Overview / Usage

Rolling RDK

Using the RDK as a base, a security bot will be constructed to patrol autonomously through ground floor rooms and map high definition obstacle data using the R200 RealSense camera device. It will use triangulation to work out its world position in real-time and be able to move at high speed through its environment, using a path-finding system to travel instantly to any part of the area it has previously scanned.

The robot will have the ability to return to base, charge itself, and continue its patrol when fully charged. A security patrol can be programmed into the robots routine, or left to create its own routes. The primary goal of the robots security system is to take HD photos of suspicious activity and upload instantly via WiFi to the cloud, then alert the owner of the property via a convenient app. Whether it's monitoring your pets, or catching a burglar read-handed, your security bot will patrol night and day to make sure you always have an extra pair of eyes around your home or business.

The concept of robot security is not new, but it is expensive. The current pricing for autonomous security starts at $10,000 and goes up quickly in line with replacing manned patrols. Thanks to innovative new technologies like RealSense and powerful processors for robotics, the benefits can be available to everyone at a much lower price.

Future innovations include a VR mode which allows you to take control of the robot, see through it's eyes and adapt its behavior on the fly. With an new carbon fiber copter design, there's no reason it couldn't fly too.

Video Log History:

1. Autonomous Charging Curcuit: https://youtu.be/ZSyb8JCg\_hU
2. Smaller Charging Circuit: https://youtu.be/ixqO4JlQo9w

And Now It Is A Spider

Using the experience gained above, the robot project morphed into first a drone, but the payload was a huge deal breaker at the time, and so a long-legged spider was chosen as a compromise to still allow a high field of view but allow a larger payload for carrying around batteries, limbs and other burdens. I have included a photo of the first early build of the spider, complete with five legs in 2DOF.

Not happy about the mounting of the motors, and are definitely weak points in the design, but will proceed to add control and see if the legs snap off. Sometimes you really cannot beat trial and error!

Methodology / Approach

As a long-term development in robotics, approaches will change as technology changes. The general framework is to create the robot hardware first, to ensure it can even be built, and then use a choice of controllers to program the devices within the robot to perform the tasks desired. Realsense was the technology at the time, but Arduino is also a popular technology to bring robots to life.

Other links

• Robot Being Silly