Bubbys retro fit design

Other Functions:

Safety and Ease of Use: The robot will be controlled by a child and will need to make the controls as simple as possible. Saftey is also a number one concern as any control method needs to be safe so the robot does not run out of control.

Wagon Pulling: Teresa would like the robot to be able to pull a wagon that her son could rid in. This means the robot needs to hold a wagon. The current hand design is made of a lighter thickness ABS plastic and is controlled by a standard hobby server. The hand likely could not hold onto a wagon handle without some assistance. A slight modification to the arm will need to be made.

Battery Monitor: I’d like to give the robot a way to monitor the batteries so it is easier to know when it needs a recharge.

Security System: I’d like to give the robot some sort of theft detection so the robot could sound an alarm if someone again tried to steal it.

Collision Avoidance: I’d like to give the robot some simple sensors it could use to help keep it from crashing into objects when under remote control.

People Monitor: I’d like to give the robot some sensors to monitor when there is motion or people near by so the robot could react in some way.

Automated Voice Responses: I’d like to give the robot a voice system so it could speak pre-programmed voice responses with out the need for a wireless voice “walkie-talkie” style system.

CD Player/Stereo: I think it would be neat to give the robot a sound system.

Fancy Lights: Every robot needs some fancy lights. Perhaps some ground FX lights under the feet/base.

Flash Light: It might be possible to give Bubby a flash light system to come on when it’s dark.


Goals:

Obviously the goal is to restore the functionality to the robot. There are many ways to go about this. One is to simply purchase the wireless controls and new batteries and voila, the task is done. However, since the robot was built in 1986 the technology used back then could use some updated. Plus all the controls have been removed and are in an "unknown” functional state. Directly replacing the multi-channel wireless RC system is a costly task and interfacing it to the custom CPU controller board to redirect the RC signals to control the 25 robot functions could be tricky to say the least.

I think a better approach is to find ways get those 25 functions back without a lot of cost while using the parts I can donate to the project, all while trying to reuse some of the control parts when possible.

Goal #1 is to get the robot drivable. This means getting at least one new battery and slowing down the motors and finding an acceptable control method to make the robot drivable by Tareece.

Goal #2 is to re-wire the robot functions into a new control patch panel to make interfacing controls and maintenance much easier.

Goal #3 is to repair any of the robot control motor and hardware system so they are in “interface” ready condition.

Goal #4 is to paint and restore the head and face with a skin tone to match Tareece's

Goal #5 is to restore or replace the hair if possible

Goal #6 is to restore or replace the gloves if possible

Bubby update 8-25-10

Function List from Original Safety Sam:

Two drive motor steering: Left, Right, Forward and Reverse all under controllable speed
Right Arm: Up and Down
Right Hand: Closes and Opens
Left Arm: Up and Down
Left Hand: Closes and Opens
Head: Turns Right and Left, Looks Up and Down
Mouth: Opens and Closes to speech
Eyes: Look Left and Right
Eye Lids: Close (both close), Open (both open), Blink (both open and closer), Wink Right Eye (Opens and Closes Right Eye Lid), Wink Left Eye (Opens and Closes Left Eye Lid)

Total Functions: 25

Controls: Wireless via a Robbe Futaba f-14 radio
Voice: Wireless voice transmission via a wireless radio to a sound system in the robot linked to the mouth controls so when there was sound the mouth moved up and down.

Bubby is missing the robbe Futaba f-14 radio and voice transmitter. The good news there is a good radio reciever in Bubby but the bad news is it's not a standard design anymore and it has a multiplexer on it. Replaceing the remote would cost about $785 from Robotronics.

The good news is I talked with Paul George at Robotronics and explained some of the control wires. Every DC motor has a H-bridge PWM control board and an optional POT feedback and the control wires to each unit are black and yellow. With black being the ground and yellow being the PWM signal. It's a nice design and should be reusable.

