{"id":791,"date":"2014-04-17T08:29:57","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T12:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/?p=791"},"modified":"2014-04-17T09:04:38","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T13:04:38","slug":"my-first-robot-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/my-first-robot-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Robot, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Isabell<\/a>

Isabell is ready for robots!<\/p><\/div>\n

Several months ago I backed a Kickstarter campaign for Primo<\/a>, a simple Arduino-based teaching tool for introducing programming logic to kids age 4-7. My oldest daughter was just 3, but my pledge got me plans and code only, and I figured the way projects go around here it just might be done by the time she’s 4. The Primo experience involves a cute (albeit simple) little robot named “Cubetto”, and right off the bat I figured I would modify some things to make him more… well, awesome. Little did I know of\u00a0the rabbit hole I was about to tumble into.<\/p>\n

As usual I started off with some sketches, thinking about what the robot could do aside from the Primo stuff. A suite of sensors would enable all sorts of behaviors, from simple (light seeking,\u00a0line following)\u00a0to more complex (play catch, drawbot). I would definitely enable a simple “radio control” mode, but I’m much more interested in autonomous (or semi-autonomous) behaviors.\u00a0Isabell is obsessed with the Curiosity Mars rover, so it should definitely have some of that DNA. I also believe the rover should have some personality, so I’m looking into some simple dot-matrix display “eyes” that can communicate artificial emotion, and a simple speaker to give it a voice.<\/p>\n

\"rover_sketch_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"rover_sketch_2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"rover_sketch_3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m focusing on a tracked design for now, so it can navigate a moderately challenging\u00a0indoor environment. I love the idea of solar charging, or at least autonomously finding its own charging station. Of course it needs a camera so I’m drawn to the Raspberry Pi as a brain, which might also make remote control from an iPad relatively easy. I imagine the Rasp Pi might talk to one or more Arduinos, which can handle low-level functions like battery monitoring or distance sensors. I already have some small full-rotation servos, which will make the drivetrain simpler (vs.\u00a0motor controllers, gearboxes, etc.).<\/p>\n

My main guiding principle here will be flexibility\/modularity, so features can be added or changed\u00a0as we try things, get bored with them, imagine new uses,\u00a0learn stuff, etc.\u00a0Next step, start building the platform.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several months ago I backed a Kickstarter campaign for Primo, a simple Arduino-based teaching tool for introducing programming logic to kids age 4-7. My oldest daughter was just 3, but my pledge got me plans and code only, and I figured the way projects go around here it just might be done by the time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33,58],"tags":[5,59,60,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jmillerid.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}