. Place one over the FIGURE 13. Front Support.
very front row of holes as
FIGURE 15. Tape
shown in Figure 13. Use two plastic Top Assembly, Stacks on Lower
rivets to attach it to the plate. The Programming, and Base Plate.
second angle piece will be attached in
the same manner at the other end of
Troubleshooting
the plate. However, it will need to have The instructions for completing the
part of its structure trimmed as shown rest of the CIRC Bot can be found at
in Figure 14. www.wrighthobbies.net/guides/.
Now, the second plate will be They will also tell you how to program
attached to the first plate. Make four the robot and troubleshoot it if every-
stacks of double-stick foam tape as thing does not go perfect the first time.
shown in Figure 15. Each stack should
be three pieces deep. Two of the stacks Conclusion
are behind the motor mount and will
need to be trimmed slightly to fit. When you finish the work described
Attach the second plate to the top of in this months article and the online
the stacks. Twist the two battery box supplement, you can honestly say that
wires together and route them through you built a robot. Next month, we will
the holes in the base plates immediate- greatly enhance your robots sensor suite
ly in front of the motor mounts so that and we will add an LCD display so your
the completed base looks like Figure 16. bot can tell you what it is thinking. Until FIGURE 16. Base With
Second Plate Added and
The final piece for the base is the then, have fun with your project! SV Battery Wire Routed.
solderless breadboard. This comes with
double-stick tape on its backside.
Position the breadboard before
removing the protective paper from
the tape. Note the numbered rows and
lettered columns on the breadboard.
The board should be placed with the
edge near row one, flush with the
edge of the angle support on the front
of the base and the edge nearest
column J, flush with the side of the
base as shown in Figure 17.
FIGURE 17. Finished
Base Ready for
Electronics.
SERVO 01.2007 61
Hewitt1.qxd 12/7/2006 4:55 PM Page 62
Seeing With OpenCV

A Computer-Vision Library
b y R o b i n H e w i t t PART 1
OpenCV Overview
O
penCV Intels free, open-source experiment with many standard com-
computer-vision library can puter vision algorithms without having
greatly simplify computer-vision OpenCV is a free, open-source to code them yourself. These include
programming. It includes advanced computer vision library for C/C++ edge, line, and corner detection, ellipse
capabilities face detection, face track- programmers. You can download it fitting, image pyramids for multiscale
ing, face recognition, Kalman filtering, from http://sourceforge.net/proj processing, template matching, various
and a variety of artificial-intelligence (AI) ects/opencvlibrary. transforms (Fourier, discrete cosine,
methods in ready-to-use form. In addi- Intel released the first version of and distance transforms), and more.
tion, it provides many basic computer- OpenCV in 1999. Initially, it required
vision algorithms via its lower-level APIs. Intels Image Processing Library. That High-level computer-vision modules
A good understanding of how dependency was eventually removed, OpenCV includes several high-level
these methods work is the key to get- and you can now use OpenCV as a capabilities. In addition to face-
ting good results when using OpenCV. standalone library. detection, recognition, and tracking, it
In this five-part series, Ill introduce you OpenCV is multi-platform. It sup- includes optical flow (using camera
to OpenCV and show you how to use it ports both Windows and Linux, and motion to determine 3D structure),
to implement face detection, face more recently, MacOSX. With one camera calibration, and stereo.
tracking, and face recognition. Then, exception (CVCAM, which Ill describe
Ill take you behind the scenes to later in this article), its interfaces are AI and machine-learning methods
explain how each of these methods platform independent. Computer-vision applications often
works and give you tips and tricks for require machine learning or other AI
getting the most out of them. Features methods. Some of these are available in
This first article introduces OpenCV. OpenCVs Machine Learning package.
Ill tell you how to get it and give you a OpenCV has so many capabilities,
few pointers for setting it up on your it can seem overwhelming at first. Image sampling and view
computer. Youll learn how to read and Fortunately, youll need only a few to transformations
write image files, capture video, convert get started. Ill walk you through a Its often useful to process a group
between color formats, and access pixel useful subset in this series. of pixels as a unit. OpenCV includes
data all through OpenCV interfaces. Heres a summary of the major interfaces for extracting image
functionality categories in OpenCV, subregions, random sampling, resizing,
version 1.0, which was just released warping, rotating, and applying
at the time of this writing: perspective effects.
Image and video I/O Methods for creating and analyzing

These interfaces let you read in binary (two-valued) images
image data from files, or from live Binary images are frequently used
video feed. You can also create in inspection systems that scan for
image and video files. shape defects or count parts. A binary
representation is also convenient when
General computer-vision and locating an object to grasp.
mage-processing algorithms
(mid- and low-level APIs) Methods for computing 3D
Using these interfaces, you can information
These functions are useful for
FIGURE 1. Among OpenCVs many
capabilities are face detection (top mapping and localization either with
left), contour detection (top right), a stereo rig or with multiple views from
and edge detection (bottom). a single camera.
62 SERVO 01.2007
FIGURE 2. Selecting
Math routines for image processing, OpenCV header files
computer vision, and image in Windows to place
interpretation into a single include
OpenCV includes math commonly directory.
used, algorithms from linear algebra,
statistics, and computational geometry. experimental code.
However, the sim-
Graphics plest interfaces for
These interfaces let you write text face recognition are
and draw on images. In addition to vari- in this module. The
ous fun and creative possibilities, these code behind them is
functions are useful for labeling and mark- specialized for face
ing. For example, if you write a program recognition, and
that detects objects, its helpful to label theyre widely used
images with their sizes and locations. for that purpose.
GUI methods ML contains machine-learning Customizing a Windows Install