Bubby the Robot

Restoration Project
Robot Model: Safety Sam (with rubber face)
Robot Manufacture: Robotronics (www.robotronics.com)

News Story: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/bubby-the-robot-stolen-from-a-yard-in-kettering-is-returned-167564.html

After reading the new story I wrote Teresa a letter to see if she could use some help in repairing her robot which she bought for her son Tareece. Because I work in Dayton, OH which is only a few minutes away from Kettering, OH where Teresa lives, I figured it would be much easier to help her with her robot since she is local.

I meet her and her son earlier this month and saw their robot named "bubby". The robot was missing the original Robbe Futaba f-14 remote control and voice transmitter. The electronic controls had ben gutted, but the robot looked in vry good shape for a 1986 model. I'm hoping to be able to use some of the R/C parts from my Probotics America Star robot restortation to help bring this robot to live. I'm hoping some of the original control electronics are usable as well.

Reese 2.0?

I'm still not sure what to name this robot. I'm was thinking Sunny, but now I'm thinking about naming him Reese. Reese was the name of my prototype robot co-developed with help from Doug Dooley from Pixar. Reese was designed to interact with child who have autism. But since the I never got anyone from the autism community interested in the AI software or robot, I decided to dissect Reese for parts.

This robot had a pan/til server controlled head. The head is constructed from two inexpensive flash light shells. A USB web camera sits in one flash light for an eye. The flash light shell holds a compound eye with a PING sonar module and a CdS photo cell.

The body is made up of "Dollar Tree" parts including plastic storage cubes and child sized robot toy costume parts including a chest peice on the front and two arm covers attached to the sides.

On the right side the robot has a Budget Robotics designed servo gripper, which was taken from the original Reese robot. The left side has a servo to tilt up and down a set of laser pointers that will be used for vision assistance and game play.

The base is constructed from black styrofoam board and two continuous rotation servos from Parallax, Inc. The servers are mounted with server mounts from Budget Robotics and the wheels came from Budget Robots. The "X" wheels look a little nicer and are bigger than standard plastic servo wheels. There are also two caster wheels in the back for balance.

The back of the robot is designed to accept a mountable controller module to make it easier for me to make modifications to the robot.

New Robot

I'm working on a new robot. I'm thinking of naming it Sonny after the NS-5 from the movie I,Robot. Pictures of the new robot coming soon.

Descartes Codifies Scientific Method

I found this interesting and wanted to share:

....In the Discourse, Descartes described four rules he established to make sure he always came to true conclusions.

Doubt everything. “The first was never to accept anything as true if I did not know clearly that it was so … and to include nothing in my judgments apart from whatever appeared so clearly and distinctly to my mind that I had no opportunity to cast doubt on it.”

Break every problem down into smaller parts.

Solve the simplest problems first, and build from there.

Be thorough. “The final rule was: In all cases, to make such comprehensive enumerations and such general reviews that I was certain not to omit anything.”

By following these simple guidelines, he said, “There cannot be anything so remote that it cannot eventually be reached nor anything so hidden that it cannot be uncovered.”

The first precept of doubting everything, including the evidence of his senses and the thoughts in his head, led Descartes to the one fundamental truth on which he could base everything else: He existed. The senses sometimes lie, Descartes reasoned, and thoughts that occur in dreams feel just as real as thoughts that come while awake. But the fact that Descartes wondered about the truth of his thoughts and sensations meant that something must be doing the wondering.
“While I thus wished to think that everything was false, it was necessarily the case that I, who was thinking this, was something,” he wrote. “From the very fact that I was thinking of doubting the truth of other things, it followed very evidently and very certainly that I existed.” He expressed this thought concisely and memorably as cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am.Read More http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/06/0608descartes-publishes-scientific-method/#ixzz0qTN1Hz7H

Cool Quote

I came accross this quote today at work and wanted to share it.

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing — that's why we recommend it daily."— Zig Ziglar: Author and motivational speaker

I think you'll agree that is a profound statement on many levels! :-) I like this quote because I often lack the motivation I need to continue to work on my robot project. Perhaps I could build robots while bathing? Huumzzzah......