Robotics

Last updated 10 April 2001

We have developed several prototype robot systems. Some of these are described here. We specialize in sensor integration, control systems, and path planning for autonomous and semi-autonomous systems. Contact us if you would like to have us help you with your intelligent instrumentation and robotic systems.

This page is always growing, please e-mail us if you have any suggestions and/or useful links.

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Our mascot Roboty on a test stand next to ROCI.

Roboty was featured on the cover of the Feb 1997 issue of Dr. Dobbs Journal

ROCI, a remotely controlled camera

How do the different kinds of batteries perform ?

Path Planning for Robots

RoboPilot, Palm Pilot software to control a Robot.

I stumbled across this interesting demonstration, by Noel Rode (noel@dgs.monash.edu.au), of how the MIT robot Genghis walks (zipped binaries for DEC, SUN, SGI, Linux and DOS, 393Kb).

I am building these machines from scratch using an Emco Unimat-3 mini-lathe/mill for the metal and plastic parts. If you are mechanically inclined you might want to take a look at the Personal CNC's home page

You should definitely also know about:

Small Parts Inc.
13980 N.W. 58th Court, P.O. Box 4650
Miami Lakes, FL 33014-0650
Voice: (800) 220-4242
Fax: (800) 423-9009

They are a great resource for mechanical parts, metal and plastic stock, etc.

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Robotics Literature

Here is a book that I have found to be VERY useful:

Song, S-M, and K.J. Waldron, 1989; Machines That Walk: The Adaptive Suspension Vehicle, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 314 pages, ISBN 0-262-19274-8

And if merely walking isn't challenging enough for you:

Raibert, M.H., 1986; Legged Robots That Balance, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 233 pages, ISBN 0-262-18117-7

And of course there is the modern classic (not much on walking robots, but generally useful),
Jones, J.L. and A.M. Flynn, 1993; Mobile Robots, Inspiration to Implementation, A K Peters, Wellesley Mass, 349 pages, ISBN 1-56881-011-3

I see lots of questions on the net about how to control devices from the PC parallel or serial port. Here is a free copy of an excellant book by Tim Hendtlass on Real Time Forth that has this info and more. (This is a zipped Postscript file, not HTML, 1012K).
You might also want to look at my recent Forth Dimensions article.