OpenCV includes its own window- interfaces For Windows users, OpenCV is
ing interfaces. While these are limited The remaining functionality is con- easy to install, and the default installa-
compared to what can be done on tained in HighGUI and CVCAM. Both of tion will work. But a bit of advance
each platform, they provide a simple, these are located in a directory named planning may leave you happier with
multi-platform API to display images, otherlibs, making them easy to miss. the results. Here are a few suggestions.
accept user input via mouse or key- Since HighGUI contains the basic I/O Since OpenCV is a developers
board, and implement slider controls. interfaces, youll want to be sure you toolkit not a program you may
dont overlook it! It also contains the want to locate it somewhere other
Datastructures and algorithms multi-platform windowing capabilities. than your Program Files directory. If
With these interfaces, you can CVCAM contains interfaces for you do prefer to locate it elsewhere,
efficiently store, search, save, and video access through DirectX on 32-bit decide that before you run the installer,
manipulate large lists, collections (also Windows platforms. However, HighGUI and enter that location when asked.
called sets), graphs, and trees. also contains video interfaces. In this I suggest you also decide before
article, Ill cover only the interfaces in installing how you want Windows to
Data persistence HighGUI. Theyre simpler to use, and find the OpenCV dlls. You can either
These methods provide convenient they work on all platforms. If youre modify your systems PATH variable to
interfaces for storing various types of using Windows XP or 2000, you may include their location, or you can move
data to disk and retrieving them later. get a performance boost by switching them, after installing, from OpenCVs
Figure 1 shows a few examples of to the CVCAM interfaces, but for bin directory to your SYSTEM_ROOT
OpenCVs capabilities in action: face learning OpenCV, the simpler ones in directory.
detection, contour detection, and edge HighGUI are just fine. If you prefer to move the dlls, but
detection. arent sure where your SYSTEM_ROOT
Installing OpenCV directory is, you can locate it by
Organization running the sysinfo utility available at
Basic Install www.cognotics.com/utilities.
OpenCVs functionality is con- OpenCV for Linux or MacOSX is If you prefer to modify the PATH
tained in several modules. packaged as a source-code archive. rather than moving the dlls, you can
CXCORE contains basic datatype Youll need to build both static and have the installer do that for you
definitions. For example, the data shared-object libraries. You can either by selecting the check box Add bin
structures for image, point, and rectan- build an RPM first and install from that, directory to PATH.
gle are defined in cxtypes.h. CXCORE or compile and install it directly.
also contains linear algebra and statis- Instructions for doing both are in After Installing
tics methods, the persistence func- INSTALL. The OpenCV directory contains
tions, and error handlers. Somewhat The Windows download is pack- several subdirectories. The docs directo-
oddly, the graphics functions for draw- aged as an executable that installs ry contains html documentation for all
ing on images are located here, as well. OpenCV when you run it. It places the OpenCV functions and datatypes.
CV contains image processing and OpenCV files into a directory of your Since the best documentation is a
camera calibration methods. The choice, optionally modifies your system working example, you might also want
computational geometry functions are path to include the OpenCV binaries, to browse the samples directory.
also located here. and registers several DirectX filters. By The header files youll need to
CVAUX is described in OpenCVs doc- default, it installs to C:/Program include when you compile programs that
umentation as containing obsolete and Files/OpenCV/<version>. use OpenCV are distributed among the
SERVO 01.2007 63
FIGURE 3. Example
program that reads an the library path and the names of the
image from a file and static libraries to use. The static libraries
writes it to a second you need to link to are cxcore.lib, cv.lib,
file in a different
compression format. and highgui.lib. Later, for face recogni-
tion, youll also link to cvaux.lib. These
*.hpp. There will be are in OpenCVs lib directory.
lots of matches. You
dont need all of Reading and Writing Images
them. Headers for all Image I/O is easy with OpenCV.
modules except Figure 3 shows a complete program
HighGUI are in listing for reading an image from
separate include file and writing it as a second file, in a
directories inside each different compression format.
module. You can skip To read an image file, simply call
headers in the cvLoadImage(), passing it the filename
src directories for (line 14). OpenCV supports most common
these modules. For image formats, including JPEG, PNG, and
HighGUI, youll need BMP. You dont need to provide format
highgui.h, located in information. cvLoadImage() determines
otherlibs/highgui. file format by reading the file header.
To write an image to file, call
OpenCV modules. Although you dont cvSaveImage(). This function decides
need to do this, I like to gather them
Programming with which file format to use from the file
together into a single include directory. OpenCV: Some Basics extension. In this example, the exten-
On both Linux and Windows, you sion is png, so it will write the image
can locate the headers by searching the More about Headers and Libraries data in PNG format.
install directory and subdirectories for Most OpenCV programs need to Both cvLoadImage() and
filenames that match the pattern *.h, include cv.h and highgui.h. Later, for cvSaveImage() are in the HighGUI
face recognition, module.
well also include When youre finished using the input
cvaux.h. The image received from cvLoadImage(), free
remaining head- it by calling cvReleaseImage(), as on line
er files are includ- 29. This function takes an address of a
ed by these pointer as its input because it does a
top-level headers. safe release. It frees the image struc-
If youve left ture only if its non-null. After freeing it, it
the header files sets the image pointer to 0.
in multiple direc-
tories (default Live Video Input
installation), Capturing image frames from a
make sure your webcam, or other digital video device,
compilers is nearly as easy as loading from file.
include path con- Figure 4 shows a complete program
tains these direc- listing to initialize frame capture, cap-
tories. If youve ture and store several video frames,
gathered the and close the capture interface.
headers into one The capture interface is initialized, on
include directory, line 19, by calling cvCaptureFromCAM().
make sure that This function returns a pointer to a
directory is on CvCapture structure. You wont access
your compilers this structure directly. Instead, youll store
include path. the pointer to pass to cvQueryFrame().
Your linker When youre finished using video
will need both input, call cvReleaseCapture() to
release video resources. As with
FIGURE 4. Example cvReleaseImage(), you pass the address
program that
captures live video of the CvCapture pointer to
frames and stores cvReleaseCapture().
them as files. Dont release or otherwise modify
64 SERVO 01.2007
the IplImage you receive from cvQueryFrame()! If you need ers and other high-level constructs. All pixel-level calculations
to modify image data, create a copy to work with: are performed inside OpenCV functions. However, if you
write your own image-processing algorithms, you may need
// Copy the video frame to access raw pixel values. Here are two ways to do that:
IplImage *pImgToChange =
cvCloneImage(pVideoFrame);
1. Simple Pixel Access
// Insert your image-processing code here ... The easiest way to read individual pixels is with the
cvGet2D() function:
// Free the copy after using it
cvReleaseImage(&pImgToChange); CvScalar cvGet2D(const CvArr*,
int row, int col);
Color Conversions
Figure 5 shows code for converting a color image to This function takes three parameters: a pointer to a data con-
grayscale. OpenCV has built-in support for converting to and tainer (CVArr*), and array indices for row and column location.
from many useful color models, including RGB, HSV, YCrCb, The data container can be an IplImage structure. The topmost
and CIELAB. (For a discussion of color models, see The row of pixels is row=0, and the bottommost is row=height-1.
World of Color, SERVO Magazine, November 2005.)
Note that the conversion function, cvCvtColor(), requires The cvGet2D()function returns a C structure, CvScalar,
two images in its input list. The first one, pRGBImg, is the defined as
source image. The second, pGrayImg, is the destination image.
It will contain the conversion result when cvCvtColor() returns. typedef struct CvScalar
{
Because this paradigm of passing source and destination
double val[4];
images to a processing function is common in OpenCV, youll }
frequently need to create a destination image. On line 25, a CvScalar;
call to cvCreateImage() creates an image the same size as the
original, with uninitialized pixel data. The pixel values for each channel are in val[i]. For
grayscale images, val[0] contains pixel brightness. The other
How OpenCV Stores Images three values are set to 0. For a three-channel, BGR image,
OpenCV stores images as a C structure, IplImage. IPL blue=val[0], green=val[1], and red=val[2].
stands for Image Processing Library, a legacy from the The complementary function, cvSet2D(), allows you to
original OpenCV versions that required this product. modify pixel values. Its defined as
The IplImage datatype is defined in CXCORE. In addi-
tion to raw pixel data, it contains a number of descriptive
fields, collectively called the Image Header. These include
Width Image width in pixels
Height Image height in pixels
Depth One of several predefined constants that

indicate the number of bits per pixel per channel. For
example, if depth=IPL_DEPTH_8U, data for each pixel
channel are stored as eight-bit, unsigned values.
nChannels The number of data channels (from one to

four). Each channel contains one type of pixel data. For exam-
ple, RGB images have three channels red, green, and blue
intensities. (These are sometimes called BGR images, because
pixel data are stored as blue, green, then red values.)
Grayscale images contain only one channel pixel brightness.
Accessing Pixel Values

Its possible to create many types of functionality using
OpenCV without directly accessing raw pixel data. For
example, the face detection, tracking, and recognition pro-
grams described later in this
series never manipulate raw FIGURE 5. Example
pixel data directly. Instead, program for converting a
they work with image point- color image to grayscale.
SERVO 01.2007 65
Resources need to cast the data type. For example, if your image data are
Sourceforge site unsigned bytes (the most common input type), youd cast each
http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary value to unsigned char* before assigning, or otherwise using, it.
If youre accessing data from a grayscale (single-channel)
Official OpenCV usergroup
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/OpenCV image, and the data depth is eight bits (one byte per pixel),
youd access pixel[row][col] with
OpenCV Wiki
http://opencvlibrary.sourceforge.net pixel[row][col] = ((uchar*)
(pImg->imageData +
Source code for the program listings in this article are available row*pImg->widthStep + col));
for download at www.cognotics.com/opencv/servo.
In multi-channel images, channel values are interlaced.
void cvSet2D(CvArr*, int row, int col, Heres a code snippet to access blue, green, and red pixel values:
CvScalar);
step = pImg->widthStep;
nChan = pImg->nChannels;
2. Fast Pixel Access // = 3 for a BGR image
Although cvGet2D() and cvSet2D() are easy to use, buf = pImg->imageData;
if you want to access more than a few pixel values, and
blue[row][col] =
performance matters, youll want to read values directly ((uchar*)(buf + row*widthStep +
from the raw data buffer, IplImage.imageData. nChan*col);
Image data in the buffer are stored as a 1D array, in row- green[row][col] =
major order. That is, all pixel values in the first row are listed ((uchar*)(buf + row*widthStep +
nChan*col + 1);
first, followed by pixel values in the second row, and so on. red[row][col] =
For performance reasons, pixel data are aligned, and ((uchar*)(buf + row*widthStep +
padded if necessary, so that each row starts on an even four-byte nChan*col + 2);
multiple. A second field, IplImage.widthStep, indicates the
number of bytes between the start of each rows pixel data. That Finally, if image depth is greater than eight bits (for
is, row i starts at IplImage.imageData + i*IplImage.widthStep. example, IPL_DEPTH_32S), youd need to transfer multiple
IplImage.imageData is defined as type char*, so you may bytes for each value and multiply the buffer offset by
the number of data bytes for your image depth. Its very
unlikely, however, that youll encounter a situation in which
you must access multi-byte pixel values directly.
STEER WINNING ROBOTS
WITHOUT SERVOS! Finding Help
If you have problems installing or using OpenCV, the first
place to turn for help is the FAQ (faq.htm) in your OpenCV
docs directory. The INSTALL file, at the root of your OpenCV
directory, also contains helpful setup and troubleshooting
tips. If these dont answer your question, you may want to
post a query to the official Yahoo! user group. The groups
URL is in the Resources sidebar.
API documentation for each module is in the docs/ref
subdirectory. All reference manuals except the one for
CVAUX are linked from index.htm, in the docs directory.
P erform proportional speed, direction, and steering with

only two Radio/Control channels for vehicles using two
separate brush-type electric motors mounted right and left
Coming Up ...
with our mixing RDFR dual speed control. Used in many Next month, Ill show you how to detect faces with
successful competitive robots. Single joystick operation: up OpenCV and explain the algorithm behind the interface. Be
goes straight ahead, down is reverse. Pure right or left twirls seeing you! SV
vehicle as motors turn opposite directions. In between stick
positions completely proportional. Plugs in like a servo to
your Futaba, JR, Hitec, or similar radio. Compatible with gyro About the Author
steering stabilization. Various volt and amp sizes available. Robin Hewitt is an independent software consultant working in
The RDFR47E 55V 75A per motor unit pictured above. the areas of computer vision and robotics. She has worked as a
www.vantec.com Computer Vision Algorithm Developer at Evolution Robotics and
is a member of SO(3), a computer-vision research group at UC
Order at San Diego. She is one of the original developers of SodaVision, an
experimental face-recognition system at UC San Diego.
(888) 929-5055 SodaVision was built with OpenCV.
66 SERVO 01.2007
Events.qxd 12/6/2006 11:23 AM Page 67
Send updates, new listings, corrections, complaints, and suggestions to: [email protected] or FAX 972-404-0269
Happy New Year, robot builders! The 2007 contest in the United States. Expect to see some very
dates are beginning to roll in as more organizations finalize advanced and fast micromouse robots.
their plans for the new year. www.apec-conf.org
Know of any robot competitions I've missed? Is your
local school or robot group planning a contest? Send an
email to [email protected] and tell me about it. Be sure to March
include the date and location of your contest. If you have a
website with contest info, send along the URL as well, so we 3 RoboWars
can tell everyone else about it. Montreal, Canada
For last-minute updates and changes, you can always Sumo and BEAM Solaroller events.
find the most recent version of the Robot Competition FAQ www.robowars.ca
at Robots.net: http://robots.net/rcfaq.html
9-10 AMD Jerry Sanders Creative Design Contest
R. Steven Rainwater University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
Check the website for the details of this year's contest.
Januar y 2007 http://dc.cen.uiuc.edu
16-19 Singapore Robotic Games 9-10 National Robotics Challenge

