Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

As I mentioned before, we built a robot for a science olympiad
competition.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Robocross/

Even though the competition only lasts 3 minutes, my son used the
robot a lot for two weeks to practice.

What we discovered is that the tracked chassis just is not built to
last, the track stretched after two weeks and started slipping.

Anyway, the reason for my question is that I decided to buy a
surveillance robot for my warehouse, with a camera and a LED light
mounted on an arm, that I would remotely drive around my warehouse
from home to look at various corners.

I have no problem building a control system, however, I want to buy a
wheeled chassis that would not be a cheap Chinese imitation of a real
product, and that could be capable of lasting for several hundred
hours of driving. I can build one myself if necessary, but I wanted to
check with you guys to see what you think.

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

i

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

Ignoramus4444 fired this volley in
:

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?


Ig, I built one once for doing robotics lectures that had a similar
quality of construction as you wish. I used wheels/tires designed for
hand-pulled golf bag carts. They're small enough to be managable in that
sort of platform, yet large enough in diameter to easily handle small
obstacles (up to about an inch high).

I don't know of any commercial ones, because I'm not in that aspect of my
electronics hobby now for over 18 years.

Lloyd

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

On 4/18/2015 11:44 AM, Ignoramus4444 wrote:
As I mentioned before, we built a robot for a science olympiad
competition.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Robocross/

Even though the competition only lasts 3 minutes, my son used the
robot a lot for two weeks to practice.

What we discovered is that the tracked chassis just is not built to
last, the track stretched after two weeks and started slipping.

Anyway, the reason for my question is that I decided to buy a
surveillance robot for my warehouse, with a camera and a LED light
mounted on an arm, that I would remotely drive around my warehouse
from home to look at various corners.

I have no problem building a control system, however, I want to buy a
wheeled chassis that would not be a cheap Chinese imitation of a real
product, and that could be capable of lasting for several hundred
hours of driving. I can build one myself if necessary, but I wanted to
check with you guys to see what you think.

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

i

Your robot lacks a tensioning idler in the track system. Perhaps a
spring loaded wheel between the two wheels and pressing upward.

Paul

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

Convert an electric wheelchair - you can usually get them on craigslist for a few hundred bucks.

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

Ignoramus4444 wrote:
As I mentioned before, we built a robot for a science olympiad
competition.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Robocross/

Even though the competition only lasts 3 minutes, my son used the
robot a lot for two weeks to practice.

What we discovered is that the tracked chassis just is not built to
last, the track stretched after two weeks and started slipping.

Anyway, the reason for my question is that I decided to buy a
surveillance robot for my warehouse, with a camera and a LED light
mounted on an arm, that I would remotely drive around my warehouse
from home to look at various corners.

I have no problem building a control system, however, I want to buy a
wheeled chassis that would not be a cheap Chinese imitation of a real
product, and that could be capable of lasting for several hundred
hours of driving. I can build one myself if necessary, but I wanted to
check with you guys to see what you think.

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

i

Hit craigs list or similar and look for one of the 2/3 wheeled mobility
scooters. Drive system in place you would need a servo for speed/travel
direction. Another for steering. Load capacity would be more than you
would likely need.


--
Steve W.

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

On Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 2:44:58 PM UTC-4, Ignoramus4444 wrote:
As I mentioned before, we built a robot for a science olympiad
competition.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Robocross/

Even though the competition only lasts 3 minutes, my son used the
robot a lot for two weeks to practice.

What we discovered is that the tracked chassis just is not built to
last, the track stretched after two weeks and started slipping.

Anyway, the reason for my question is that I decided to buy a
surveillance robot for my warehouse, with a camera and a LED light
mounted on an arm, that I would remotely drive around my warehouse
from home to look at various corners.

I have no problem building a control system, however, I want to buy a
wheeled chassis that would not be a cheap Chinese imitation of a real
product, and that could be capable of lasting for several hundred
hours of driving. I can build one myself if necessary, but I wanted to
check with you guys to see what you think.

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

i

I'll second the wheelchair or mobility scooter. Those things are generally built very well and will have power (and bearings, etc) to spare.

OTOH, if you want the real deal, check out http://www.irobot.com/For-Defense-an...x#PublicSafety Yes, those are the same people who make the roomba vacuums, but this is a whole different world.

Jesse

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

On Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 2:44:58 PM UTC-4, Ignoramus4444 wrote:
As I mentioned before, we built a robot for a science olympiad
competition.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Robocross/

Even though the competition only lasts 3 minutes, my son used the
robot a lot for two weeks to practice.

What we discovered is that the tracked chassis just is not built to
last, the track stretched after two weeks and started slipping.

Anyway, the reason for my question is that I decided to buy a
surveillance robot for my warehouse, with a camera and a LED light
mounted on an arm, that I would remotely drive around my warehouse
from home to look at various corners.

I have no problem building a control system, however, I want to buy a
wheeled chassis that would not be a cheap Chinese imitation of a real
product, and that could be capable of lasting for several hundred
hours of driving. I can build one myself if necessary, but I wanted to
check with you guys to see what you think.

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

i

Why not a bunch of cameras and a motion-activated DVR? This stuff is pretty cheap on the surplus market.

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 2:44:58 PM UTC-4, Ignoramus4444
wrote:
As I mentioned before, we built a robot for a science olympiad
competition.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Robocross/

Even though the competition only lasts 3 minutes, my son used the
robot a lot for two weeks to practice.

What we discovered is that the tracked chassis just is not built to
last, the track stretched after two weeks and started slipping.

Anyway, the reason for my question is that I decided to buy a
surveillance robot for my warehouse, with a camera and a LED light
mounted on an arm, that I would remotely drive around my warehouse
from home to look at various corners.

I have no problem building a control system, however, I want to buy
a
wheeled chassis that would not be a cheap Chinese imitation of a
real
product, and that could be capable of lasting for several hundred
hours of driving. I can build one myself if necessary, but I wanted
to
check with you guys to see what you think.

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled
platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords
and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

i

I'll second the wheelchair or mobility scooter. Those things are
generally built very well and will have power (and bearings, etc) to
spare.

OTOH, if you want the real deal, check out
http://www.irobot.com/For-Defense-an...x#PublicSafety
Yes, those are the same people who make the roomba vacuums, but this
is a whole different world.

Jesse

How tough and durable can you afford?
http://rmp.segway.com/

-jsw

Robotic platform that lasts for many hours
 

"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...

I'll second the wheelchair or mobility scooter. Those things are
generally built very well and will have power (and bearings, etc) to
spare.

Jesse

I took a temp job fixing those, and encountered a few users who had
fallen through the cracks and couldn't get Medicare to pay to fix
them. Thus I didn't salvage any repairable scrapped parts to make a
robot, although they would be very good for that purpose.
https://www.aahomecare.org/press/med...mited-mobility