[MagnusWootton]

So this robot is EM.  (dc motors)    And Im going to build it by putting down a couple of camping matresses and glueing them together for a bigger surface, then mark some precision dots with a black texta , then put in shish-kebab sticks and then form a polygon with super glued chux wipes in a big chain and then glueing to the matress for a polygon extrusion.   Im then going to put in the dc motors on little stands and put a plastic cavity box for the computer then the whole thing gets plaster poured and it should attach it all together.

I'm going to be using a GTX2070 desktop for the computer,  I'm going to get it out of the metal case and just have the motherboard in the plastic cavity for least weight takeup possible.

I've got an original motor driver circuit, I'm testing out and prototyping right now, but something wierd happened, and my voltage divider doesnt seem to be working properly, and that doesnt make sense!!!     Theres no way you can stuff a voltage divider up because they are so simple,   I'm getting current down the resistor alley and the short and it doesn't make sense,  only the short should be getting power!!!   I'll check it out again later.

So apart from that extreme wierd stuff up,     The build is going to cost me very little for the plaster,   I'll hopefully get it for less than $10 a kilo,  and maybe its possibly less than 10 kilos?     The dc motors Ive got a good deal for $5, and they have gears! so it'll be really strong. (These look really good, amazing bargain!!)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002647161186.html?_randl_currency=AUD&_randl_shipto=AU&src=google&src=google&albch=rmkt&acnt=576-373-4425&albcp=16259416291&albag=&slnk=&trgt=&plac=&crea=&netw=x&device=c&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_rmkt&gclid=CjwKCAjwt7SWBhAnEiwAx8ZLauuati0Ifa4_3TJEl_Rx85ZK-_ddyhH0xgFGAhmVspgo6mrzezjy4BoC910QAvD_BwE&aff_fcid=3ba324d49ae147d5a6f12a3138c5fd33-1657640758244-05415-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=3ba324d49ae147d5a6f12a3138c5fd33-1657640758244-05415-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=fb0511f736444abfbda844636b6ea049&afSmartRedirect=y

And then you need couplers and ill be using allen keys to couple a perpendicular arm to them for the plaster to grip onto.  That and the angle position sensors, I'll be trying to make some home made hall sensors which are going to pick up the angle of the shaft against the magnets inside the actual motor, So I dont need to buy another magnet for it.


After the body is done,  just have to put the software on the gpu,  GPUs are the best for the computer vision,  so the computer vision is going to be really top notch,  I'm going to try and fit a physics engine on a single call to the gpu for maximum motor search tests,   I have a shader compiled and it just fit. (Just an early version,  But it hasnt got the extra realistic fixes yet,  which is going to be hard to fit ontop of whats there.)     First thing I'll do when I get the robot body done is get it to stand up,  the gears will help it.

The use case of the robot is going to be fully autonomous excavator, carry follower, search and gather, and guard and takedown and disarm.
Thats going to be fairly simple programming, but extremely useful and never before seen If I get it done.
Robots arent developed much,  So most ppl dont even know how useful they would be,  But I'm getting an idea about it now.

I'll be back with more If I get further in the build.

[MikeB]

There's some amazing robot kits on ebay for $10-50+, to save you from doing both building and coding.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=robot+kit+arduino
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=robot+kit+raspberry+pi

Some have path tracking & avoidance. There's 46cm robot arms as well for $30...

You never know how complicated something is until you do it...

[MagnusWootton]

If youve got the know-how then maybe u dont even need $30.

But those little robo kits are very small timing compared to the body I've got planned,  its going to carry a full desktop+video card for A.I  (45cm x 45cm centre thorax body), and really high torque 25rpm dc motors + rubber chalk sticking it together.    Thats more like it, for ruggedness and computing performance.

I want to make something decent,  not just a little kids toy now.

[MagnusWootton]

Just goop pouring the robot, is a good way to connect all the motors and computer without having to drill and bolt and attach things together otherwise.

Its just 1 quick pour and its over.

I wonder if I put a whole lot of steel nails in it, after I pour, and will that make it stronger?
Besides its actually got allen keys coupled to the dc motors,  that would help reinforce the rubber cement pretty well good.

[WriterOfMinds]

Just goop pouring the robot, is a good way to connect all the motors and computer without having to drill and bolt and attach things together otherwise.

But you aren't going to be able to disassemble it (to replace failed parts or modify any of the connections) without breaking the plaster and starting over. Are you sure?

[MagnusWootton]

U can repair rock and rubber,  I spose if u lose a motor wire its definitely bad tho,  repairing the robot would be good practice for being a vet, because animals bodies are horribly hard to repair and all internalized as well.   I bet its definitely easier tho,  when we have horrible damage done to us may as well give up its hopeless.

The computer motor drivers + arduino are in an openable plastic container in the central body,  so thats all easy to replace,  its only the motors that are imbedded in.