Republic of Singapore Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Marion, OH
Lots of events including wall climbing, pole In addition to Sumo and maze solving events, this
balancing, Micromouse, sumo, legged robot races, student competition includes two unusual ones: a
robot soccer, and more. robotic workcell event and a pick-and-place event.
http://guppy.mpe.nus.edu.sg/srg www.nationalroboticschallenge.org
20 Robot Sumo in DC 10 CIRC Central Illinois Bot Brawl

Washington, DC Peoria, IL
The name says it all. This is a robot sumo contest Includes several classes of autonomous sumo and
held in Washington, DC. remote-control vehicle destruction.
www.societyofrobots.com/sumo_robots_in_ www.circ.mtco.com
DC.shtml
17-18 Manitoba Robot Games
26-28 Techfest Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India Events may include both Japanese and Western
Micromouse and two other events with the intrigu- style sumo, mini-tractor pull, and Atomic Hockey.
ing names of SNAP and Full Throttle: Afterburn. www.scmb.mb.ca
www.techfest.org
31 Penn State Abington Fire-Fighting Robot
Contest
F e b ru a r y Penn State Abington, Abington, PA
Regional for the Trinity Fire Fighting contest.
1-4 Robotix www.ecsel.psu.edu/~avanzato/robots/
IIT Khargpur, West Bengal, India contests/outdoor/contest05.htm
A national-level competition. Events include
Fastrack Manual, Fastrack Auto, and Softandroid. 31 Penn State Abington Mini Grand Challenge
http://gymkhana.iitkgp.ac.in/robotix Penn State Abington, Abington, PA
Autonomous outdoor ground robots must navigate on
26 APEC Micromouse Contest and off-road around the campus, avoiding obstacles.
Anaheim, CA www.ecsel.psu.edu/~avanzato/robots/
One of the best-known micromouse competitions contests/outdoor/contest05.htm
SERVO 01.2007 67
Calkins.qxd 12/7/2006 1:36 PM Page 68
by Dave Calkins
ROBOGAMES
PREP:
Tetsujin! SERVOs
Original Robot Challenge
T
etsujin the ultimate robot did learn to walk again, but the dream during the first competition, said our
competition. When we build of mechanically assisted walking lives suit cost roughly $2,000. Because of
other robots, were always on. At last years RoboGames, Monty the simplicity of the suit, there were
putting out time, money, and efforts took up not only the weightlifting only three major purchases. These
into the projects. More often than not, challenge of Tetsujin, but also the included the pneumatics, the chromoly
we put our souls into the project. But walking challenge. steel tubing, and an air tank. Clippard
how often do we put ourselves into the To the untrained eye, it appeared Pneumatics sponsored 50% of the
project? I mean that literally. No one as though Monty was just walking pneumatics cost for our team. If a
would enter a combat robot arena, or around the arena with a bunch of high school student can do it, so
risk riding in a Grand Challenge vehicle. metal and tubes surrounding him. Yet can you.
But Tetsujin takes it to the ultimate his stomping and jumping were all The hardest thing about building
man and machine become one. done with the suit. The dream is not far a Tetsujin suit is it requires understand-
And to what end? Is this just some- off! The mechanics of making a ROBO- ing and integrating multiple disciplines
thing that we do as yet another robot one walk and helping the lame walk (mechanical engineering, electrical
competition? Something thats fun and are essentially the same problems engineering, bio-medical engineering)
can win us medals or cash? Or is it the major difference being that the while being extremely careful so that
something more? Something that can bones of the lame become part of the you do not get hurt, said Alex. Most
truly benefit man. support structure along with the metal, of us understand one or two of these,
Not only could the ultimate and the motors are outside the but few are masters at all three. This is
Tetsujin suit make you look like skeleton rather than in it. where team members who comple-
Sigourney Weaver in Alien and help Ah, but whats this got to do with ment your skills come in handy. The
you move those shipping containers RoboGames? Well, its one of the most difficult aspect of building a suit
around the room, but the ultimate premier events! Broken up into three is the control system that commands
Tetsujin suit can truly advance man. stages weightlifting, walking, and the mechanical suit based on your
How many crippled people could get dexterity Tetsujin is SERVOs own movement. The three main choices
out of a wheelchair and back to stand- robot event. for powering a suit are electrical,
ing in line at the supermarket? Much too expensive, you think? pneumatic, and hydraulic. Each one
Running to catch the bus? Thats Well, Alex Sulkowski winner of the has major pros and cons that impact
what Monty Reed of They Shall Walk first $25,000 Tetsujin challenge the control system. On top of that, a
had in mind when he started building bought all the parts for his suit for failure in the control system can result
walking suits. $1,100. Many parts were bought in major damage to your body.
Monty was injured in a parachute cheaply on eBay, says Alex. Thats Bryan adds, Time, money, and
accident, and the threat of never cheaper than the cost of the average knowledge just about sum it up. As I
walking again was very real. Thanks to middleweight combat robot. Bryan recall, I spent only about two weeks
research and hard work on his part, he Hood, who was a high school student actually building the suit and several
68 SERVO 01.2007
]
Not only could the
ultimate Tetsujin suit make
you look like Sigourney
Weaver in Alien and help
you move those shipping
containers around the room,
but the ultimate Tetsujin suit
can truly advance man.

SERVO 01.2007 69
ROBOGAMES Prep
months planning, researching, and ful designing things. The entire project controls, it is very difficult to attain
finding parts. Two weeks to build a was done in my garage with only basic balance which is the biggest problem
suit and here you have six months tools and a Sherline milling machine. I that I faced in the competition, says
to get ready for the June 2007 had just about everything working Brian. My suit lost balance on several
competition. against me and I still believe it was a occasions throughout the competition
As a 17-year-old kid at the time, I miracle that the suit worked at all. But which was a pretty scary experience.
really didnt know what I was doing, it did work! Think what Bryan will be Alex adds, Most people focus
nor did I have a lot of capital available. able to do next time. their attention on the mechanics
All I had was my hobbyist knowledge If youre worried about control, because that is the area they are
and whatever calculus and physics I you should be. Both Bryan and Alex most comfortable with. They ignore
had learned in high school. I had no make the point that balance and the control system which can be very
CAD software so I had to be very care- controls are crucial. Without good complex.
The coolest part of the suit was
that the control system read the
TETSUJIN RULES electrical signals directly from my
muscles and controlled the pneumatic
Suit can be up to three meters (9.84 human operator (e.g., to make the
suit based on these signals. This
feet) in height and cannot exceed 1.5 suit squat, the operator squats; to
resulted in my muscles receiving
meters (4.92 feet) in diameter. lift a load with the suit arms, the
assistance from the suit on demand
operators arms make the necessary
(as my muscles required more
Challenge 1 Ascend stairs in lifting motions). This can be as simple assistance, the pneumatic system
your suit to the lifting platform and as micro-switches and limit switches would deliver more assistance to the
lift a load of from 100 to 1,000 lbs or as complex as closed-loop servo muscles that required it).
from a squatting position to a height control and bio-electric sensors. Like all robots, failures are bound
of at least 24 inches, return the to happen while building your suit.
load to the ground in a controlled All power for the exoskeleton and Although Alex had tested all of the
manner, and descend the stairs. any required support systems must components of the suit, he did
Stair-climbing may be unpowered. be provided by a self-contained not leave enough time to test all
The winner is the competitor who system. The system may incorporate components of the suit together. His
lifts the largest weight. remote components connected via pneumatic hose connections devel-
a tether, wireless link, etc. oped leaks because they were not
Challenge 2 Dexterity. Stack nine properly fastened, and he ended up
concrete cylinders weighing ~70 The tasks(s) must be accom- losing air pressure. This resulted in him
pounds each in a 4-3-2 vertical plished by powered elements not being able to complete the walking
arrangement. The winner is the that are an integral part of the competition at RoboGames 2006.
competitor who arranges the exoskeleton in response to the Start simple and enhance as you
cylinders in the shortest time. operators movements. External succeed. As Alex says, In the original
devices such as winches, support Tetsujin competition and in Robo-
Challenge 3 Walking Race. Walk frames, jacks, etc., are not allowed. Games 2006, I talked to many people
the challenge course carrying a load who were interested in competing.
in the shortest time. A time bonus is The exoskeleton must be able to Most of them had grand ideas that
granted based on the load carried. balance and support itself, the sounded really cool but I have never
operator, and the load without the seen one of them work. Start with
The operator must be inside the use of outriggers, auxiliary braces, small successes and build from there.
suit in order to operate it. etc., other than its own legs and feet. But just building a suit is success
A fixed base is allowed for the in itself. Bryan says, to this day, I con-
The suit must provide sufficient Cylinder Stacking challenge. tribute more and more of my success
articulation in the powered [in life] to the Tetsujin competition. It
components to track the movements Stored mechanical energy devices was amazing to finally get the suit
of the human operator to meet the such as springs, torsion bars, gas working the morning of the competi-
challenge. struts flywheels, etc., are all allowed. tion and to get up on the platform in
front of hundreds of people to perform
Movement of the suits powered The exoskeleton shall have a the lifts. That was the instant success
components must be initiated by removable power link that disables but it was only a taste of what was to
and track the movements of the all operation. come. As I was only a high school
junior at the time of the competition, I
70 SERVO 01.2007
used my Tetsujin experience to help me scholarship also gives me a mentor, have worked out better.
get an internship at KIVA Systems, a which will be very helpful for my future And thats the way it is with all
robotics start-up company in MA which robotic endeavors. Now here at the robots you build. Many people start
is revolutionizing warehouse robotics. I University of Florida, I am working on a out building them to win a
continued working on robotics projects double major in Electrical and competition, but along the way realize
through my senior year. All of this Mechanical Engineering. My experi- that its not just about winning its
resulted in me getting the Lombardi ence in Tetsujin got my foot through about making the best robot you can
Scholarship at the University of Florida. the door and the success keeps build- make. Its about expanding your
This scholarship pays all of my ing on itself. I look back at what I knew knowledge of how both mechanics
expenses and more, as well as sending then and compare it to what I know and electronics work.
me abroad to Mexico, Greece, Japan, now and I realize that I have come such And of course, winning a medal
and South Africa each summer. The a long way. I dont know how it could doesnt suck either. SV
SERVO 01.2007 71
Showcase - Menagerie Jan07.qxd 12/7/2006 10:03 PM Page 72
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Vern Graner, CNE/CNA/SSE

