I noticed that the Roguebots club meetings are on the calendar. Is there a chance that robotics will become a topic here on SORC? I saw an interesting show last night where a guy converted electric wheelchairs and golf carts into some interesting vehicles. Although they weren't remote controlled, it did get me thinking of the possibilities. Do we have any Roguebot members registered on SORC?
I learned of the RogueBots club just this past Sunday from Tiger at the luncheon after the weekly fun-fly. Apparently they have been around for some years. We had a great discussion and I think we would agree that some of the things we do with RC, in particular quads, can be considered robotics. However the club has a lot to do with folks interested in electronics, hardware and software , in general. The Roguebots have their own website at http://roguebots.com/ but I think if we also have enough interested people here we could add a section for them, perhaps in a new category or under the existing electronics section.
After a quick look at their site, I see their focus is mainly CNC as opposed to RC. But remote control could still apply. I have a 3 wheeled mobility scooter that would make a great platform for a battle bot or some other remote controlled contraption. I'm not sure I'm up to or capable of such a project, but thought there might be someone interested.
I will have to look into this, I am highly interested in robotics and CNC has been a hobby of mine for the last few years.
I'm NOT into "robotics" per say but I am into microprocessor programming which is often related to the subject being discussed here .... Without getting too specific allot of the the idea's used in robotics are directly transferable to some of the projects I have in mind for my fleet of heli's. So I too would be interested My point !?! Just want to ADD my support for teh original poster (OP) Support for Smitty. As for getting a forum created on the subject, my VOTE: +1 ... ... and when my alter ego (Mr. GruffMan) rears his ugly head that's another +1 {LMAO} [glow=maroon,2,300]w00d[/glow]
So what do you guys think? Should we add a complete separate forum for robotics or add a section to the electronics forum?
Smitty's idea, I'll let him decide how he wants it structured ... I only chimed in for the support and teh vote 8)
My ulterior motive is that i have a well worn but fully functional 3 wheeled scooter for sale. I'm thinking that it would make an ideal platform for a robotic/RC project. I was trying to determine who or if any interest in robotics on this forum. So... I must abstain from the decision.
Just read through these postings and it sounds like several of you would be a great fit for the robot club. The one thing I couldn't figure out is why Smitty thought the focus was CNC after he looked at roguebots.com. I jumped over there to take a look again and didn't find much of anything CNC related except a chassis I did for a club project. That did in fact have parts done on both a CNC lathe and mill. But... I'm the only one in the club with CNC equipment so I don't see us as having much focus there. Let me offer another link that probably gives a better insight into where our interests are: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/RogueBots/?yguid=180070218 This is our discussion forum on Yahoo. From that I think you'll see that our interests are all over the place. I hope wOOd will notice that there are lots of comments related to programming and microcontrollers. If there is anything "most" of us have in common it's programming. That seems like the heart and soul of everything robotic. In the programming department you'll find guys in the group that are undisputed experts and others that are just starting out. There is a place for everyone. The "club" has little structure actually. It's just a bunch of guys that share similar interests in electronics, mechanics, hardware, software, radio control and everything else that finds it's way into robots. Most of the members do fly at Redwood every Sunday and several are on this forum. We don't have any particular agenda. We get together once a month to discuss what we're thinking about or working on. It's an opportunity to gather with like minded guys and discuss anything you want to discuss. The range of topics at a typical meeting could include most anything. One thing we really encourage is people bringing what they are working on for "show and tell". I personally like that part the best. I brought my little quadrotor a couple meetings back and did a flying demo. I also brought a OpenPilot board to show and did a demo of it's support software. It's just neat to see what guys are doing and have an opportunity to share, solve problems, and get new input. As for adding a robotics section on this forum, I rather hope we don't. This is a small group and I think we're better off not diluting our few robitics related postings between multiple sites. What I'd really like is see you guys with robotics interest join us over on Yahoo where we're already established. Likewise, I've been encouraging the guys over there to join us here with their R/C specific stuff. Anyway... The next robot club meeting is in a couple weeks (Nov 12th) . I hope you guys will join us at the meeting! ...Tiger
Thanks Tiger, I appreciate you weighing in on this. My foray onto the RogueBot site was very superficial and my use of the term CNC did miss the mark. Robotic programming is much more than Computer Numeric Control but that what came to my mind first. So... I have this scooter for sale... (LOL)
What kind of CNC stuff do you have? Commercial or converted?, I am familier with the Mach3, Geckos, Etc., Etc.
Smitty - I'll spread the word on your scooter. I doubt anyone really wants to do anything with the scooter itself, but the motors on it always seem to be in high demand. Those would sure be easy to sell on ebay! Tyson - All my machines are HAAS (www.haascnc.com). However, I am somewhat familiar with the Geckos, Mach3, etc. and have done some work with them. Mach3 is at the heart of most home cnc systems. If I was scratch building a machine, that's certainly what I would use. Are you aware that Gecko has a brushed motor version of their drive? Those are really nice and overcome most of the problems associated with steppers. Do you have a machine or are you going to build one? ...Tiger
Tiger, Haas, wow, you do real production work then? In 2006 I got a Tormach 1100 http://www.tormach.com/product_pcnc_1100.html and a BP Knee clone and a small manual lathe. Someday I hope to get into a Mazak machine, but that won't be anytime soon. Is your shop in Grants Pass? I would be interested in talking "Swarf" sometime.
I've seem the Tormach in magazines and on the web, but never in person. It sure looks good! Have you done much with it? I think it's such an advantage to have a machine with ballscrews and that was built from the ground up for CNC use. So many guys build on bad iron from China. There is nothing you can do to make it really right. I'll be interested to hear about your experience with the Tormach. Maybe you can come to lunch with the group after flying some Sunday and we can talk swarf.
