Radio modules give life to robots
14 January 2009
A supplier of radio devices is providing a creator of animatronics devices with modules.
Specially designed and built for the environment and education charity Waste Watch, the Cycler robot from UK-based Foundation-Robotics is being used to bring their waste prevention message of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to schools around the UK.
To use Cycler to run the recycling education programmes in schools, a ‘handler’ is required that controls the robot by sending commands using a concealed radio transmitter powered by easy-Radio from LPRS. Cycler has five microcontrollers for a brain and nervous system, an MP3 sound file player, amplifier and speakers to allow him to talk, and seven electric motors to make him move.
The handler can make Cycler drive around, move his arms, move his head, and has full control over the MP3 player allowing interactive dialog to take place.
As well as receiving commands, Cycler runs his own in-built personality program which makes him look around, move and flash his eyes, as well as move his head and arms. This personality program enables the handler to have both hands in view whilst Cycler continues to move, speak, and appear to be alive, which aids the presentation by keeping the attention of the audience.
It is estimated that Foundation-Robotics’ Cycler robots, which visit three schools per day, have been seen by 750,000 children. David Buckley, Managing Director of Foundation-Robotics comments: “My original designs were based on conventional wireless chip-sets and modules which promised ease of use. In practice I discovered I had to spend a lot of time adding many layers of error correction software to achieve any degree of reliable wireless connectivity. After I discovered easy-Radio’s 433MHZ transmitter and receiver modules, I found I didn’t get any errors at all. I even turned off the error correction I had previously had to use and easy-Radio just kept working. easy-Radio has been very easy to use, completely reliable and I would recommend it to anybody looking for a wireless control solution.”
Barry Gillibrand, Managing Director of LPRS comments: “The experience of Foundation-Robotics is typical of the response we get for easy-Radio. An out-of-the-box and stress-free solution to replacing cable connections with short-range wireless modules. Our software is simple and easy to use and ensures reliable, error free wireless communication.”
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