is a Senior Systems Engineer
at Texas Information Services.
This super spider is just one
of many of his builds.
SERVO 01.2007 73
ProgrammableLogic.qxd 12/6/2006 11:59 AM Page 74
Programmable
The goal
of this
bimonthly
column is to
provide a basic
understanding
of the various
Logic:
Dividers and Timers
igital logic depends upon the
by Gerard Fonte
Note that the frequency is the

programmable
logic techniques.
D proper timing relationships
between signals for correct
operation. In this part, we will examine
inverse of the period and the period of a
signal is measured in time. Typically, one
period of some signal is used as a digital
various techniques for changing the fre- timer. So, by changing the frequency,
quency and/or period of a given signal the timing is also changed. This
There are a lot because many designs require one or
more clocks with frequencies that are
discussion will concentrate on frequency
modification, but it is important to see
of powerful not directly available. These approaches that this also applies directly to timing.
can be used for general frequency The circuit shown in Figure 1 is
low-cost synthesis but have wider applications. severely limited. It only divides by two.
components Additionally, while the approach will be
oriented towards programmable logic
Additional stages can be added to further
divide the signal (shown in Figure 2). This
available today solutions, these ideas can be imple- is a simple binary ripple counter. Each
mented with discrete logic, as well. stage reduces the frequency by a factor of
that are rarely two or precisely one octave. This provides
considered by Frequency Division a little more utility but is not really much
of an improvement. However, if your main
hobbyists and The simplest and most basic clock is a power of two, this can provide
method for reducing a frequency is useful and convenient timing intervals. For
even some with a simple flip-flop. Figure 1 shows example, a 32,768 Hz watch crystal will
engineers this. This circuit divides the incoming
frequency by two. Additionally, the
provide precise one-second signals if 15
divide-by-two flip-flops are used. (You
because of output is a perfect square wave. The might also choose to use a 4.096 MHz
signal is high for precisely 50% of the crystal for your design instead of the more
unfamiliarity. time and low for precisely 50% of the standard 4.000 MHz crystal for a similar
time. This is often a useful feature. reason. There is no engineering rule that
says that you have to make
You have to be things difficult for yourself.)
A more useful design is
comfortable the divide-by-N circuit. This will
with the idea divide by any integer that is
less than the maximum value
and concepts of of the counter. Figure 3 shows
a four-bit binary counter wired
programmable as a divide-by-10. Under nor-
logic before you mal circumstances, the count-
er would divide by 16, but the
will be likely to
employ them. FIGURE 1. The simplest divider is
a flip-flop that reduces the input
frequency by two.
74 SERVO 01.2007
FIGURE 2. Simple
divide-by -two
circuits can be
cascaded for
binary division.
This is a divide-
by-eight circuit.
counter is automatically reset when 10 extremely narrow pulse that is related counters discussed the last time.)
counts are registered (note that zero is to the propagation speed of the circuit. With programmable logic devices,
one of the counts). It is also important Often, this pulse is less than 10 nS and the routing of the decode and reset
to realize that many different types of can be difficult to observe. The pulse is lines can cause problems. Not all of the
counters can be used here, but the con- exaggerated in the figure for clarity. bits may be reset properly. In this case,
cept is the same. (Refer to the previous There are several points concerning either use a synchronous counter design
article on counter types in this column.) the decoding of the outputs. An AND or else use a separate reset flip-flop that
The operation is straightforward. gate will function properly without any produces a predictable-length pulse.
The circuit counts normally for 10 glitches as long as it is used to reset the These divide-by-N circuits can also be
counts. At the start of the 11th count, ripple-counter to zero. However, an cascaded to create any integer division.
the output of the AND gate immediate- AND gate used to decode state nine of Figure 4 shows a divide-by-1,005 circuit
ly goes high and resets the counter to a 16 state ripple-counter will show (with a flip-flop reset). The operation isnt
0000. The AND gate output also goes glitches on some state changes beyond as complicated as it first appears. There
to zero when these bits change. In fact, nine. (The ripple delay is not as are three cascaded divide-by-10 counters
the output of the AND gate is an significant a factor as it was for the that are basically the same as Figure 3.
FIGURE 3. Dividing by N is
a matter of choosing the
proper bits to AND together
to reset the counter. In this
case, the counter divides by
10. The reset pulse is greatly
exaggerated. Its really only
a few nS long.
SERVO 01.2007 75
This means that the second counter is pulse. Since the counter counts on the and the enable flip-flop are clocked on
actually counting 10s of counts and the negative-going edge of the input clock, a rising edge rather than a falling edge.
third is counting 100s of counts. After the reset to this flip-flop is low when it Unfortunately, the division is a fixed
1,000 counts, the reset pulse turns on a is clocked. It will remain low for half of value. The only way to change this is to
flip-flop that enables the main input clock a full input clock signal. When the main change the reset decoding. This is cer-
to pass through to a divide-by-five count- input clock goes high, the master reset tainly possible but it requires additional
er. This counts five additional pulses past pulse goes low because the controlling resources. Figure 5 illustrates a basic pro-
the already completed 1,000 pulses. flip-flop is reset. The master reset also grammable divide-by-N circuit. The XNOR
After these five pulses are complet- resets all the other counters via the OR (exclusive NOR) gates go high when the
ed, another flip-flip is turned on. This gates. (Each divide-by-10 counter could program input matches the bit output.
generates a controlled master reset have incorporated its own flip-flop When all of the XNOR gates are high, the
reset, if desired.) Also note that the count is correct and the circuit is reset.
FIGURE 4. This circuit uses three delay of the circuit (as measured by the There are many variations on this. In
cascaded divide-by-10 circuits to divide master reset signal) is only the divide- particular, a flip-flip reset would be very
by 1,000. When this occurs, a second
counter is enabled that counts five more by-five circuit. The ripple delays through useful (as shown in Figure 4). Another
main clock cycles and then resets every the divide-by-10 counters are not a fac- point is that all of these divide-by-N
flip-flop. The result is a divide-by-1,005 tor. Note that the master reset flip-flop designs create an asymmetrical output
counter. Note that the reset flip-flip
provides a half-clock pulse.
76 SERVO 01.2007
FIGURE 5. A programmable divider uses

