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The creation of XBot is inspired from the on road vehicles, the idea of XBot to lift object with a gripper is derived from tractor. The additional function of sparkling LEDs and siren on Xbot is to simulate the Police car light and siren.

1.0 Introduction…

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As for the capabilities for XBot to do line following will be another interesting idea to be implemented in our daily life. Just imagine in future, we will have our own line following vehicle like  in the movie “WALL-E”. Wow!! How wonderful it can be!! Let’s see a introduction video…..

But wait!! That’s all XBot can do? No no no, with an embedded system, Interface Free Controller (IFC), which offer interface free with plug and play feature, simple control with IFC function library and flexible with stackable ability, XBot can do more than that!! With this powerful yet easy to use embedded system, you can control XBot through PS2 controller, sound good? Oh, won’t it be a crazy idea to control your vehicle by PS2 controller? I bet the answer is a big “NO”! since James Bond’s car can be driven remotely(in “Tomorrow Never Dies”) , why not our future car?! Yeah, it would be like a dream come true to have a car like that.

Want to see Wireless PS2 in control? Here you are:

if you want to see more, just stay tuned and scroll down (or search it from youtube), there are more videos about this robot.

Have other bombastic idea to add on XBot? Fear not, with IFC, XBot offer unlimited potential for different application, additional features can be added to this robot as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Curious on how XBot being made? Here come the description!!

2.0 Robot description…

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2.1

Hardware

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The hardware of XBot basically is the combination of a robot base and gripper. Figures below show the structure of the robot.

Robot base in progress…..

Yeah! The base is done, 2 LINIX brushless motor were assembled to the base.

Okay, continue to the other structure of the robot…

Done with the structure to support and attach additional mechanism…2 Lead Acid batteries are added to the robot as well.

Wow~~, the gripper look so solid and strong!!

Aha!! The hardware of XBot is done!!

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2.2

Controller Board

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IFC??What is this? Seem like another amazing technology…

The controller board of XBot is Interface Free Controller, IFC, which offer a new concept of developing microcontroller embedded system and also robotics system. With serial communication perception, IFC offer million of possibilities to develop embedded system creatively and easily. In IFC, several cards are stacked to get a complete embedded system. The design aim of IFC is to offer 3 simple steps in microcontroller system development – Configure card’s address, Stack IFC cards, Write Program and Run!.

The main program is loaded in IFC Main Board, IFC-MB00. There are several IFC slave cards added in this robot platform, which are:

1. Brushless Motor Controller Card (IFC-BL02) x 1, to control 2 LINIX brushless motor.
2. Control Panel (IFC-CP04) x 1, to display program status and select different option which have been predefined.
3. Play Station 2 Controller Card (IFC-PS01) x 1, to enable XBot being controlled by PS2 controller.
4. Digital Input Card (IFC-DI08) x 1, to read digital sensor for line following
5. 15A Brush Motor Driver (IFC-MD15A) x 3, to control brush motor for gripper
6. Analog Input (IFC-AI08) x 1, to read gripper motor position by adding preset on the motor
7. Output Card (IFC-OC04) x 1, to add extra function likes siren, fan and LEDs on robot.
8. Extension Board (IFC-EB02) x 1, to provide a platform to stack more IFC cards within a system and also provides 2 power extension to supply external power source to IFC slave card.

With the concept of interfacing card, user may stack as many as 64 IFC cards in XBot to get infinite combination of peripherals. The implementation of IFC in XBot helps to shorten the hardware development time and software development. It is so easy to add hardware and modify software even after the design had been finalize. There is no more worries on no enough I/O pin, or frustration in redesign the controller board, what need to be done is just stack a relevant slave card on XBot, configure the card address, write program and run!

Afraid that XBot will malfunction because of spoiled card? It is just a small matter, it can be repair in a very short time!! It is no need to go through the process of solder and de-solder of the spoil I/O port on a controller board, it is so easy to replace the malfunction IFC slave card with another IFC slave card. No need to take care of the messy jumper wire on the controller board, no need to worry about mis-place of the component, what need to be take it consider just the address on the IFC slave card!! All the connection of hardware from XBot to the relevant slave card will be exactly the same!!

