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Stair-climbing Robot Built From R/C Car Parts

Posted by timothy on Mon Aug 01, 2005 08:08 PM
from the but-no-speech-recognition-just-yet dept.
Robotics Toys Hardware
dpa writes "The ability to climb and descend stairs (5M mpg) is one of the unexpected behaviors of this new home-brew off-road autonomous robot platform. The robot has a custom chassis and uses standard suspension and drive components scavanged from old R/C monster trucks. Here is a link to the build log, and here is a link to a hi-res version of the video (20M mpg)."
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Stair-climbing Robot Built From R/C Car Parts 50 Comments More /

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  • Before the video gets slashdotted, here's a summary: A 6 wheeled, 3 axle remote control car goes down some stairs with VERY shallow height, it does around some bushes, and back up the stairs. It really is rather unspectactular. There's a variety of off-the-shelf remote control vehicles that can do the same thing... probably better.

    -S

    • The article states this is *not* R/C (Score:5, Informative)

      by reality-bytes (119275) on Monday August 01 2005, @08:25PM (#13218925) Homepage
      This is *not* a remote control vehicle.

      Although this robot is built from remote-control car parts, it is fully autonomous using a Motorola 'brain' and inertial navigation. It also includes ultrasonic object avoidance detectors.

      I think you'd be fairly hard-pushed to find an 'off the shelf' vehicle that could do that autonomously over reasonably rough terrian.
      • Fine. And I still say "big deal". It's very nice, but nothing new. My roomies in college 17 years ago were building autonomous vehicles with Motorolla CPUs Ohhh... it can go around a bush. And Ohhh... up shallow stairs.

        No doubt it's neat. And if I'd built it, I'd be showing it off to everyone I know. But it is not a new idea, nor a new execution of an older idea. It's just a rehash of stuff that's already out there and that others have already done.

        -S
      • This is standard fare at many engineering colleges. And inertial navigation is nothing special... less than $50 worth of hardware and an afternoon of programming can give you a cheap IMU (Inertial Maneuvering Unit).

        -everphilski-
        • he follows it through ~1000 ft of forest and it has ~5 ft position error off it's starting point.

          This thing isn't just going to the john and back. It doesn't just get you a beer, it goes fetch!

    • It really is rather unspectactular.

      Although if a Marine squad tied a Claymore mine to it and sent it up the stairs... I'd say it would it would be a bit more spectacular. Well... At least so for those at the receiving end.

  • Huh? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Locke2005 (849178)
    I fail to see why 3 axles are superiour to 2, especially since it is not articulated between the axles. Won't most obstacles just cause the wheels on one of the axles to lose contact with the ground anyway?
    • If you watch the video, the axels clearly have quite a lot of play, shifting around 6 inches or so on the stairs, so that all 6 wheels are pretty much continuously in contact with the ground.

      i.e. it *is* articulated between the axels.
    • They're all driven. They have independent supension.

  • But that's not the point... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mcrbids (148650) on Monday August 01 2005, @08:19PM (#13218905) Journal
    It's relatively easy to build a robot that can do NNN (eg: Climb stairs/vacuum floor/avoid pitfalls/get a beer) but the challenge is that biological organisms do so MANY of them, so well.

    Show me a robot that can climb stairs/vacuum floor/avoid pitfals/get a beer ALTOGETHER for a reasonable price, and I might get interested.

    But "reasonable price" doesn't mean "more expensive than the sports car I can't afford".

    PS: What kind of sadist posts a direct link to a 20 MB video on slashdot? Somebody must HATE the guy who made this!!!
  • The webserver hosting this information is able to handle the 20 meg file and also the webpage has some nice videos of some other shots of the rover. Man this is a pretty cool toy, I bet people play with these robots once they get them made. Anyway interesting story, will forward it to my robotically enthusiased friends :)
    • well, it is actually a lot of fun to play with. Did you see the video of the robot dodging through the woods? It will do that same thing with a crowd of moving people, and you can chase it around and try to block its way. It's quite persistent. It did not occur to me when I posted the video that people would assume it is an R/C car. Hmmmm. Perhaps the word "autonomous" is not a widely understood term, more of a buzzword among robot builders. Not sure how else to say it, though. You really have to wa
      • There are several posters here that are just not getting it and can't appreciate it.

        This project is extremely cool, and I'd like to hear more about the software logic/heuristics that drive it. That is, if that's info you'd be willing to share and have time to write up.

        The video of it navigating the forest is very interesting; it normally gives a wide berth to obstacles, but in that one case it darts between the two close trees.

        Good job!
  • ...but will it also protect us from the terrible secret of space?
  • That was a fun video to watch. I get the feeling they cut it short however when the robot decided to take a swan dive off the edge of the landing at the very last second... Ooops. So much for Mr. Brain.

    • Re:Cool video! (Score:2, Informative)

      by dpa (579262)
      thanks! Ah most observant Dunbal! You are correct. The posted video is spliced together from two different runs, one up and one down. It was about a 12 foot dropoff, and I was so busy looking at the video camera that I only grabbed it at the very last second before it plunged to its destruction. I think that little robot still needs his Daddy nearby for a while longer... It did a lot better offroad in the woods, like this video (10M) [smu.edu] and also this one (22M) [smu.edu].
      • Wow, the high-dynamic range lighting is really good! The trees look really real. On the other hand, the physics model on the hat could use some work. I think most people would spot that.
  • Stair grinding more likely. If these things ever become popular they'll turn our stairs into ramps.
  • ...but how does fare against the pusher robots [ungrounded.net]?

    k.
  • I think with just a little bit more software to detect when one wheel is slipping, it may be able to take care of itself going up without making that annoying grinding noise as its wheels turn against the stair edge.
  • ...welcome our stair climbing robot overlords.
  • This robot is seriously cool. The thing is autonomous in every way and the guidance does not depend on external GPS signals either, yet all the people around here can do it state how umimpressive it is, how it doesn't do enough, how it's inferior to biological organisms, blah, blah, blah. For crying out loud, show a little respect for some hard work on a cool project with a high geek factor.
    • Amen, I'd bet good money that most on here have never even programmed a microcontroller to get a servo moving, let alone created a robot equal to the one in the article. To those I simply say - Try it yourself and see how easy it is.

      This guy has been building robots since the early 1990s. What have these naysayers done that is sooo damn impressive?



  • ...if the Daleks acquire this technology.

  • If it's driving itself why does it have an antenna sticking up in the back?
      • Why yes, I did RTFA, and that paragraph didn't exist at that time. If you would RTFP that you referenced you would see that it is in response to Slashdot postings. I don't usually go back to reread an article I've already read just to see if it might have been changed.
    • Daleks were climbing stairs in "Rememberance of the Daleks" from the old series. In both the old and new series there's a long drawn-out scene where the characters just stop at the top of a flight of stairs thinking they've outsmarted the Daleks and instead of continuing to run they wait right at the top of the stairs until the Daleks starts climbing the stairs. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not frightened on some new level when I see that this killer death machine can actually climb stairs. I just start to
      • It's a robot. It does this all by itself not remote control.

        So you're not impressed.. so what? What have _you_ done in the field of robotics? Please share it with us all so we can laugh at your accomplishments.

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