(except for special cases). Most typically multiplication is with the use of a phase- XNOR gates to match the bit outputs to
the output is a relatively small pulse. locked loop (PLL). This is an analog the desired values. When all the bits
However, often something approaching technique that is not usually available match, the counter is reset. Note that
50% can be obtained for non-program- for programmable logic. Digital design- the program bits do not have to be
switches. Other flip-flops or logic circuits
mable dividers by choosing the proper ers tend to shy away from analog PLLs, could be used.
counter bit as the output. For exam- as well. This is regrettable because the
ple, in the divide-by-10 circuit (Figure 3), PLL has a lot of nice applications and capacitor (RC) network. The result is a
bit 3 is on for 40% of the time. is not really that difficult to master. pulse at the start and end of the input
One way to eliminate this is to follow Unfortunately, a proper discussion of signal. The pulse length is exactly equal
the divide-by-N circuit with a simple flip- PLLs is too long to include here. There to the time interval of the delay circuit.
flop to square the output (as noted are other analog frequency multiplica- There are a number of issues with
above). This works but has two draw- tion techniques besides PLLs, as well. this approach. The first is that the output
backs. The first is fairly obvious the fre- The typical method of frequency is usually a very narrow pulse of a few
quency is now reduced by 50%. Thus, the multiplication for digital designers is to ns. This means that high-speed concerns
primary division ratio must be changed to use an XOR gate (exclusive OR). This will have to be examined. If a high-speed
compensate for this. The second problem gate has a high output when the input signal is used, say 40 MHz or so
is a bit more subtle. The addition of the inputs are different and has a low (the most common situation), the output
squaring flip-flop limits the division values output when the inputs are the same. will often be at a frequency where
to even numbers. It becomes impossible Figure 6 provides a simple circuit to transmission line factors will become
to provide a final division ratio that is odd. double an input signal. The operation is important. Short delay times (about 10
This makes more sense when exam- fairly clear. The input signal is delayed nS) create the equivalent of a 100 MHz
ined from a mathematical perspective. in some manner. This can be done by
These divider circuits have the effect using the internal propagation delay FIGURE 6. An input frequency can be
of multiplying the period by an integer. through additional gates, internal doubled with an XOR gate and a delay.
The output will be a pulse at the leading
The final squarer flip-flop multiplies the routing delays, or an external resistor- and trailing edges of the input signal. The
final result by two. Therefore, the final pulse width will equal the delay.
result must be even because everything
multiplied by two is an even number.
It is possible to create symmetrical
waveforms with odd-division ratios but
it requires additional resources.
Basically, an extra flip-flop alternatively
adds and subtracts half of a clock to the
output. This evens out the asymmetrical
signal and creates a nice square wave.
Frequency
Multiplication
The typical method for frequency
SERVO 01.2007 77
5 MHz Cycles 3.3333 MHz Cycles MHz Sum Average of Cycles % Error TABLE 1. Making 4.5 MHz from 10 MHz
1 1 8.3333 4.1666 -7.408 using two different dividers. If the
average frequency is too low, add a
2 1 13.3333 4.4444 -1.236 cycle of the higher frequency and vice
versa. Eventually, the result will be as
3 1 18.3333 4.5833 +6.172 close to the proper value as needed. In
3 2 21.6666 4.3333 -3.704 this case, the exact frequency (4.5000
MHz) is achieved.
4 2 26.6666 4.4444 -1.236
5 2 31.6666 4.5238 +0.5289
ed. In theory, this approach will allow
5 3 35.0000 4.3570 -3.178 you to close in on your desired fre-
6 3 40.0000 4.4444 -1.236 quency to whatever accuracy you need.
7 3 45.0000 4.5000 0.0000 This idea is based on the
mathematical principle that any ration-
signal and again, transmission line con- Of course, the tolerances of these com- al number can be expressed by the
siderations will be required. This is not ponents must be considered too. ratio of two integers. In this case, the
too much of a concern with programma- fraction is 2.2222. The easiest available
ble logic chips where the internal path Average Frequency integers are two and three. It becomes
lengths are very short. However, it is very Division clear that it is possible to take a certain
important with discrete designs. number of twos and threes such that
Another problem with this approach Sometimes the instantaneous fre- their average becomes 2.2222.
is the variation of the delay circuit. A quency is not as important as the The quick and dirty way to deter-
temperature shift can cause a significant average frequency. If so, then there is mine the proper ratio is by trial-and-
change in the output if an internal delay another approach that allows fractional error with the two division values that
is used. This is because the internal frequency division to arbitrary precision. bracket the desired value. Start with one
speed of the gates and routing resources Suppose you need a 4.5 MHz clock and of each and determine the average. In
changes considerably with temperature. only have a 10 MHz clock. If you divide this case, 5 MHz and 3.3333 MHz aver-
This is especially true with CMOS circuits. 10 MHz by two, you get 5 MHz. If you age to 4.166 MHz. This is lower than
It is possible that an XOR frequency divide it by three, you get 3.3333 MHz. the target value of 4.5 MHz so add
doubling circuit cannot be guaranteed to What you really need is to divide by another 5 MHz cycle. Two 5 MHz cycles
work over a given temperature range. 2.2222. But its not obvious how to do and one 3.333 cycle average to 4.444
Operation speed also depends upon the that. The solution is to alternate between MHz. If this is not accurate enough,
power supply voltage. However, this is dividing by two and dividing by three. continue adding a 5 MHz cycle if the
usually a second order consideration The value needed is closer to a result is below 4.5 MHz and add a
because most systems today regulate the division by two than a division by three. 3.333 MHz cycle if the result is above
power quite well. But, if batteries are If the 10 MHz signal was divided by 4.5 MHz. The result will dither around
used, this becomes an issue. two twice as often than being divided the value you want. Eventually, you will
The external RC delay can generally by three, what would the result be? reach a value that is as close as you
be made to be reasonably stable over There would be two 5 MHz cycles and choose. As you can see from Table 1, an
temperature. But because of stray one 3.333 MHz cycle. The average exact solution occurs with seven cycles
capacitance, the delay must be relatively frequency of these four cycles is 4.444 of 5 MHz and 3 cycles of 3.3333 MHz.
large. External stray capacitance usually MHz. This is an error of about 1.2%. Figure 7 provides a block diagram
varies more from unit to unit rather than This is certainly much closer to the circuit for the perfect solution. I chose
with temperature and is often in the 10 desired value than is 5.0 MHz (error of to alternate between the different
pF range. Good layout can reduce this to 10%) or 3.3333 MHz (error of 35%). division circuits to
a few pF. Also, because the delay is now This can be further refined as necessary distribute the vari- FIGURE 7. With
off-chip, it is more susceptible to noise. by adjusting the division ratios as need- ations over the full two simple coun-
ters, a frequency
averaging circuit
will allow most
any output divi-
sion ratio. In this
case, the input
frequency is
10.0000 MHz and
the output fre-
quency averages
4.5000 MHz for a
division ratio of
2.2222. The out-
put consists of
seven 5 MHz
cycles and three
3.3333 MHz cycles.
78 SERVO 01.2007
ProgrammableLogic.qxd 12/6/2006 12:03 PM Page 79
10 cycles. It is certainly possible to use seven consecutive 5 MHZ

cycles followed by three consecutive 3.3333 MHz cycles. The
design might be marginally easier.
PROTOTYPE
Whichever approach is selected, an additional counter CIRCUIT BOARDS
and number of additional gates is needed. With this
example, a total of 10 flip-flops is required. This uses five of
the Xilinx 3000-series CLBs (Configurable Logic Blocks). But it U two 2.25" sq.
saves an extra crystal and two capacitors which reduces cost
and size and improves the reliability. Additionally, the output S 2-layer boards
is perfectly synchronized with the input clock. There is no
concern about frequency drift between the clocks.
You dont have to use divisions by two and three. Any Shipped NEXT BUSINESS DAY
two values can be incorporated as long as one is greater than if data is received by
and one is less than the target. You can use three values or
more. However, using the closest integer values creates
1:00 pm
the least amount of variability in the output signal. And,
EASTERN
realistically, this approach works best if the ratios are small.
(A ratio of 1,077 to 1,993 may make the output signal
perfect, but its going to be impractical to implement.)
www.apcircuits.com
Conclusion
There are a number of ways to change the frequency of
AP Circuits
a signal. Some are simple and direct, while others are more
complicated and subtle. The approaches presented here are (403) 250-3406
not exhaustive but represent the majority of typical applica-
tions. Being able to control the frequency and timing of your [email protected]
design is useful and important. SV
SERVO 01.2007 79
BookstoreJan07.qxd 12/6/2006 11:24 AM Page 80
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but dont know how by John Iovine by D. Jay Newman
to tap into the incred- The PIC microcontroller is If you want your robot
ible amount of infor- enormously popular both to have more brains
mation available on in the US and abroad. The than microcontrollers
the subject? Clueless first edition of this book can deliver if you
as to locating specific was a tremendous success want a truly intelligent,
information on robot- because of that. However, high-capability robot
ics? Want the names, in the four years that have everything you need
addresses, phone passed since the book is right here. Linux
numbers, and websites of companies that was first published, the Robotics gives you
can supply the exact part, plan, kit, building electronics hobbyist market has become step-by-step directions
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system, computer system, or publication are now comfortable shelling out the $250 powered robot that can be built by any
youve been searching for? Turn to Robot for the price of the Professional version of the hobbyist. You also get complete instructions
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2,500+ new doors and spark almost as many to include detailed directions on using both gramming experience is required. This book
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SERVO 01.2007 81
RoboResources.qxd 12/7/2006 8:28 AM Page 82
Tune in each month for a heads-up on

