As The Robot Turns

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Building a better Robot:

This is my web site documenting my (mis)-adventure (good and bad) in building from scratch (not a kit) a reasonably powerful robot (the Robot actually contains 6 different DC-to-DC-converters and is powered by dual hot swappable 18V batteries that each can run a circular saw). The Robot contains two separate processors, one a full featured (but low power) AMD board running a real-time version of Linux, the other a microprocessor used to perform pulse with timing for the sensor interfaces. The Robot contains two ultrasonic range sensors, one mounted on a 360 degree retractable Mast (for Navigation, finding walls), and a second is mounted on a shoulder, pan and tilt assembly in the front (Arm Targeting). That also includes a downward facing I/R range sensor as a drop-off detector. It contains a second IR range sensor mounted on the Arm Gripper for use when grasping objects. It’s designed so that it can be expanded in the future with Web-Cam like based optical vision. The Robot will have self learning capabilities (builds internal maps of the rooms as it explores) and semi autonomous navigation and speech capabilities (voice recognition and speech ability)