21 February 2009

Intelligent and effective vacuuming robot


Nowadays people are more accustomed to adapt technology in their life especially if it help them clean their house. one good example is the robot vacuum.This particular robot keeps your floor clean throughout the day. unlike human maid, this little robot prefers to clean than complain. This is just the begining, in a few years time, a more multitasking robot will be invented to replace human maid.
This particular robot vacuum is called Roomba. It is an intelligent and effective vacuuming robot. It main component is the unique AWARE™ Robot Intelligence Systems. AWARE uses dozens of sensors to monitor Roomba's environment, and adjusts Roomba's behavior up to 67 times per second, ensuring that Roomba cleans effectively, intelligently and safely.

To see how some of Roomba's features work, please click: ROOMBA

ROOMBA main features are as follows:

a) A powerful vacuum -A smart and powerful vacuum Roomba picks up an amazing amount of dirt, dust, pet hair, dander, cat litter, crumbs, leaves and other debris as it autonomously navigates throughout your home. Roomba automatically adjusts from carpets to hard floors and cleans everywhere you want while avoiding off-limit areas.

b) Hard-to-reach places -Cleans hard-to-reach places Roomba’s compact shape allows it to vacuum beneath beds, couches and other hard-to-reach places while the innovative, spinning side brush removes accumulated debris along kickboards, cabinet edges and corners

c) Carpets to hard floors -Transitions from carpets to hard floors Roomba automatically transitions from one surface to the next, effectively lifting dirt, dust and debris from carpets, rugs, tile, linoleum and hardwood floors.

d) Avoids drop-offs -Avoids stairs and drop-offs Roomba knows when it’s approaching stairs and other drop-offs, cleans up to the edge then automatically and safely changes direction to avoid going over edges.

e) Detects dirt -Spends more time on dirtier areas Roomba detects dirtier areas and responds by increasing its vacuuming intensity and cleaning pattern to ensure deeper, concentrated cleaning in that area.

f) Won't get stuck -Won't get stuck Specially designed technology and suspension allow Roomba to maneuver over cords and effectively extract itself from fringe and tassels.

g) Light-touch bumper -Light-touch bumper Roomba identifies furniture and other obstacles, slow its approach then lightly and gently touch the obstacle with its bumper and changes direction.

h) Automatically recharges -Automatically recharges Roomba automatically locates and returns to its Home Base™ to dock and recharge between cleaning cycles and when the battery is running low.

i) Avoids off-limit areas -Avoids off-limit areas Virtual Walls create invisible barriers to off-limit areas that Roomba will not cross.

j) Lighthouse -Efficient room-to-room cleaning A Virtual Wall Lighthouse directs Roomba to completely vacuum one room before moving on to the next and creates an invisible barrier to off-limit areas that Roomba will not cross.

k) Modular Design -Modularity New modular design provides simpler cleaning, maintenance, part replacement and feature upgrades.



09 February 2009

EXP-1 : Beam Robotic Part 2


As planned, we have successfully completed the whole circuit which include the Battery ON Indicator and reverse mechanism. The additional circuit (reversal mode) is mainly consists of the transistor 3904, one resistor, one electrolyte capacitor, toggle switch, relay and couple of wires.
Refering to EXP-1 part 1: the robot is constructed in stages based on the diagram shown below:





The circuit arrangement is a bit messy and wires are crisscross to one another. However, the circuit works fine as expected. During the experiment we found out that it is important to interpret the circuits diagram properly especially the connectivity of the relay. Anyway, the exp-1 is now has been completed. Next, we are going to house the whole circuit into a computer mouse casing, to make it look like a mouse. Rendy will be doing the circuit arrangement i.e. to squeeze the whole circuit into the tiny computer mouse casing.



08 February 2009

Latest Humanoid Robot



Waseda University in Tokyo unveiled its updated humanoid robot, named Twendy-One, showcasing the robot's ability to pick up even the most difficult of objects.