For details of IFC cards, please refer to Cytron web site at: http://www.cytron.com.my/listProductCategory.asp?cid=285

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2.3

Software

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XBot uses MPLAB IDE as source code editor and MPLAB C18 as C compiler. The programming language for this robot is C programming. With IFC, no more frustration in determine hardware interface and configuring peripheral in software. Checking few hundreds pages of data sheet can be waved. Furthermore, with functions based software library, it save valuable time during software development by concentrating on algorithm development. No more flipping or scrolling PIC data sheet looking for ADCON0, T1CON or even TRISA. With just a programming hand book, simply copy the header file, call comprehensive functions and it’s ready to rock!

YoYo!!With IFC, writing program can never be so easy and fast…you will never know how fantastic of this development until you experience it!!

3.0 The road to XBot…

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Now…let’s us follow the road of the creation of XBot!!

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3.1

Free movement of XBot

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With simply 3 IFC cards and some simple programming, XBot already can perform movement like forward, backwards, turn left, and turn right.

IFC attached on XBot.

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code1(Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot) ______________________________________________________________________________________

3.2

XBot with LCD

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By adding Control Panel to XBot, now the robot is able to offer more interesting demonstration. The Control Panel card acts as Human Machine Interface platform. The LCD can display any program status or even sensor input. The robot now can be activated by different modes that had been predefined through 4 programmable switches on IFC-CP04.

IFC-CP04 added to XBot.

IFC-CP04 is showing the available option of XBot.

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code2

Sample code2 (Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot)

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3.3

PS control of XBot

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Adding IFC-PS01 to XBot

Want to control the XBot with PS2 controller? It is as easy as pie for XBot to do it!! With IFC Play Station 2 Controller card, IFC-PS01, the signal from PS2 controller can be read and process easily!!

XBot is ready to be control by PS2 controller with IFC-PS01.

Ready? Go!!

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code3(Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot)

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3.4

Line follow of XBot

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Need to do a line following robot with digital sensor? What we need is simply add a Digital Input card and 5 digital sensors to the robot. By adding IFC-DI08, the signal from digital sensor can be read without worry for the configuration and setting of I/O port in microcontroller!

5 digital sensors are ready to be assembly on XBot…

XBot added with line following feature!

Set the mode for line following, and…let’s go around the world with the guide of line!! Hmmm…just imagine, if our world become the world as in movie “WALL-E”, how important of line following in our daily life…

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code4(Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot)

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3.5

XBot with Gripper

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Adding 3 IFC-MD15A to XBot

Does not satisfied with line following? Ya, sure, we want more for the XBot, with IFC, we can always ask for more!! More function, more possibilities, more fun!! The robot not only can do line following, not only can be controlled by PS2 controller, but also can lift object and shift to other places with the gripper and 3 more Brush Motor card, IFC- MD15A. One MD15A is use to control the motor to lift the gripper, another 2 cards are play the role to control the motor for open and close the gripper.

3 IFC-MD15A on IFC system..

Cable is needed to supply power to motor that connected to IFC-MD15A.

Connect the cable at IFC-PC00 (yellow circle) and IFC-EB00 (light blue circle).

3 more cable connected to IFC-EB00, the other end of the cable is connecting to 3 IFC-MD15A separately.

The gripper is ready, 2 brush motor (in yellow circle) are to control the gripper while 1 linear actuator (in red circle) is use to control the gripper mechanism.

Alright, it’s time to test the robot with new feature!! Can XBot perform task as smooth as tractor? Let we see the video…

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code5(Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot)

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3.6

XBot with Servo Control Gripper

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Adding IFC-AI08 to XBot

Hmm…it’s seem like a bit hard to control the gripper without feedback from the motors… Not to worry, the problem can be solve in a tick! By adding Analog Input Card to the system, 1 potential meter to each motor, now the position of the motor can be read and control easily!!

The picture show the potential meter (in yellow circle) added to the brush motor. AI08 will read the value from the potential meter and the position of the motor can be known from the reading. So, how easy it the job to control gripper can be? Check it out from the video!!

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code6 (Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot)

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3.7

XBot Doing Simple Task

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Ready to do simple task…

Well, now XBot can do line following, can pick boxes, what are we waiting for?! Time to let XBot help us to do the task for picking the box and put it at the suitable place!! Just press a button, XBot will do the task automatically!!

