How do I start off for a Robot

[Sumit Saraogi]

Hello All,
  I am new to this site. This one seems to be of quite great help. Please let me me know how to get off for making a Moving Robot. where can i get the Technical details needed.

Thank u
Sumit

 

[prateeksikka]

BEFORE DEVELOPING A ROBOT!
TRY OUT WRITING A SIMPLE MICROPROCESSOR (CONTROLER)
PROGRAM FOR POSITION CONTROL OF A DEVICE JUST LIKE A MOTOR!
ONCE YOU ARE PERFECT IN IT,ROBOT IS NOT MUCH AWAY.ACTUALLY ROBOT IS NOTHING BUT POSITION CONTROLS OF DC MOTORS!!!!
PRATEEK

 

[Sumit Saraogi]

Hi,

Prateek thanks a lot for the support U have provided. I would also like to know that till date I know only programming on 8085 n 8086 microprocessors. Will that be all or I need to gain knoowledge about some other microprocessors also. Where can I get reference to programs like Position control and Force Control ( the main two aspects of Robot Functioning)

Prateek I would like to know more abt u as well.

Till then see ya
Bye
take care
Sumit.

 

[prateeksikka]

hi sumit!
processors like 8085 and 8086 are atleast according to me not sufficient enough for an efficient position control system.
try out writing a C program in a pentium processor if you have one at your place.
If u r an engineering student(as i guess)
then it should not be much problem.but remember be careful using inport commands
especially if the computer is a personal one!!!!!
me too an engg student .send me a private mail for that i have my id in my profile
prateek

 

[Ldanielrosa1]

Sumit,

Most of the hobby robots I've seen are based on two drive wheels.  Some have three wheels (one caster), some have four wheels (two casters), some have tank treads (still same concept).  My first robot (I still haven't made one yet) will be this way too.

It is true that you need to learn to control a motor.  If you make a dedicated device for two motors, then you will have half the required brains for a robot.  The other half decides where to go.

Whether you choose a DC motor, a stepper motor, an AC motor, or a modified servomotor (or whatever), you must use a device that can control it.  If your CPU has PWM, that can be used with most but is not necessary.  I have yet to see a microprocessor that is entirely unusable for any of the motor types, though all of them will require some sort of interfacing.  As such I suggest you use whatever CPU is available in your area at a good price.

 

[Sumit Saraogi]

Hi Ldanielrosa
      Thanks a lot for the knowledge that you shared. I didn't get what does the caster mean. Guess its some kind of wheels working concept.
What does dedicated device mean here. Then how to decide which motor will be suitable.

I will be using a Pentium Processor as said by Prateek. Soon I will be starting to make position control programs for the same.

Thanks a lot
Bye.
Sumit

 

[Sumit Saraogi]

Hi prateek
  I am also an Engineering student into my third year (Electronics & Communication branch) from Allahabad.
I will be mailing you soon.
Prateek do let me know which book to refer for making position control C programs. Right now I have got Yashwant Kanetkar only.

Bye
Take care
sumit

 

[Sumit Saraogi]

Hi Ldanielrosa
    I guess We should together start off for making a robot. U start off at your place and I will start here.

It will be great fun.

what u say.....

Best of Luck
bye
sumit

 

[trigger]

Hi Ldanielrosa
      Thanks a lot for the knowledge that you shared. I didn't get what does the caster mean. Guess its some kind of wheels working concept.
What does dedicated device mean here. Then how to decide which motor will be suitable.

I will be using a Pentium Processor as said by Prateek. Soon I will be starting to make position control programs for the same.

Thanks a lot
Bye.
Sumit

don't be kidding....... using Pentinum processor will drive you into nightmare......... unless you got an industrial control board based on intel CPU..... else... don't touch it........

and most MCU are sufficient to perform motor controls........

 

[prateeksikka]

hi trigger!
by the pentium processor i simply mean not only the processor chip but a desktop computer as a whole.
i mean SUMIT can use the computers ports for data transfer and handshake signals for his motor(stepper preferably)
just as u connect any device to ur PC like a printer or scanner or a digital camera.I have myself made a program for LCD interfacing through  a computer's parallel port.Similar i mean for the motor.I dont mean opening the cabinet and taking out the processor chip!!!!!!!
prateek

 

[Ldanielrosa1]

Have you seen office chairs that roll around?  The wheels can turn to roll any direction.  Those are casters.

By dedicated device I mean something that will take your commands for what the motor is to do, then it will make the motor do it.

To find which motor is suitable, you balance your priorities.  For me, I need them common and cheap so I go to the scrap recycling place and get stepper motors out of 5.25" floppy disk drives.  Those are all made by Teac and have similar (if not same) specifications.  If I break one, it cost me nothing.  If I need a better motor later, my software is already developed.

Sorry, too many other projects come first.

 

[masterleous]

Hi Ldanielrosa

 

[Sumit Saraogi]

Hi Masterleous,
                As u said that we need to have a Micro controller for making motion control. But isn't it tedious to write a Assembly level program as compared to a Cprogram.

Also I didn't get your last line.

"A Microcontroller used Assembly Language For Operation and a Programmer (which u will get from anywhere or u can make it yourself)"

what u mean by programmer here.

I will surely see forward to the Atmel AT89C51 controller u told about.

Thanks for the tip for Micro controllers that u gave.
bye
Sumit

 

[Sumit Saraogi]

hi prateek,
    just let me know which book to refer for C programming for an Postion control program (seems to be a tough one right now).

    prateek i have send u a personal msg on this site, itself........ do reply to it.

byue
sumit

 

[masterleous]

Hi Masterleous,

 

[Sumit Saraogi]

Hi Masterleous ,
       
              Thanks a lot for the concern that  you are showing towards my project. I am really heartened by it.

              ya I will surely go by your way . I am also working on that  C program but that can be done along with this stuff.

I surely agree fully on your view point and woulod like to work on it.
Please let me know where to get softwares for Assembly level programminmg.

Also please post your material about microcontroller and its programs .

You can also mail me the material on

[email protected]
[email protected]

I would be grateful to you.

till then bye
take care
sumit

 

[Kevin Weddle]

I don't believe you can program a robot with assembly. Probably C is the best. The commands used are high level for simplicity. In fact, you can run the code through the microcontroller because the real time for the robot is slow. I believe there are times when you would want to bypass a microcontroller and send the code directly from RAM. But this is not the case with a robot. I have to wonder what the feedback devices are. External sensors can be used for position reference. I think they use stepper motors which can be very accurate. But occasionally you will to start with a fresh reference. The whole point of the robot is to cycle through the positions and return to the beginning. I should think a switch will do the job.

 

[masterleous]

Hi Kevin,
you are right that it is difficult to program through Assembly Language...........but for complete automation u needed a design that perform an operation for control by its own calculation not by HMI...............
Although for beginner, this is a better idea to make C Prog at first than switch to Automation through MicroProcessor or Microcontroller which is depend on user and it's robot application.......