Microbot swimming through human bloodstream



The Researchers from Monash University are working on microbot motors designed to swim through the human bloodstream. This tiny motor would be able to power a probe swimming through blood vessels.The Proteus is 2.5mm long and utilizes a dual-action action piezoelectric motor to drive a small fan that pushes the unit forward. This med-sub sailed through the blood stream to tackle the clot in the brain. The Proteus’s speed would be 6 centimeters per second.

06 February 2009

The Smallest Robot



Not really the world smallest mini robot but it is tiny.

01 February 2009

EXP-1 Beam Robotic


This is our first attempt to construct the herbie Robot(Originally invented by Randy Sargent, Herbie was built from spare parts as an entry for a robot competition), we (myself and my friend Rendy) called ours the EXP-1.



We used the same circuit as the original herbie Robot. We come up this simple approach; we used a vero board as the chassis, Motors, Resistors, Variable resistor, Two LDR and the heart of the robot, an audio amplifier. Below are the complete schematic diagram of the Herbie's Robot Seeking Light.



This robot used the following component:
a) Two unit 5V DC motors
b) One unit 47K Resistor
c) One variable 100K resistor
d) Two unit LDR (light Detector Resistor)
e) One unit LM 386 Audio power Amplifier
f) One unit Vero Board


The robot operates as expected but we have some difficulty in controlling the sensitivity of these LDR. We are thinking of fine-tuning the circuit again by adding variable resistor in replace of the fixed resistor to both LDR. We are so fascinated to see it became alive and kicking. The EXP-1 is attracted to light source. So, whenever you shone the left/right LDR with a torch light, it move to the left/right respectively. We are looking forward to the next experiment i.e. to modify the circuit and add in more features.

You can try experimenting and build your own herbie by clicking this link :http://www.scribd.com/doc/6666573/Mouse-Robot

21 January 2009

MOBILE ROBOT BASE




A mobile robot base that I invented during my final year ( BEng in Electrical & Electronic ) at the University of East London, UK and sadly to say that it not fully complete yet till today, even though it was made in 1993. This Robot is as complicated as BEAM robot. It main components are Light to frequency shaft encoder and Pulse Width Modulator motor Drive control System. Despite the lack of information, ideas and others at that particular of time, I was lucky enough to secure a B + for this project.

Electronic Components for BEAM Robots

B.E.A.M stands for Biology Electronics Aesthetics Mechanics. The founder of B.E.A.M robotic is none other than Dr.Mark Tilden. He chose the word BEAM to summarize the concept he thought were the most important in building a self guiding robot. You can find a lot more detail of BEAM robot by reading the following book:

JunkBots, Bugbots & Bots on Wheels by Dave Hrynkiw and Mark W. Tilden.




Anyway, I won’t be discussing what each letter mean, However I will be going through the important components used in building the BEAM robotic instead.

Apart from using the usual resistors and capacitors, below are the most commonly used transistors to build BEAM robot:

a) 2N3904 (NPN) or 2N3906 (PNP),
b) PN2222 (NPN) or 2N2907 (PNP)

Both of these transistors can drive some small DC Motors (we will be discussing the DC Motors later on). To fully utilize their usages, it’s important to read and understand the functionality of these transistors (by referring the Data Sheet supplied by the manufacturer of the transistor).

The other most useful and frequently used component is the integrated Circuit or IC. The project we plan to do later in building BEAM robots will use the following ICs:

a) 74(AC/ACT/H/HC/HCT/LC) 240 – Octal Buffer Inverter Chips.
b) 74(AC/ACT/H/HC/HCT/LC) 14 – Hex Schmitt Inverter Chips.
c) 74(AC/ACT/H/HC/HCT/LC) 245 – Octal Driver Chips.
d) 555 – Multipurpose Timer.
e) LM386 – Audio Power Amplifier.
f) LM 324 – Quadruple Operation Amplifier.
g) 7805 – Positive 5V Voltage Regulator.

Caution: Be very careful not to subject the above ICs directly to 9V battery, otherwise it may cause damage to the IC.

Again, it is advisable to read and understand the functions of each of the above ICs by reading their respective Data Sheet. You can search for electronic data sheets at http://www.cytron.com.my/

For now, let us start familiarize these components.

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