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code7 (Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot)

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3.8

Extra function with output card…adding extra function to robot can never be so simple!!

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Adding IFC-OC04 to XBot

Thinking of make the robot more interesting like a police car by adding siren, fan and LEDs? Here comes the Output Card, IFC-OC04!! With 4 output port, adding extra function to XBot just as simple as drinking water!! Just need to make sure the polarity is connect correctly to the output port; XBot is ready to dance with siren, fan and LEDs!!

Output Card, IFC-OC04 is added to the system. A cable is needed to supply power to the output port. XBot is ready to rock as a police car!!

It’s Show Time!!

Sample code8 (Please refer to the Source Code.zip>Source code\sample code for XBot)

Source Code.zip

Please use the IFC IIC object file in the Source Code.zip for the sample code of XBot.

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using 2 mini dc motors, 2 mini lithium cells, zigbee trasceiver, pic microcontroller …………..

the idea of this MiniBot comes to my mind after i read this article (http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-Small-Robots-Making-One-Cubic-Inch-Micro/) about an 1 inch cube micro sumo robot. to enter this micro sized robotic world, i start my mini robot with the size 1.5inch x 1.5inch x 2inch cube. maybe next time i will try smaller one called MicroBot, so for now, lets discuss about this MiniBot i am currently developing.

finding suitable component

A) motor

the motor must be very small in size, small current consumption (due to small size of battery), and powerful enough to drive the MiniBot. the first motor i found is a vibrator motor from my old nokia 3310 phone. its small, and i believe it is also small current consumption, but the problem is i dont think its powerful enough to drive MiniBot, because it doesnt have gear box (this mean the gear ratio is 1:1), and another reason is i only have 1, i need to find another for left and right wheel. at the end i decided to use Pololu 30:1 Micro Metal Gearmotor.

B) battery

as for the battery, of course the size need to be small and light, as it need to be fitted in the small size robot. “small and light”, the first thing that comes to my mind is lithium polymer battery. li-po is very popular for gadget like handphone, mp3 player, camera, and laptop. its popular due to its high capacity to size ratio, in the other words, its smaller compare to other types of battery with same capacity. so, i found two cell of li-po from some old mp3 player with build in battery. beside from mp3 player, you can get it from sparkfun, single cell li-po. You can always contact cytron sales to place special order on the battery for you. For li-po battery, its advised to charge it using li-po charger. overcharging li-po will cause this battery to explode. be ware of that! We don want you to burn your house down…

li-po from mp3 player

li-po from sparkfun

C) controller

for this minibot, the controller i use is dspic30F4012 from microchip. its actually up to you, any microcontroller will do, but still it need to be small, and also make sure that you have enough I/O for your motor and also sensors. for my case, currently i dont have any sensor, only 2 dc motors, 2 switches, 2 leds, 1 buzzer and a zigbee module. so, i use only 11 I/O; 6 for motors (3 for each motor including pwm control), 2 for switches, 2 for leds, 1 for buzzer and 2 for zigbee (uart). for dspic30F4012, there are 19 I/O (not including mclr and osc pins). i used 11, so i still have 8 I/O, for maybe i can add in sensors.

D) Etc

besides those listed hardware for A, B and C, you will still need donut board, switches, leds, buzzer, and motor driver. motor driver that i choose is L293D that can drive 2 dc motor, with pwm input. for other hardware, i think its quite easy to find. just bare in mind that you are building a 1.5inch x 1.5inch x 2inch cube robot. all components must be very small and light.

building process

In the process of building minibot, you have to always remember that you are building a very small size robot, and you have to squeeze all the components into the predefined size of your robot.

cut the donut board into the size of the minibot.

to make the robot as small as possible, the motor will be place in the “half standing” position, with one a bit to the front and another one a bit to the rear. to “stick” the motor to the donut board, i simply solder some part of the motor gear box to the donut board. you have to be very careful about the alignment of the motor on the donut board.

the 2 wheel is not side by side. one is a bit to the front, and another, a bit to the rear. this is what you have to pay to reduce the size of the robot.

wheel i use for this robot is something like a rubber wassher that normally come together with servo motor.

