Pololu Blog (Page 80)

Welcome to the Pololu Blog, where we provide updates about what we and our customers are doing and thinking about. This blog used to be Pololu president Jan Malášek’s Engage Your Brain blog; you can view just those posts here.

Popular tags: community projects new products raspberry pi arduino more…

Irowe 4550

Posted by Ryan on 15 March 2013

This fully-autonomous robot can detect and avoid objects, track moving objects, detect table edges, and detect level lights. The robot uses Sharp optical range finders and Pololu wheels.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?p=31673#p31673

BumbleBee Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Posted by Paul on 13 March 2013

Congratulations to Team BumbleBee on winning 2nd place in the 2013 Singapore AUV competition! Their autonomous underwater vehicle uses a High-Power Motor Controller 18v15.

Featured link: http://bbauv.com/bumblebee-placed-2nd-in-singapore-autonomous-underwater-vehicle-2013/

Freedom Zumo Robot

Posted by Ben on 13 March 2013

This robot uses our Zumo robot kit, 75:1 micro metal gearmotors, and a Zumo reflectance sensor array. Instead of an Arduino it uses a Freescale FRDM-KL25Z as the microcontroller board. Sample code is available for line following and maze solving.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=6657

Wixel breakout board for servos

Posted by Paul on 8 March 2013

This board by Martin Sant makes connecting servos to the Wixel easier.

Featured link: http://martinsant.net/?page_id=962

Replacement motor for the NERF Stryfe

Posted by Paul on 8 March 2013

We recently heard that the Solarbotics RM2 is being used as a replacement motor for upgrading flywheel NERF blasters. In this discussion on the NerfHaven Forums, forum member 0reo says:

IMHO, these are the best motors for any flywheel nerf gun that runs on 4 AAs.

Featured link: http://nerfhaven.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23611

Pinoccio demo using 3pi: Web Rover

Posted by Paul on 15 February 2013

This demo project for the Pinoccio wireless microcontroller combines a Pololu 3pi with a Pinoccio to create a rover that can be driven remotely over the internet.

Featured link: http://pinocc.io/examples/webrover/

Veter Robot

Posted by Paul on 25 January 2013

This nice-looking autonomous robot uses a Dagu Rover 5 Tracked Chassis. The Veter Robot was designed to be used as a robotics research platform. The creators list many advantages of their platform:

In the hardware area we provide:

  • Longer autonomous operation time with easy replaceable battery.
  • Significantly higher processing power with onboard ARM CPU and advanced TI DSP.
  • Easy customizable 3D-printed body for integration of additional sensors and actuators.
  • Simple electronic built out of standard high level components.
  • Wide range of out-of-the-box sensors.

In the software area we provide:

  • Advanced communication infrastructure for cloud robotics.
  • Support for multiple programming languages.
  • Adaptive video streaming for remote operation over the Internet.
  • Set of examples for education scenarios.

By embracing open software and hardware paradigm we and our customers have access to vibrant and large community of developers and designers. By shifting complexity to the software and simplifying hardware we were able to reduce price to very competitive level.

For technical details, demo videos, and purchasing information, see the project web site.

Featured link: http://veterobot.com/

Carambola Rover

Posted by Paul on 21 January 2013

This rover by Saulius Lukse contains a Pololu Qik 2s12v10 dual serial motor controller and Dagu Wild Thumper wheels. It uses a Carambola wireless Linux module as its controller and can be controlled from an Android phone or tablet.

Featured link: http://lukse.lt/uzrasai/2013-01-carambola-powered-robot-v2/

BoboBOT

Posted by Paul on 21 January 2013

This robot has a 3d-printed chassis and uses Pololu micro metal gearmotors and a Pololu Qik 2s9v1 dual serial motor controller. BoboBOT can compete in Mini Sumo competitions, and under remote control, it can be used to solve Sokoban-style puzzles:

Featured link: http://madebyfrutos.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/bobobot/

Daryl robot

Posted by Paul on 3 January 2013

This autonomous robot, “Daryl”, is based on an Arduino Uno and controlled with a touchscreen Java app. Daryl uses a TReX to control its motors and a Micro Maestro to pan a camera/sensor module.

Here are some videos of Daryl:


There is more information on the creator’s blog (in French) and in this forum post.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?p=30049#p30049

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ACS72981LLRATR-050B3 Current Sensor Compact Carrier -50A to +50A, 3.3V
12V, 100mA Step-Down Voltage Regulator D45V1E2F12
ACS72981KLRATR-150B3 Current Sensor Large Carrier -150A to +150A, 3.3V
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CT433-HSWF50DR TMR Current Sensor Compact Carrier 0A to 50A, 3.3V
5V, 100mA Step-Down Voltage Regulator D45V1E1F5
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