Wiki: KR 01

KR01 Robot#

Testing KR01 on the Bench (click to enlarge)

The KR01 Robot is a small robot inspired by David P. Anderson's SR04 robot. There's a series of articles describing the KR01 robot on the NZPRG blog, see The KR01 Robot Project.

The cost of this robot is likely too high to be considered as a prototype for the NZPRG (though it'd be possible to reduce costs, see below), so I'm also designing several other lower-cost robot prototypes.

Requirements#

KR01 Chassis - Rear View

The following requirements are modeled upon David Anderson's SR04 robot:

to be able to navigate and survive in a normal (cluttered) household environment, without getting stuck
to provide a robust and reliable platform for developing navigation and behavior software
be entertaining, aesthetically-pleasing, and inspiring for the local human population

Additionally, it is meant to explore Murray's Thesis, which requires the development of a multi-threaded Python robot controller that includes a PID Controller, ultrasonic , LiDAR, IR and bumper sensor behaviours. Can it somehow learn?

Specifications#

Mini TFT Display on the KR01

OSEPP Tank Kit chassis with either silicon tank treads or four silicon tires
four OSEPP 9.0 volt 185 RPM motors with 1:45 gear ratio

Minimal Option#

The KR04 has a lot of features, and therefore costs. The current expenditures, which includes sensors, components and hardware that may possibly not even get used (hey! it's an experiment), is probably nearing NZ$1000.

If you wanted to get started on a lower budget you could begin with the basic OSEPP Tank Kit, some kind of robot controller (an Arduino, Raspberry Pi, whatever), a motor controller (RobotShop has some dual motor controllers starting under US$5, with many on the market), and power the robot using a commonly-available USB battery. With a mechanical bumper made from lever switches it'd be possible to build this for under NZ$200.

Here's a start for around NZ$170: