Jul.18, 2012
FOBO is the fourth prototype from Project Biped by Jonathan Dowdall. It is a 3D printed self-contained bipedal robot and can walk balanced without falling over if it stops.
It has 8 DOF (degrees of freedom) and uses an Arduino Uno microcontroller to actuate 8 servo motors. It can detect obstacles using its ultrasonic range sensor. Once there is an obstacle FOBO turns until the path is clear, then continues on its way. The power is from a rechargeable lithium ion battery that lasts for a couple of hours on a full charge.
FOBO is made of 3D printed parts and is designed to be easily made by anyone with a low cost 3D printer and an interest in learning about robotics.
There are totally seventeen 3D printed plastic parts and an open source DIY 3D printer can print them out in about 18 hours. All of the designs, instructions, source code, and parts lists along with links to the vendor, price, and quantity are provided for free.
If you want to create new action sequences for FOBO, you can adjust each of FOBO's servos in FOBO Poser, an application that let you save actions sequences to file, load and export to an Arduino code file, or played back in real-time.
In addition, FOBO can also be controlled by a human operator using a Kinect. Find all the information at the FOBO website.
If you are a robot lover, you might want to try Jonathan Dowdall's new spool bot. Spool Bot is a wheeled robot capable of navigating complex indoor environments and can be a good platform for testing sensor and computing packages.
(Image credit: FOBO)
It is made with empty filament spools, caster wheels from an old office chair, and some custom parts made on a 3D printer. It senses the environment using a depth camera and moves around using 2 standard servos. The brains are provided by an Arduino microcontroller and a laptop. The power for the robot comes solely from the laptop eliminating the need for external batteries.
Watch the video below the spool bot navigating around the room and creating a map.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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