the size of the rubber wassher fit perfectly to the Pololu 30:1 Micro Metal Gearmotor.

after mounting the motor to the board, i solder 2 small multilayer capacitor at the bottom of the donut board that will play the roll as the castor of the robot.

completed with the hardwares, now the circuitary. lets start with the motor driver. i use L298D as the motor driver for Pololu 30:1 Micro Metal Gearmotor. L293D support up to 800mA current, and i think that is more than enought for the tiny motor. i solder L298D directly to the donut board as there is no extra space for the ic socket.

continue with the battery connector.

on/off switch.

voltage regulator and capacitor.

i use plastic pcb stand to support the upper circuitary. the reason of using plastic type is to reduce the weight of the robot. (sorry for the blur image)

the lower circuitary consist of voltage regulator, motor driver, on/off switch, battery connector, and leds. for the upper circutary, it will consist of the microcontroller, switches, and zigbee.

for switches at upper circuitary, i use small limit switch that i desolder from a broken cdrom.

now complete with the zigbee module.

The Idea of Scorbot comes from the Hollywood famous movie ‘The Scorpion King’ starring by the retired star wrestler ‘The Rock’. The outlook of Scorbot is illustrated to a scorpion with 2 arm and a powerful and poisoning tail behind. Scorbot can perform some human like  fighting movements for example right hand front punch, side punch, defend posture and etc (Scorpion Kung Fu seven styles). The scorpion’s stinger which is illustrated by a gripper is one of the weapons for fighting. For mobility, Scorbot is driven by two dc brush motor at the base and this allows Scorbot to move quickly, stably and effectively.

Scorbot is a semi auto robot which the mobility and body movements can be controlled through PC and PS2 controller wirelessly. There are three kinds of wireless communication protocols or device can be used to control Scorbot. They are Bluetooth protocol by using Cytron bluetooth starter kit (SKKCA), XBEE protocol by using Cytron XBEE starter kit (SKXBEE) and PS2 wireless controller protocol using Cytron PS2 Controller starter kit (SKPS).

Now, let’s see what Scorbot can do better than The Rock’s scorpion king!

This is the initial posture of Scorpion kung fu to show respect to its opponent and ready to fight! The scorpion tail is taken up and the stinger (gripper) is open to attack in any time! OK! Now let’s see how it perform the kung fu and how it is being built!

Scorpion kung fu first style – Scorpion two claw front punch!

Scorpion kung fu second style – Scorpion right claw sudden front strike!

Scorpion kung fu third style – Scorpion left claw sudden front strike!

Scorpion kung fu forth style – Scorpion right claw sudden right bite!

Scorpion kung fu fifth style – Scorpion left claw sudden left bite!

Scorpion kung fu sixth style – Scorpion stinger attack!

Scorpion kung fu seventh style – Scorpion defend!

Cytron Bluetooth starter kit (SKKCA) allows Scorbot to be controlled wirelessly through PC by using graphical user interface (GUI).

Cytron XBEE starter kit (SKXBEE) allows Scorbot to be controlled wirelessly through PC by using graphical user interface (GUI).

Cytron PS2 controller starter kit (SKPS) allows Scorbot to be controlled through wired or wireless PS2 controller.

The scorpion mobile robot graphical user interface (GUI) shown above is created for my ease to control Scorbot through PC via Bluetooth or Xbee communication. From the GUI, I can control the mobility, predefined movements of the body and even the position of all the servos by using keyboard or pc mouse (click the button on GUI). But, before that, i have to connect the PC to the virtual com port created by the wireless device. The rate of the data transferred is 115200kb/s.

For Bluetooth communication, a bluesoleil software is being used to connect the Bluetooth dongle with SKKCA and a virtual com port will be created. At the COM port area of the Scorbot’s GUI, select the created virtual COM port and clicks connect. Now, connection between Bluetooth dongle and SKKCA is ready.

For XBEE communication, a already predefined address of SKXBEE (source and destination address) must be plug to the pc in order to communicate with the SKXBEE on Scorbot.  At the com port area of Scorbot’s GUI, search for the new created COM by the pc’s SKXBEE and clicks connect. Now, connection between two SKXBEE is ready.

