About this site

      This site documents my attempt to build a robotic assistant designed to help individuals do household chores that may be outside of there their physical abilities. While I initially started this project around the idea of helping folks with physical limitations the more I work on this the more I can see this being something everyone could use.

      On this site I want to share what I am doing with the rest of the world. I have learned a lot from other peoples sites and gained a lot of inspiration from them. Hopefully this site in some small way provide similar information and inspiration.

      This site is also here because I find input from others extremely helpful. I am more of a generalist than a specialist and often find myself befuddled by more technical issues. Fortunately there is a world of experts out there that are willing to help me by providing their incite and advice. Having this project documented on the web allow these people to see what I am talking about when I call or email them.

       As you can see this site is add supported. For those of you that do not use a pop up blocker I apologize. I would like to move this site to one with out excessive adds but that takes funds away from those that I have to spend on this robot. This little project could is becoming pretty expensive and I do not want to tie up to many funds into a web site than I have to at this time.

Operational Goals,

       The idea of this robot is to use existing technology and ideas to make a robot that can be a practical assistant to people in general and more specifically to people that have one or more physical limitation. To do this I feel that bot should be able to do a minimum number of tasks with relative ease. I have these tasks listed on my goals page. Feel free to jump over there and see if I missed anything.

Controls

       I am planning to allow for this bot to be controlled several ways. Direct control will be done by either using voice commands for simple tasks or by direct control through a tethered control box. Remote control will also be available via a wi fi network that will allow for control over both a LAN and the internet. I also want bot to be able to do most repetitive tasks (like gathering laundry) autonomously.

Underlying Operating System

      I am still undecided about which would be the best operating system for this project.  Linux fans tell me that it is more stable than Windows and more secure. On the other hand there is a huge mass of ready made software for Windows and most of the people that are going to be using Bot are not geeks. They are used to Windows and can handle at least minor problems. I suspect that before I am done I will have tried both several different options. Your impute and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Batteries,

      While the batteries and their wiring are not complicated they are a critical part of this robot. To be useful bot will have to be able to run the better part of the day without having to be recharged. A description of the batteries, their layout and associated wiring go to my battery layout page.

The brain,

      The options are literally endless here. For this project it will come down partly to what is available at the time. Almost any newer pc has most of what bot will need already there. The details of the brains are located on the botbrain page.

Drive train

      In order to be able to work efficiently in multiple environments Bot will have two independent drive systems. Drive wheels mounted midway on each side with corner casters will provide movement on hard flat surfaces. On sloped surfaces and to climb stairs tracks will be folded out and down. See the drive train page for more information.

Vision

      Right now I have two web cams web cams that I am mounting on a stalk. The plan is to have each controlled and aimed independently to allow visibility 360 degrees. I am also toying with the idea of mounting additional cameras on the arms to provide a views from different angles which would make doing tasks easier from a remote desk top. I would love to hear from anyone who has had any experience setting up remote web cams or has used multiple cameras at the same time.

Arms and grippers

      Talk about options, There are thousands and thousands of options when it comes to the arms and gripper that bot will be using. The picture above shows the basic idea of what I want to end up with. I hope to putting up a page dedicated to this in the future. In the mean time I am open to any thoughts you might have.

If you have any ideas or thoughts or complaints or whatever please contact me at kipsbot@lycos.com