Platforms
From HBRC WIki
There is an art to building Robotic Platforms. A robot gets a lot of abuse. It must withstand the rigors of buggy software and broken or misaligned sensors which often send it tumbling off the edge of a table or down a staircase, or at full tilt, head on, into a wall. It must be vibration proof and allow easy attachment of motors, computers, batteries, sensors, and other appendages.
Given this, there are various classes of robots, each with its own unique set of problems in addition to the common problems faced by all.
We have divided the platforms into four groups here: TableTop, Midsized,"Too big for the Kitchen", and Land & Sea.
Most of the club robots fit into the TableTop or Mid-sized categories, but often have comonalities(?) with more than one category so be sure to check them all out for ideas to be scaled up or down.
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Tabletop Robots
Table-top robots are robots that are small enough to fit onto a ping pong sized table even though many of them are designed to run on the floor in spite of their size. Often these small bots are the fastest robots and require high speed gearboxes and light weight batteries and controllers that can respond to sensor input at a very high rate of speed. Other times TableTop robots will be slow and have more complex control programs to teach robotics skills and allow easy testing of complex behaviors. Cats love to pounce on these!
Mid-size Robots
Mid-sized robots are generally a bit bigger and although they can be set on a table or workbench for construction/maintaince they are too big to be tested there and must live on the floor. These bots generally are small enough to move easily around a house, but are generally hefty enough to carry a sizable payload. They generally need stronger frames, use more power, run slower (but not always). Most are not big enough to hurt someone if they bump into them (unless they are high speed versions), but can scratch furniture if allowed to run wild (Never happens to me! <grin>) and will often cause the dog to get up and move if the robot heads toward him. :)
'To big for the Kitchen' Robots
'To big for the Kitchen' robots are generally just that. They are designed for industrial settings and are much more complex and expensive. They often require vision systems, and people protection circuits as they can hurt someone if they go astray.
Air and Sea Robots
Air and Sea robots are generally designed to fly or float. There are whole sets of unique problems for each of these.
