Off-Kilter

OKQ1: Walking

rjlowerr — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:52:38 +0000

After spending most of my vacation enjoying myself I managed to get OKQ1 walking today.

This is by no means final or optimized. It was really just a quick hack to try walking for the first time. You can see the program halt twice… not sure what exactly caused that yet.

The ghetto controller you see in the video is made out of three axis joysticks, a atmega168 breakout board, an xbee and a small lipo all stuffed into a USPS mailing box.

Mech Warfare 2013 Scoring System Transponder

rjlowerr — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:36:05 +0000

New and hopefully last rev of the Mech Warfare transponder hot out of the oven.

Improvements over 2012 include…
- Reverse polarity input voltage protection
- 7-24v input
- Dip switch selectable ID
- Smaller current consumption

OKQ1: Assembled, Programmed And Moving

rjlowerr — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:32:42 +0000

I was able to spend some time over the weekend to travel to robotics Mecca (Trossen Robotics HQ). While visiting I made some significant progress on the assembly of OKQ1. I was even able to set all the MX-64T servo IDs and buadrates.

Here is a short video the TR crew took of OKQ1′s first power up and software run:

OKQ1: Assembly

rjlowerr — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:31:43 +0000

Parts for my quad, OKQ1, have started to show up in the mail and I have been busy assembling them.

One leg assembled and sitting next to the AX-12 prototype chassis for comparison:

All four legs assembled:

10x speed video of me assembling a single leg:

Shout Out Mention On Trossen Robotics “Shop Talk” #2

rjlowerr — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 22:12:04 +0000

I received a shout out mention from my friends at Trossen Robotics in their latest shop talk video. Thanks guys!

OKQ1: Tracking Multiple Targets

rjlowerr — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 01:42:16 +0000

Small update to my auto targeting solution. I am now able to track multiple targets!

OKQ1: First Pass CAD Mockup

rjlowerr — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 01:28:49 +0000

OKQ1: Target Tracking And Auto Targeting

rjlowerr — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 15:33:05 +0000

I have been working on ideas for simple target tracking or auto targeting systems to use in Mech Warfare that do not require an on board computer running vision software. I believe that I have found a suitable solution and this week I have made some significant progress prototyping it.

Below you can watch two videos of the prototype tracking/targeting system.

Unlike all my other Mech Warfare work I will not be releasing the details on this system until after the 2013 Robogames event.

OKQ1: Four Leg Action

rjlowerr — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 14:24:41 +0000

Continuing to make some great progress with the code over the week.
I now have all four legs working in tandem with the gait algorithm.

Next up is to start tackling a controller interface and a motion manager.

OKQ1: 4DOF MX Quad Mech

rjlowerr — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:09:20 +0000

After my hiatus from competing in 2012 I have started a new mech to dominate in 2013!

OKQ1 (Off-Kilter Quad One) will be an MX servo based quad with four degree of freedom legs.

Between the end of MW 2012 and now I have been experimenting and perfecting new IK calculations, gait algorithms and control ideas.

In this first video you can see me testing my 4DOF IK calculations with a single leg. The foot is being moved in a circular motion. You can see that the final leg joint is always kept perpendicular to the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He6WeLmsaYc

In this second video you can see my first test of the new gait algorithm working smoothly and accurately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-W1z0hRlE8

As always my work is open and freely available. Take a look at my github account.