Project Happy Halloween

[WGhost9]

Introducing my newest creation: the Creeper2! I started designing the Creeper2 Oct. 1 as a short-term Halloween stunt and long term upgrade of my previous Creeper robot (http://forums.trossenrobotics.com/al...&pictureid=197). It’s been a whirlwind month, however I not only built but programmed the robot in the last 3 weeks.

As you can see in the above video, the Creeper2 is an ideal seasonal solution to candy dispersal. It will be serving candy to boys and girls who stop by its “lair” this Halloween, but its usefulness doesn’t end there!



Long term, the Creeper2 is upgradable with foot sensors for future experiments in rough terrain transversal. The Creeper2’s large body contains expansion slots for 3 additional servos for adding navigational sensors, a head, small mandibles, or even a camera. I also have plans to add a remote control option to the Creeper2 using a standard PS2 controller.

This is my first robot to boast an all aluminum custom chassis (thanks to the Waterjet cutters at TubeFab Inc.). I applied a hard black anodization in order to render the surface non-conductive and, let’s face it, for looks as well. The Creeper2 uses dual processors to ensure smooth movements and a high servo refresh rate. High level gait generation is performed by an Axon microcontroller, while the low level servo timing is handled by a SSC-32. This also allows for an easy isolation of the motor current from the electronics, which can be a problem for the Axon when running this many servos.

If you like the Creeper2 or simply have some questions about it, please post a comment. I very much like to hear from those who enjoy my work.

[sam]

That is very cool! Congrats!

I like the nice pumpkin on his head.

This is great work. What servos are you using because it seems the femur is pretty long?

Sam

[Zenta]

Hi,

Congratz with your new robot! Looking very good. I'm also wondering about the servos, 5645?
Also great job with the programing!

-Zenta

[WGhost9]

Wow thanks for the great comments!

To answer you questions, yes I am currently using HS-5645's because they are digital and the axon can reprogram them easily enough for 180 degrees of freedom. I am thinking of switching in 5990TGs from an older project (my Owlbot, whose servo brakects always buckeled too much under its own wheight to walk effectively ) to replace the knee servos; the knee servos tend to get overly hot and I would feel more comfortable using servos with heat sinks there.

[LeChat2]

Wow very neat. What kind of camera are you going to place on the robot? How much can this robot lift?

And won't the trick-or-treater's get a scared of it?

[WGhost9]

I have a simple CMU cam which I might connect to a blackfin. The exact quantity of the lift is unknown but the robot has lifted up to 2 pounds without trouble. As for scaring trickortreaters, we shall see

[jes1510]

Your video was in the make blog. Congrats!

[Adam]

The anodizing looks really good. I thought it was some kind of textured plastic before reading the comments. Overall a very nicely done bot.

[ketanco]

Very nice robot, congrats! I saw in Cnet news too.