Langhorne - differential drive robotic base

thingiverse

Apologies for the poor dae file preview, the second image in the gallery. The file isn't playing nice with the Thingiverse Universe. I've sent a message to their support group and will adjust as necessary. This is a low cost, medium duty, differential drive robotic base that incorporates a Kinect camera, Power Wheels gearboxes that have been modified to include quadrature encoders, 12.5" wheels and tires from an electric scooter, a Pololou h-bridge motor controller, a Robogaia encoder counter, a Mean Well DC-DC power source for the Kinect, a Pololu IMU (inertial measurement unit to assist in localization), an arduino mega and a Dell Inspiron laptop running ROS (the open source robot operating system). The total cost (minus the laptop) was less than $700.00 US. It's been in the works for about six months now and is running ROS (the open source robot operating system). This has become is a quite complicated project. It was initially envisioned as a robotic base capable of carrying a load of 50 to 100 pounds indoors. While the ROS robotic operating system is the operating system of choice, it should fit within Microsoft's Robot Developer Studio requirements as well. Near term plans are to further integrate the ROS operating system with the physical unit to allow for autonomous operation. Future plans include adding robotic arm(s). Instructions Currently there are instruction steps only for modifying the power wheels gearbox drives to include quadrature encoders at http://thefabfor.com/quadrature-encoder-for-power-wheels-gearbox/. A detailed parts list (minus the miscellaneous nuts and bolts) is available at http://thefabfor.com/langhorne/. As time allows, instructions for the stabilization mount for the Kinect sensor, general assembly of the drivetrain, assembly of the laptop mount and on-going integration with the ROS operating system integration is planned. Advancements will be posted at http://thefabfor.com/langhorne/ Please feel free to comment with specifics, it will help prioritize which to do next.