5 open source robots

Questions why robots are needed and how they work can be safely categorized as rhetorical. Because, as everyone seems, the answers are obvious. But is it really? Well, yes, of course, the person on duty “make life easier for a person” seems to be asking for the language. But if you dig deeper, then there will be no continuation. After all, the capabilities of robots, and the real potential of robotics itself, can be assessed only when you yourself try to figure out how everything works and how it could be arranged.

It is in this plane that the latest popular projects for creating the simplest robots with open software and hardware platforms are being developed. And five of them are in our compilation.

Ringo - a palm-sized robot
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Let's start with the simplest. Ringo is a desktop (floor-standing) mobile robot, whose development project has already collected more than $ 70,000 on Kickstarter instead of the stated $ 12,000. Why only development? Yes, because the hardware has already been assembled, and you can already order it for $ 129, becoming a project baker at Kickstarter.com .



This “home bug” is created on the Arduino Uno base microprocessor board, equipped with a three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, a set of sensors, including light and remote sensors, a remote control receiver unit, a recharging module - a full list of “onboard iron” can be viewed on the website.

The robot comes with ten preset behavioral programs. Well, then you yourself endow it with your individual features, good, the Arduino platform is open, and even the children write the first C commands.

GroBotz - modular robot do it yourself

Another team of developers adheres to the exact opposite concept - their GroBotz robot comes in the form of separate functional blocks:



With the help of these modules you can assemble very utilitarian robots, original toys and vehicles, musical instruments and much more . A basic set of ten functional modules - a processor, sensors, sensors, a power supply, and so on, plus 10 blocks to create a design you can order on Kickstarter for $ 150.

Having downloaded the application, you can not only control your robot, but also complete the architecture - read all the information here .

LIME - robotic brush

Understand the basics of robotics, as they say, on the fingers - it was for this purpose that the LIME project, presented at Kickstarter and still in the funding stage, was thought to be:



For $ 150 you can get a developer kit, including:

• robotic arm
• microcontroller based on Arduino Uno,
• 3 servomotors,
• connecting cables
• Power Supply,
• Lyoth software,
• training course.

Of course, if we talk about the potential of the platform, then, in general, it is small. But if you understand the mechanics of creating hardware and synergy with software, then further designing parts of the android, obviously, will not cause problems. In any case, the creators of the project think so.

RoboCORE - the heart of your personal robot

If you have already begun to be mastered in robotics and have fully studied all the possibilities of Lego Mindstorms, then you can proceed to a higher level of designing your own android - use the innovative development of RoboCORE .



Combining all the hardware and an open software platform, the heart of your robot completely takes over the communication and functioning of the mechanical parts of the given algorithms. The only thing you need from you is to design and create the necessary mechanical parts for solving the tasks.

A robot manipulator, a mobile camera or a mobile communicator - you define the concept, and you can even build from Lego cubes. By the way, how to do it, see here .

At Kickstarter, funding has already ended, and you can order a module here for $ 119.

And finally - the most difficult, but approaching you to create a robot from scratch project.



The PLEN2 kit includes a home-made microcircuit compatible with Arduino, 18 servomotors, a blutooth module, six-axis sensors (gyroscope + accelerometer), and a pair of LED bulbs for the robot's eyes. And where is the robot itself? But it is proposed to print it on a 3D printer, the developer provides all the data for this.

In general, it should be interesting, but participation in the project as a developer with the appropriate kit will cost you $ 1100. Decide expensive or not, decide for yourself, but someone will probably develop the project.

Just like all other areas of modern robotics - after all, the modern, and even more so, the future of our world without mechanical and electronic assistants is impossible to imagine. So we will dare.