where to get all of your robotics
resources for the best prices!
Shopping the
Electronics General Store
T he general store once formed the
cornerstone of every town in the
country. A single store provided just
nents. In that case, you can save
yourself the costs of shipping and get
what you want immediately. Check
elusive robot parts and kits. If your
design requires you to pull the guts out
of a certain toy thats no longer
about everything: food, clothing, the Yellow Pages under the main made, try finding a used one at a web
hardware, animal feed you name Electronics heading. auction site. The price should be
it, they had it, or could get it for Most of us, however, arent so reasonable as long as the toy is not a
you. Today, the small town general lucky. These days, RadioShack is about collectors item.
store has been all but supplanted by all thats left of the national chain Consider that the Internet is world
large retailers such as WalMart and store for electronics, and of late, the wide, and that some of the sites you
Target, but the idea is the same: company has been closing stores and find may not be located in your coun-
the more the store offers within its revamping their product lineup as they try. Though many Internet businesses
four walls, the more likely its change their focus. ship internationally, not all will do so,
customers will stay there and do all Fortunately, the Internet has or the shipping cost may be prohibitive.
their shopping. taken up the slack from the dearth of Read the fine print of the website to
In the world of electronics, the neighborhood electronics outlet. determine if the company will ship to
Internet mail order has taken over the Its been and will continue to be your country, and note any specific
role of the general store for resistors, a tremendous boost to the art and payment requirements. If a check or
capacitors, integrated circuits, and science of robot building. Through the money order is accepted, the denomi-
other parts for our robots. While no Internet, you can now search for and nation of the check or money order
Internet retailer stocks everything, find the most elusive part for your usually must be in the companys
odds are youll find 80%+ of what robot. Just about all of the major native currency.
you need for your next project in the surplus and electronics mail order
catalog pages of a single electronics companies provide an online electron- Checking Out
retailer. ic catalog. You can visit the retailer at the Wares
In this months Robotics their website, and either browse their
Resources, well take a look at the offerings by category, or use a search Most Internet retailers use shop-
Internet electronics general store: feature to quickly locate exactly what ping cart software running on their site
whats out there, what you can expect you want. to allow customers to browse and
to find, and how to get the most out And, with the help of Google, select items they wish to purchase. No
of them. Yahoo!, MSN, or other web search doubt youve used one such shopping
engines, you can find items of interest cart in the recent past so I wont bore
Start Local, Then from among the millions of websites you with the details except to note
Go Global throughout the world. Search engines that shopping cart software varies
provide a list of possible matches to from site to site, and not every Internet
Before clicking on that mouse, it your search query. You can then visit retailer has an easy-to-navigate store
pays to first check out any stores the web pages to see if they offer what front.
local to you. Depending on where youre looking for. However, just because a retailer
you live, you may be just down the And remember, there are many has an under-average shopping cart
road from the worlds best selection auction websites like eBay for buying doesnt mean you should avoid them.
of inexpensive electronic compo- and selling goodies, including pretty Some general electronics vendors
82 SERVO 01.2007
have great shopping carts, and some to read through ordering, shipping, When sending a personal check,
are not so great. Youd be surprised payment, and other terms, especially expect the retailer to hold your order
what gems you can find in the the companys policy as it relates to until the check clears.
simplest of shopping carts. Once minimum order amounts and merchan-
youve found a site that offers the kind dise return. If all youre looking for is a Is It New or Surplus?
of wares you want, it pays to be $2 part, but the store imposes a $15
patient and wade through the store to minimum, youll either want to look There has always been a thriving
find the real values. A few extra elsewhere, or wait until you need to market for electronics surplus, parts
minutes of your time may pay off in order something else. that someone else often the govern-
finding just the right part, or saving Be sure you understand the ment or a large manufacturer
dollars off your bill. shipping and handling fees. Some mail thought they needed, and decided not
The better websites will provide a order retailers dont charge shipping, to use. Good thing, too, as some elec-
search feature where you can find spe- but they have to make up for the tronic components can be frightfully
cific products. This is doubly important cost somehow, and usually thats in a expensive when purchased new.
for a general electronics store, as the higher selling price for the products Sometimes the components are used
site may offer tens and even hundreds themselves. When comparing prices (surplus or not), but this is rare for
of thousands of items. Ideally, you will from online shops, be sure to include smaller, general-purpose parts. You are
want to find items by part number and the costs of shipping. more likely to encounter used parts in
also by category. More common is for online retail- the amateur radio, antique radio, and
The search feature at Digikey.com ers to pass on the shipping costs to you similar fields.
which is one of the largest mail as a separate charge. The costs are It is not uncommon for the
order electronics depots is a good either calculated by item quantity or by average general electronics parts
example. If you know precisely what weight, and go up with the more retailer to sell a mix of new and
you want an Atmel AVR ATTINY13 things you buy, or you are charged a surplus goods. Technically, there is
rated at 10 MHz in an eight-pin DIP set amount, usually by order total. little or no difference, except the
package, just enter its standard part Electronics components can often be surplus parts might be a little older.
number ATTINY13V-10PU and the shipped very inexpensively, as they are This could matter if buying
Digi-Key system takes you right to the small and lightweight. For very small something like large electrolytic
parts page where you can place your orders, the parts can be shipped First capacitors, which can leak with age,
order. Conversely, if you dont know Class in a padded envelope, usually for but in general has no bearing on
exactly what to order, you can enter a about a dollar or two. Parcel orders components like run-of-the-mill signal
generic keyword or even partial part via FedEx, US Post Office, UPS, or other transistors, integrated circuits, LEDs,
number. Typing in microcontroller, shippers are typically several times resistors, diodes, and so forth.
for example, will display a list of numer- this amount, even if youre buying a Lastly, most online retailers men-
ous related categories, including books single 14-pin DIP IC. tion if a product is surplus. You will
and CDs, development boards, kits, If your order is more than $20, I want to make note of this, as it could
and, of course, the microcontroller advise making sure insurance is includ- indicate a limited availability. In most
chips themselves. ed in the shipping price. Most shippers cases, when a surplus item sells out, its
Not all websites have shopping include up to $100 in insurance for gone for good, at least from that ven-
cart software. Smaller outfits, parcels at no additional cost. If your dor. If you are designing a new product
especially those that deal with order is over that, request additional that uses surplus components,
the constantly-changing inventory of insurance if the online store doesnt youll want to make a lifetime buy
surplus goods, may simply list automatically add it in. to ensure you have enough to last
what they have on a web page. You Finally, youll want to ensure the you, should there be a shortage down
contact them via phone or email to website accepts the kind of payment the road.
arrange a purchase. Ive seen a few you want to use. Almost everyone
sites publish a weekly or even daily accepts credit cards, though the Sources
inventory in PDF format. You can use selection may be limited to Visa
the search feature in the Adobe and MasterCard. Not all US-based Found here are online retailers that
Acrobat program to locate items of merchants are set up to accept supply general electronics parts, such
interest to you. American Express and Discover. as capacitors, resistors, transistors, ICs,
Increasingly, web merchants accept fuses, switches, connectors, soldering
Know the Details PayPal, ePassport, and other online irons and other electronics tools,
Before You Order virtual payment options. And, of wire, cable, and printed circuit board
course, most still accept checks or makings. These stores are your
Before placing any order, be sure money orders sent through the mail. front-line of defense for collecting the
SERVO 01.2007 83
electronic components necessary for by manufacturer, part number, or ordering system, complete with links to
your robotics projects. category. datasheets (when available).
As you might guess, no list of
general electronics resources can hope Avnet, Inc. (Avnet Electronics) Electronic Goldmine
to mention everyone. I have selected www.avnet.com www.goldmine-elec.com
from among the companies that have Full line distributor with local Electronic Goldmine sells new and
been around the longest, that I am offices worldwide. Refer to the website used electronic components, robot
personally familiar with, and/or are for locations. items, electronic project kits, and more.
regular advertisers in SERVO and its
sister publication Nuts & Volts. You B.G. Micro Electronix Express
can find even more electronics parts www.bgmicro.com www.elexp.com
outlets on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, or B.G. Micro is a haven for the Electronics parts, supplies, compo-
other search engines. For search electronics tinkerer and robotics nents, hardware, switches, relays, test
terms, you are better off looking for a enthusiast. Much of the stock is gear, tools. New and surplus; large
particular component youre interest- surplus, so it comes and goes, but inventory.
ed in, rather than simply entering while its being offered, it has a good
electronics. price attached to it. Get it while you Fair Radio Sales
can, because someone else surely will. www.fairradio.com
All Electronics Fair Radio Sales primarily caters to
www.allelectronics.com Brigar Electronics ham operators, with their radio sets
All Electronics is one of the primary www.brigarelectronics.com and old gear. But they have plenty of
sources in the United States for new Brigar Electronics sells electronic test equipment and general surplus
and used robotics components. Prices components and parts; new and sur- electronics to tide anyone over.
and selection are good. Walk-in stores plus. Excellent selection of electronics
in the Los Angeles area are located in and mechanical components for robot Farnell
LA and Van Nuys. Product line includes builders everywhere. www.farnell.com
motors, switches, discrete compo- U.K. based electronics mail order.
nents, semiconductors, LEDs, infrared Circuit Specialists, Inc. Will ship most anywhere. Offers a
and CdS sensors, batteries, LCDs, kits, www.web-tronics.com complete line of electronics.
and much more. Specifications sheet Circuit Specialists, Inc. are sellers of
for many products are available at ICs, active and passive components, Findchips
the website. test equipment, tools, microcontrollers www.findchips.com
and programmers, switches, relays, Free search engine for locating
Allied Electronics kits, lab trainers, chemicals, and parts, by part number. Highly
www.alliedelec.com more. recommended.
Allied Electronics is a prime source
for all electronics (components, chemi- Dick Smith Electronics Frys Electronics
cals, tools, you name it), in single or www.dse.com.au www.frys.com
multiple quantities. Their prices are Dick Smith Electronics is Australias Frys Electronics is an electronics
often lower than the competitions. Do biggest electronics retailer, well known superstore chain operating primarily in
note the minimum order amount. for Mr. Smiths head pasted over the West Coast (US West Coast). They
everything though he is no longer offer a subset of products via their
Alltronics connected with the company. For web page, including electronics parts
www.alltronics.com a time, DSE also had stores in the and kits.
Not to be confused with All United States, but they exited the
Electronics in Southern California, this market during the downturn of the late Future Electronics
Northern California electronics retailer 1980s and early 1990s. Stores across www.futureelectronics.com
is known for a good assortment and Oz and New Zealand, and they ship Large electronics distributor.
reasonable prices. New and surplus worldwide. Mostly for industry, but they will also
merchandise. sell to individuals.
Digi-Key
Arrow Electronics, Inc. www.digikey.com Gateway Electronics, Inc.
www.arrow.com Digi-Key is one of the largest mail www.gatewayelex.com
Arrow Electronics, Inc. distributes order retailers/distributors of electronic Gateway Electronics is a general
a full line of electronic components components in North America. They electronics mail order and retailer.
to industry. Products can be located offer a very fast and efficient online Among their products are passive and
84 SERVO 01.2007
active components, motors, electronic that electronic components super electronics retailer, selling everything
kits, gadgets, books, and tools. Some store, based in the UK. Of course from sound systems to test equipment,
of their goods are new; others are they offer the traditional passive and from stage lighting to electronic
surplus. They operate local stores in and electronics components, relays, components.
St. Louis, MO, San Diego, CA, and connectors, and other prime parts.
Denver, CO. Quickar Electronics
Marlin P. Jones & Assoc., Inc. www.quickar.com
Hosfelt Electronics www.mpja.com Surplus electronics, tools. Good
www.hosfelt.com MPJA sells both new and surplus selection.
General electronics. New and electronic and mechanical products.
surplus. Their assortment of such items as RadioShack
motors is fairly small, but they make up www.radioshack.com
HSC Electronic Supply for it with a wide selection of other These days, The Shack has fewer
www.halted.com common (and some not-so-common) components and other electronics
Mail order, with walk-in retail products. items for sale at each store, but they
stores in Northern California. do carry the basics common value
MCM Electronics resistors, capacitors, switches, solder,
Jameco Electronics www.mcmelectronics.com electronics construction tools, that
www.jameco.com MCM is a mail order retailer of sort of thing. Additional items can
Full service general electronics mail general electronics and repair parts for be ordered through the RadioShack
order. Jameco carries just about every- consumer electronics. online store.
thing you need, and often at a price
less than the other guys. Resistors, MECI Skycraft Parts & Surplus, Inc.
capacitors, ICs, transistors, diodes, and www.meci.com www.skycraftsurplus.com
other active components; connectors New and surplus components, Skycraft is a veritable surplus mall
and more. motors, and more. of accessories, power supplies, transis-
tors, relays, ICs, wire, cable, heat
Jaycar Electronics Mouser Electronics shrink, transformers, motors, fiber
www.jaycarelectronics.com www.mouser.com optics, test equipment, resistors,
Jaycar Electronics carries a wide Mouser Electronics is a mail order diodes, and other goodies.
selection of components, test gear, components distributor, providing a
prototyping, soldering equipment, full line of products for industry and Surplus Sales of Nebraska
and more. hobbyists. All general electronics www.surplussales.com
are carried, including active and passive Surplus electronic parts, including
JDR Microdevices components, wire and cable, hard- connectors, passive and active compo-
www.jdr.com ware, relays, switches, fans, heatsinks, nents, electronics hardware, relays and
JDR is a direct marketer of elec- batteries, component kits, chemicals, solenoids, chemicals, and more.
tronic components to hobbyists and and tools.
the technical engineering communities. Tri-State Electronics
Their catalog is skewed towards PC Newark Electronics www.tselectronic.com
components, but they carry plenty of www.newark.com Distributor/online e-tailer of
general electronics (active and passive Prime-component distributor to passive and active components
components, tools, wire and cable, business and industry; also caters to (resistors, capacitors, transistors, ICs,
etc.), as well. hobbyist market, but minimum orders etc.), batteries, relays, switches, solder
may apply. Sells large quantities, when and soldering stations, tools, and wire
JK Electronics available. and cable. SV
www.jkelectronics.com
JK Electronics carries a complete Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
line of resistors, capacitors, relays, www.nuhorizons.com
switches, semiconductors, electro- Nu-Horizons is a full-line electron- Gordon McComb is the author of
the best-selling Robot Builders Bonanza
mechanical, batteries, adhesives, tools, ics distributor, offering the major and Electronics for Dummies. In addition
and lots more. brands and some not-so-major. to writing books, he operates a small
manufacturing company dedicated to
Maplin Electronics Parts Express low-cost amateur robotics (www.bud
www.maplin.co.uk www.partsexpress.com getrobotics.com). He can be reached at
Maplin Electronics is a got-it, have- Parts Express is an all-around [email protected].
SERVO 01.2007 85
Appetizer.qxd 12/7/2006 2:03 PM Page 86
Take Me to Your Leader

by Lawrence Feir
A robot walks into a bar, orders a drink, and lays down a bill.
The bartender says Hey, we dont serve robots! and the
robot says No, but someday you will.
R obbie the Robot hit the ground

running lets make that rolling
at the North Carolina Science
Hersheys chocolate kisses much to
the delight of one and all.
Robbie is one of the latest
answers. He comments on your T-shirt
and the color of your shoes. Hes even
been known to flirt with the ladies by
Teachers Association national meeting creations to come out of my company, complimenting them on their exquisite
in Greensboro. Robbie prepared to Innovation Robotics, in Greensboro. taste in fashion.
take over the convention center armed The robot was built as a teaching and Future improvements will incorpo-
only with a silver tray of chocolate con- entertainment tool. Robbie weighs rate a PLC (programmable logic
fections and a silver tongue to match. 125 lbs. He measures in at just over controller) to allow complex motion
Robbie made his way down each isle five feet in height and has a top speed routines at the touch of a button. For
greeting each vender and attendee of five mph. The robots mid-section is example, one flip of switch on the
alike. Take me to your leader, he lighted by 160 LEDs and his entire robots transmitter would command
would demand in a low mechanical midriff revolves around his waist. His the robot to move his head up and
voice. Then after a brief pregnant arms, wrists, and hands are fully down and side to side as though
pause, he would laugh like a fiend and articulated and are powered by laughing and gesturing while his arm
offer the human a sweet treat of pneumatic cylinders running regulated and hand reach down and pick up an
carbon dioxide gas. The object from the ground and offer it to
Robbie the Robot. limbs are controlled through the audience. Robbie is also being
a gang of solenoid valves equipped with a device that will allow
interfaced with a standard him to offer a business card of adver-
JR radio control unit. tisement to passers by.
Robbies voice comes Reaction to Robbie has been
from a speaker mounted in positive and interesting. He has a
the robots head. A hacked 1950s retro look and is non-
cordless phone allows threatening to even the youngest
two-way communication children. He serves hors doeuvres
between the robot and the with a certain definitive panache that
operator. When the operator is sure to be remembered. He puts a
speaks into the handset, the smile on every face.
sound is emitted from the Robbie is being developed as a
robot. When the robot is powerful marketing tool for high tech
spoken to, a microphone in companies who see the need for
the robots head picks up interactive advertising. Essentially, he
the sound and transmits it is a rolling advertisement, as well as
back to the operator. If the a mechanical ambassador for the
operator is clever, the audi- company he is working for.
ence hasnt a clue why the Robbie is available to host your
robot is so smart. Robbie corporate event, tradeshow, or adver-
asks questions and gives real tising venue on a contract basis. SV
86 SERVO 01.2007
Then&Now.qxd 12/7/2006 8:47 PM Page 87
Then NOW
a n d
SHUTTLE REMOTE MANIPULATOR
SYSTEM/CANADARM
b y T o m C a r r o l l
Without a doubt, the most expensive robot system in the world is NASAs Remote Manipulator
System used on the space shuttle and space station and made by a Canadian company Spar
Aerospace. Yet, by many peoples account, it is not a robot at all, but a very expensive teleoperator.
w ho really cares about the fine

details and definition of this
amazing piece of space hardware as it
the joints of the human arm, with shoul-
der yaw and pitch joints; an elbow pitch
joint; and wrist pitch, yaw, and roll
bay longeron (upper sill or edge of the
payload bay) at the shoulder positioning
mechanism. The diagram in Figure 2
has accomplished many impossible joints. Pilots know these terms: roll is a shows the RMS components and their
tasks in a most inhospitable place twisting motion; pitch is the end rising attachment to the space shuttle.
space. It holds a special place in my up or moving down; and yaw is turn- You might wonder why have such a
heart as I spent a very interesting five ing from side to side. The end effector heavy, complex, and expensive piece of
years exploring its use for Rockwells is the cylinder at the end of the wrist machinery to manipulate objects in
Space Station Program. that actually grabs the payload. The two space. Yes, heavy payloads can be
As Robotics Systems Lead Engineer boom sections are called the upper manipulated by astronauts in space suits
for Rockwells Space Station Systems and lower arms. The upper boom is in the zero gravity realm, but these
Division, I was involved with implement- between the shoulder and elbow joints, payloads still have the same mass as
ing the already-developed Canadarm and the lower boom is between the they do on Earth. Considering that all
Remote Manipulator System into our elbow and wrist joints. The RMS arm space payloads cost millions if not
various designs of the Space Station. attaches to the space shuttles payload billions of dollars, they must be handled
The RMS arm is 503 long and 15 in
diameter and has six degrees of Figure 2. RMS Diagram.
freedom. The arm itself weighs 905
pounds and the total system (including
the control panel) weighs 994 pounds
(see Figure 1). The original Remote
Manipulator System or RMS has six axes
of freedom, or joints that closely match
Figure 1. Shuttle RMS.
SERVO 01.2007 87
shuttle launch- environment would allow a RMS boom