Next, let’s go to the assembly process of Scorbot!

This is the nice looking yellow transparent Scorbot base with two dc brush motor and two casters mounted on it. The vertical PCB stands are placed to support the circuit board and body of Scorbot.

Figure above shows how the wheel is mounted on the dc brush motor using the coupling. The coupling is fit for any SPG model dc brush motor and the wheel from Cytron.

Next, locate the flexibot dc brush motor driver (FD04A) on the base and firm it together with the base. The rainbow cable is the signal cable from the driver to connect to PIC.

From the figure above, the left motor is connected to motor1 port at FD04A and right motor is connected to motor2 port. The yellow/green cable at the left side of FD04A is the power supplement cable to the driver. 12V is enough for the two dc brush motor to operate.

Top view of the hand made circuit board for Scorbot. It is quite simple with few connectors and a set of 6V regulator circuit.

Bottom view of the circuit board. Jumper is used to link all the components with SK40B 40 pins PIC start-up kit.

The LCD connector is placed with a LCD to display the selected mode and value received from sensors.

The SK40B which is the brain of Scorbot is placed at the predefined location. The SK40B is removable.

Switch 1 (SW1) and switch 2 (SW2) are programmable buttons but the RESET labeled button is a fix function button to reset the PIC.

The figure above shows the IDC connector to link the I/O pins of PIC with the signal control pins of FD04A.

Connect the signal control pin of SC16A with the main board through 2510 connector and rainbow cable.

The wireless starter kit can be directly plugged to the connector at the main board shown above but to allow me to change the wireless device easily, I extend the connection to the top of Scorbot using rainbow cable.

Figure shown is the 6V regulator circuit set to generate 6V for the needs of the 11 servo motors.

After the main board is perfectly functioning, it is mounted on the base.

Scorbot needs two 7V above battery to power it up. One battery is for the circuit and dc brush motor and another 1 is for servo motor. 11.1V Li-Po battery is being chosen as the power source for Scorbot because it is light in weight and rechargeable.

The base of Scorbot is complete!!

Now, let’s go to the upper body of Scorbot. Scorbot contains 11 servo motors on Its body offers 9 degree of freedom ( 9 axis ) motion. The shape of the body is the combination of the servo with two types of servo brackets which are servo holder and U-joint. The end of its tail is the servo based gripper.

This is the driver for all the servo motors (SC16A). It is located at the back of the scorpion body. As you can see, all the servos are connected to it and the signal control pins are connected to the SK40B at the main board through rainbow cable.

This is the tail of Scorpion! The tail provide 2 degree of freedom with two servo motor and one servo motor for the gripper.

Figure shows the two DOF joint of the scorpion tail using two servo motor and few servo bracket.

The fierce Scorpion stinger (gripper)!

The gripper is operated by a servo motor inside.

Now, come to the scorpion king arm! Each arm has 3 servo motor which provide 3 degree of freedom motion to the arm.

The combination of the first 2 servo motor is shown in figure above. They are likely to illustrate the shoulder of human.

This is the third servo motor of the arm which illustrate the elbow joint of human.

The servo allows the body of scorpion to rotate in one axis and it is like the waist of human.

The head of the scorpion is a servo motor which can turn right and left.

At last, to mount the upper body of the scorpion on the mobile base, another robot platform has been used as the supporting layer.

The upper part of Scorbot has been done, it is ready to combile with the base. A wireless device is mounted beside the scorpion tail and it link to the main board through cable.

Here come the new Scorpion king, The ScorBOT has boned!

What components actually used in ScorBot? Very simple, let’s look to the details!

CYTRON DC Gear Mobile Robot Base

This is the material I used as the base of ScorBOT and the supporting layer for the body of ScorBOT (servo and bracket). The base is ready with holes to mount the DC gear motor, caster and PCB stand.

CYTRON DC Gear Motor, Coupling and Wheels

Since Cytron’s product range also provides DC gear motor together with its coupling and wheels, this make me feel very convenient because by using the robot base, dc gear motor, coupling, wheels and caster, I can built up my ScorBOT base within few minutes! Hardware construction is always not an easy part for robot lover because it may need some expansive tools and machine to process. The DC gear motor I used is the SPG30-20K model with 185 R.P.M. The speed and torque of the motor is just enough for ScorBot.