[MagnusWootton]

Look at this,  20 kg robot for $10!!  pretty good.

https://wafarmshop.com.au/products/gypsum-pit-20kg-bag

<edit>  just picked up 20kilos then,  but i only got it for $1.50 a kilo,  at that wa farm shop its only 50c,  but the problem is it costs $100 to put it at your door!  so couldnt do it.  but thats pretty cheap!

so I need about 2 kilos of corn flour to go with it, and about 1/4 of a litre of glycerol (thats the evil petroleum component.) - but maybe its less it could be 50 millilitres only!, mixed in nice fine powder, water can be any amount, as it always leaves the same amount in the plaster at the end once its left,  I think thats the ingredients proportions but im not sure what it is exactly -  then that should make some good rubbery chalk!   super plastic.

</edit>

[MagnusWootton]

My chalk order just got cancelled!!!! 

So I need to source it from somewhere,   but I just worked out a bit more about this cement!

So if I get some epsom salt, and I use steel scourers for electrodes. (and separate them in the container in magnets, either side.)
Then I can convert the oxygen into sulphur dioxide which is the native atmosphere for calcium sulphate, and it goes further into solution in this environment.  This will bring it closer to marbleization and its going to be alot tougher and slightly more see-through.

I initially was thinking that it was generating the sulphur dioxide and I was going to get it plus the air,  but silly me I forgot that the gas is produced from being in contact with the air,  so it actually just swaps the air for the gas!!!!

So that means its perfectly safe,  if u want a higher pressure, you can actually prepump the air into it, and if there is going to be an explosion its only air, its not the gas,  you convert the air to the gas after youve checked the stability of the reactor, and I didnt think of that,  and it actually makes it all alot safer so its good to go with it - and go for the stronger cement!

Also, Ive improved my recipe/method, and Im going to pregelatinize the starch! thats got to be alot better than just adding the flour as powder,  so thats the other thing Im going to change,  and with those two things it could be alot better!  and its just ordinary cheap stuff to buy to make it.

If I get a stick of it done, Ill do a break test in front of the camera, and hopefully I wont be able to break it by far this time!  (plus its flexable!!  so ill do heaps of drop tests too and it should survive it all.)

I should be able to make a good dinner set out of it,  the extra strength im going to get should make it slightly more water resistant as well,   so see what happens.

[MagnusWootton]

er no sorry, I might be wrong about that.   the oxygen that the sulphur needs to make the gas may be the water itself.  better be careful how many moles of salt u put in!

actually stuff knows whats going on,  i found the method completely by fluking ive got no idea what its actually doing...

[8pla.net]

Talk more, about goop pour.  Can goop pour, take the basic shape of what it is poured onto?

[MagnusWootton]

Goup can be anything that starts off a liquid and turns into a solid after its set. =)
Like varnish, glue or plaster.
 
After youve poured it, you can put metal nails and hard stones and tough cloth inside to reinforce it, make it stronger.

A robot just needs to be able to connect the motors together,  and people usually use plastic or metal brackets, but this idea is just about sorta glueing them together in a little open top extrusion mould,  cause it might be easier!

Its a little like an animal in the way that the motor wires are all encapsulated internally via the goop material, with animals all the nerves and organs are all internal under the skin,  so if u wanted to do a repair maybe it would be good practice for being a vet.   

Im just coding the ai for it right now,   I need another couple of days, should get it done, Ive left off not doing it for ages,   its bad that I did leave it so long,  but I got a little out of it,  the system is much simplified by me being lazy just thinking about not tapping anything.   But 3 days itll be done,  its about 300 lines of code and itll be really snazzy.   Ill hopefully be able to post something soon.   fingers crossed.

[MagnusWootton]

So sorry Ive been late with an update,  but my head is going crazy cause Im smoking,  Ive just knocked my cig intake down to less than 3 a day,  and I cant get used to it,  and my work is suffering.  But the robo system is in,  and ive just got some graphics up for it.



So heres the offroad terrain they will be tested on.  (the motor generation + the computer vision will be seeing it and triangulating it.)
Its not very hard to code this,  but Im not going very quickly at all.

So I need to just get it so I like it,  get the robots on it,  and then activate all the code,  its just sitting there hasnt been run yet,  but its in there complete, and ive done it heaps of times before so its going to work.   just need possibly another 4 or so days maybe...  going slower than my expected projection thats for sure...

[MagnusWootton]

Ok the map is in now fairly properly,   im going to work a bit harder today, hopefully ill have the bots on by tonight, the code is all in there i just to get it all properly running.  be back soon.  sorry for delays.

[infurl]

heres another one,   im going to work a bit harder today, hopefully ill have the bots on by tonight, the code is all in there i just to get it all properly running.  be back soon.  sorry for delays.

There's no need to apologize if you're having fun doing what you're doing and you're not harming anyone. Good on you for cutting back on smoking by the way.

[MagnusWootton]

Just one more,   Ive instanciated alot of cubes,  the shadows are a bit buggy, but its pretty good, usually shadows dont appear in older games because they are such a bitch to get going.



Im actually utilizing some hybrid raytracing here, its the new thing since video cards have become popular.  shadows are such a problem, that getting out the raytracer for them is not completely out of the question,  especially if you want geometrically correct ones.

So Ill withhold the posts for a little bit,  until ive got the bots in position ready to go.