es as part of its with mechanical slop to bounce back
developing and forth like a clocks pendulum.
space program.
Spar was later Precision and
acquired by Reliability
Richmond, B.C.
Figure 3. RMS on Canada-based Gear slop is sometimes minimized
Air Bearing Floor. MacDonald or eliminated by using two gears that
Dettwiler & act as a single gear. The two gears are
Associates Ltd. in 1999 and formed into spring-loaded so they push in opposite
Figure 4. Astronaut in WETF. MD Robotics. directions and effectively enlarge each
tooth just enough so that the gear that
very carefully. NASA drew up a detailed Spar Aerospaces is driving them sees no slop at all. This
list of requirements for a system to Difficult Task cannot be used on the RMS arm, as the
handle payloads on the space shuttle. payload mass is far too large, so preci-
Having heard a bit about some of One might assume that a large sion machining was required. NASA
Canadas aerospace expertise, the then robot arm would be fairly simple to specified type 302 stainless steel alloy as
NASA Administrator, Thomas Paine went design and build. Take a couple of light the material for the gears, but, when the
to our northern neighbors in 1974 to ask weight carbon fiber composite tubes machined gears were heat-treated for
for their assistance in building part of the 23 feet long and attach a two axis strength, they shrank a few micrometers
entirely-new space transportation system shoulder joint, a single axis elbow joint, too much to pass inspection. Since the
based on a reusable space shuttle. Little and a three axis wrist/end effector, gears were too hard to be machined
did NASA, we at Rockwell, or our attach it to a good location on the after heat-treating, Spar had to calculate
Canadian counterparts realize just how shuttle, and you have a space robot the shrinkage and machine them a bit
expensive something reusable would end arm. Toss in a bit of industrial robot larger to fit specs after the treating. It
up costing to develop and build. technology and couple that with a typ- worked. Lubrication of mechanisms in a
The Canadian government worked ical crane and youre set to go. Right! vacuum under extreme heat and cold
with the National Research Council to Gravity, or the lack thereof, a vacu- conditions was also solved.
determine the best approach. Spar um, and extreme temperatures are just a After solving literally thousands of
Aerospace Ltd., a Canadian company few of the obstacles that make the design similar problems, Spar had to then test
based in Weston, Ontario, was chosen and construction of a 50-foot robot for the RMS system under predicted space
after determining that the manipulator space tasks difficult. One might think that conditions. Temperature extremes,
arm system was the most appropriate the zero gravity environment would allow vibration, duty cycles, and even excess
part of the shuttle project to undertake. the program to use a weaker type of sys- gravity loading are easy to simulate on
Spar designed, developed, tested, and tem. Thats true, to a point. On Earth, the the ground, but not the lack of gravity.
built the RMS after winning the NASA arm cannot even lift itself off the floor, Despite what some SciFi movies may
contract. The terms of the contract but the shuttles RMS cannot use the show, there is no way to produce zero or
specified that Canada would pay for the usual several hundred horsepower diesel micro-gravity on Earth. The RMS arm is
development and construction of the engine that you might find on a cherry too weak to even lift itself off the floor in
initial Canadarm flight hardware. NASA picker or solid boom crane, or even the Earths gravity so zero G must be attained
also contracted to buy at least three equivalent with an electric motor. A in some manner for successful testing.
more Canadarms as part of the deal. winch cable arrangement cant be used, You can take NASAs converted KC135
Also in the contract was stated that as there is no gravity pulling down on a Vomit Comet tanker and simulate 25
Canada would have preferential access to boom to keep the cables taut. second bursts of zero gravity in parabolic
NASA had to use a jointed stiff dives (followed by 35 seconds of 2 Gs
Figure 5. End Effector. arm with powered joints. Hydraulics or over and over again), or go to space.
pneumatics certainly could not be used. Since the latter was too expensive
The joint mechanisms had to be quite and the other offered test periods that
precise with virtually no gear slop. A were too short, Spar used what several
one-degree slop in the shoulder joint aerospace companies and NASA have
could cause a 10-1/2 inch loss of accura- used for years an air bearing floor. We
cy at the end effector. This is unaccept- did this at Rockwell when we tested two
able when the positioning of payloads in spacecraft closing in to dock in space.
space sometimes require sub-millimeter Think of an air hockey table in reverse.
movement in three axes. Unlike on the Instead of air entering from holes in a flat
ground where gravity can hold a boom floor to allow pucks to float about on a
in one position, the micro-gravity space cushion of air, drive air into the pucks
88 SERVO 01.2007
themselves. Figure 3 shows the Canadarm except for a similar appearance, it did
being tested on an extremely flat floor, operate in a similar manner. I had spent
gliding on a series of pads with a flow of the previous night reviewing an
nitrogen gas into them, much like a bunch operators manual of sorts. To operate
of hover cars. Only a single axis can be on Earth, this arm was far more robust
tested at a time on a single plane, not and powerful than the shuttles RMS.
three planes as in space, but repositioning
the RMS test item to the new plane can The RMS End Effector
effectively test all axes of motion. Much of
the $100 million initial cost of the RMS My task was to snare a simulated
arm went into this type of testing. payload that was nothing more than a
After the RMS was handed over to satellite-shaped cloth-covered helium Figure 6a
NASA and Rockwell to install on the Space balloon with a post grapple fixture on the
Shuttle, the only true test ahead was a live side that looked a lot like a large nail
test on the shuttle itself. Astronauts had head sticking out of a round disk. The
several systems set up to practice future end effector was a unique design that
space operations on at Johnson Space used three heavy steel wires that sur-
Center in Houston, TX. The Weightless rounded the head of the nail and were
Environment Training Facility (WETF) in pulled around it much like the iris petals
Building 29 also known as the Neutral in a camera. Figures 6a through Figure 6e
Buoyancy Lab allowed astronauts to show the sequence of snaring and
float about in water to simulate capturing a payloads grapple fixture. All
weightlessness, and an RMS simulator I had to do was shove the end effectors Figure 6b
was sometimes placed there also for them mouth over the grapple fixtures nail
to interact with simulated payloads, such head (a and b), rotate the inner ring (c
as the Hubble Space Telescope. and d) until the three wires were snug on
Figure 4 shows an astronaut the head, and draw the rings and wires
attached to the end of the simulated down into the end effector (e) until the
RMS in the WETF tank being assisted by grapple fixture was snug against the rim
six divers as he practices with a pay- of the end effector. Easy. Not.
load. This tank works best when the The payload was the same size as a
astronauts are practicing EVAs, but the typical satellite but had only a few pounds
Building 9 High Bay Shuttle RMS Trainer of mass so I always managed to knock it
is what all prospective payload/mission with the end effector so it bounced away.
specialists must spend many hours I had two sets of windows and TV moni- Figure 6c
upon honing their missions skills. tors to watch the action through, yet it
was very difficult. Fortunately the payload
Trying to Snare a was tethered so I finally managed to
Payload Simulator snare the sucker. Judy smiled at my
frustration but Im sure she snickered at
As the engineer in charge of me under her breath and was ready to
developing manipulator systems for take control if I went astray.
Rockwells bid on the Space Station, I Figure 7 shows a fake astronaut on
frequently flew to Johnson Space Center the end of the training RMS arm in
to interface with my NASA counterparts. Building 9. Notice the difference in the
I was fortunate to have Judith Resnik real RMS, the WETF variety, and the
one of the astronauts who died in the Building 9 trainer arm. Figure 6d
Challenger disaster several months later
as my instructor on the RMS trainer in Placing the RMS on
Building 9 one morning. I certainly was- the Space Station
nt overly confident about my abilities
with robotic manipulators but I did have My task was to implement Spar RMS
a bit of self-assuredness about trying my designs for the Space Station and they
skills on the trainer. I had programmed were already at work with their newer
several different industrial robots in configurations. The SS is huge larger
my day so this big arm should be no than a football field so a single RMS,
problem. Wrong! Though the trainer even with a several hundred foot long
arm was nothing like the shuttle arm arm, was impractical. The only solution Figure 6e
SERVO 01.2007 89
mum so we decided not to use an The Canadarm 2

attached rail system all over the SS.
The design that we came up with Space Station RMS
used a series of doorknob-sized pins all The Space Station is quite a bit fur-
about the SS structural surface. The ther along since my days on the pro-
mobile transporter used two sets of gram. The new 58 foot, 7 degree-of-
forks to grasp the knobs and pull itself freedom Canadarm 2 Space Station
along the surface. Figure 8 is a model RMS was installed on the SS in April of
of the MT that Im holding and shows 2001 (see Figure 9). The new system is
the fork assemblies and the two slotted self-relocatable (it can relocate itself
Figure 7. Fake Astronaut on RMS. rails through which the knobs traveled anywhere on the SS) and is the key
as it pulled itself along like a person component of the $896 million Mobile
was to be able to move a specially modi- climbing a ladder. The MT could turn at Servicing System (MSS).
fied RMS arm about the SS. Brian Fuller a node, rotate 90 to a new surface by The MSS is composed of two other
and Tom Young of Spar supplied me with means of swivel joints in the middle of components besides the SSRMS The
RMS technical data and our group devel- the two rails, and carry the RMS while Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator
oped a Mobile Transporter to carry the it was attached to a large payload. The (SPDM) and the Mobile Remote
space station version of the RMS over all white box contains a series of nickel- Servicer Base System (MBS). The SPDM
the faces of the space station structure. hydrogen batteries, the control elec- is a small, advanced detachable two-
We had to keep the weight to a mini- tronics, and the fork actuators. armed robot that can be placed on the
end of the RMS arm to install and
Figure 8. The Author and His Figure 9. SSRMS with Manipulator. remove small payloads and similar deli-
Mobile Transporter Module. cate operations. The (MBS) is a mov-
able platform for the Canadarm2 and
the SPDM that slides along rails on the
Space Stations main structure to trans-
port Canadarm2 to various points on
the Station.
A lot of progress has been made on
these space systems since I worked on the
program in the late 80s and early 90s.
The International Space Station is a reali-
ty and can be seen by the naked eye as it
crosses the sky. I truly enjoyed my small
part in developing robotic systems for
space. As I always say, use your favorite
search engine to keep abreast of the
Space Stations robotic developments.
The author can be reached at
[email protected] and welcomes
questions and comments. SV
Advertiser Index
All Electronics Corp. .............................23, 72 Lorax Works ..................................................73 Road Narrows Robotics ..............................72
AP Circuits .....................................................79 Lynxmotion, Inc. ...........................................19 RoboteQ .........................................................9
COMBOTS .....................................................33 Maxbotix .......................................................23 Robotis Co. Ltd. ...........................................56
Command Productions .................................7 Robot Power .................................................51
Maximum Robotics ................................23, 25
CrustCrawler ...................................................3 RobotShop, Inc. .....................................23, 43
Net Media .....................................................91
Electronics123 ..............................................72 Schmartboard ...............................................72
NU-BOTICS ....................................................72
Futurlec .........................................................23 Solarbotics.....................................................61
Hitec ..............................................................79 Parallax, Inc. ...................................Back Cover Technological Arts .......................................23
Hobby Engineering ......................................14 Plantraco .................................................23, 72 Vantec ...........................................................66
Jameco Robot Store ................................2, 23 Pololu Robotics & Electronics .....................38 Yost Engineering, Inc. ..................................15
90 SERVO 01.2007
CoverInside.qxd 12/6/2006 1:12 PM Page 2
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Cover.qxd 12/7/2006 1:00 PM Page 84
Vol. 5 No. 1
SERVO MAGAZINE
VINNIE INTELS OPEN CV DIVIDERS AND TIMERS SOUNDGIN
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Motor Size: 0.5 HP Max - No Minimum

Size: 1.6 x 1.6 x 1.9

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