CYTRON RC Servo Motor

11 servo motors are being mounted on every joint of ScorBOT body, and resulting in 9 degree of freedom motion. The capabilities of Cytron RC servo motor are fit for Scorbot to perform any body movement and posture.

CYTRON Servo Bracket

It is good to hear that Cytron now provide two types of servo bracket for their servo motor which are servo holder and U joint. With the combination of these two type of brackets, any creative shape and joint can be assembled just like Scorbot.

CYRON enhanced 40 pins PIC start-up kit (SK40B)

The main controller I used in this project is the PIC16F877A microcontroller. In order to avoid possible soldering error and save development time, I choose to use the CYTRON SK40B as the basic circuit for this project. SK40B is a very useful start up kit for the PIC users especially for beginners because it provides all the basic elements required to operate the PIC microcontroller. The start-up kit comes with a 20MHz crystal oscillator, 5V regulator to convert supply voltage (usually 7-12V) to 5V (required for PIC), reset button to reset the PIC, 1 programmable push button, on/off switch for main power, UIC00A (CYTRON ICSP programmer) programmer port, RS232 hardware for serial communication to PC, DC adaptor socket for adaptor power input and an alternative 2510 connector for battery power input.

CYTRON USB ICSP PIC Programmer (UIC00A)

ICSP stand for in circuit serial programming which mean the process of writing the machine code to the microcontroller can be done on the circuit board without plugging out the microcontroller. The input of UIC00A is connected to the USB port of PC and the output is connected to the ICSP port of microcontroller. The SK40B PIC start-up kit do provide the ICSP programming port. The PICkit2 free version software is used to transfer the .hex file (compiled machine code) from PC to the PIC through UIC00A.

CYTRON 16 channels servo controller (SC16A)

In the robotic market nowadays, there are many servo controller had been designed for the convenient of servo motor driving. Cytron has now come out with a reasonable yet reliable servo controller for hobbyist. The SC16A provides 16 channels of independently servo driven port so the driver is more than enough for Scorbot which has only 11 servo motors. Since the driver can be connected to a pc and interface with user through a user friendly GUI, I can monitor the value of all the servos and position Scorbot easily.

CYTRON Flexibot Driver (FD04A)

FD04A is designed to drive 4 DC brush motor. The advantages of the driver are it supports 4 DC brush motor in bidirectional control, every port has independent PWM function to control the speed of motor, the control pins can be directly connected to the I/O of PIC and the driver is protected by over current. Since Scorbot has only 2 dc brush motor for mobility, the FD04A driver used is more than enough to use in this project.

CYTRON KC Wirefree Bluetooth Module Starter Kit (SKKCA)

As mention earlier, there are 3 method to control Scorbot which are Bluetooth communication, XBEE communication and PS2 controller wireless communication. SKKCA is a extremely convenient kit for Bluetooth user because it is ready to interface with 5V operate PIC microcontroller without any additional circuit. UART protocol is used to interface between PIC and SKKCA. Besides, the SKKCA is also able to connect to PC through USB port as wireless transmitter or receiver. With the SKKCA on Scorbot, I can now control the robot through the Bluetooth dongle or another SKKCA connected to PC.

CYTRON XBEE Starter Kit (SKXBEE)

SKXBEE provides XBEE communication protocol which is different with Bluetooth protocol. For me, XBEE based application is much more simple to develop compare with Bluetooth based application even through Bluetooth is more popular nowadays. XBEE has wider reception range and low power consumption compare to Bluetooth but the maximum data transfer rate is slower. Similar to SKKCA, SKXBEE is ready to interface to any 5V UART communication and also connectable to PC.

CYTRON PS2 Controller Starter Kit (SKPS)

The SKPS supports both wired and wireless PS controller. For Scorbot, wireless PS controller has been used to reduce the messiness from using cable. The interface to the SKPS is also the 5V UART at PIC. All the button and joystick of the PS2 controller is programmable. SKPS provide a very convenient method to control the mobility of robot.

For more information about Scorbot(program, GUI and schematic), please download the following file.

Scorbot_info.zip

We hope you enjoy what we did! Please give your comments!