Planet Arduino

Museums allow people to explore topics in history, science, and much more through the use of exhibits that are often comprised of screens or some other interactive medium. Staff are given the role of visiting each one periodically and checking to see if they still work correctly as well as guide visitors around the area, thus taking them away from other tasks. To solve this problem, a pair from EDM Studio in Vancouver (Will Donaldson and Darran Edmundson) wanted to build an autonomous telepresence robotic platform, called “OMNi,” which could do both on its own. 

The system they came up with relies on a set of three omni wheels placed in a triangle formation around a circular base plate for creating precise movements. Positional feedback is gathered by measuring the motors’ RPM with a closed-loop PID controller/Arduino Nano combination and sending that information via I2C to a central Raspberry Pi 4. There is also a small LIDAR module on the robot that gathers point-cloud data and constructs a digital map for autonomous navigation and positioning. 

OMNi was designed with modularity and expandability in mind, which is why the top plate has an ample number of holes drilled into it for attaching certain accessories. One of these is a robotic gripper that utilizes servo motors to grab objects or touch a screen. 

To read more about how OMNi was constructed and used in a museum setting, you can read the Donaldson and Edmundson’s writeup here on Hackaday.io.

The post OMNi is a modular, omnidirectional robot for museum duties appeared first on Arduino Blog.

The Internet has been perhaps more important than ever to keep us connected these days. Available technology, however, apparently wasn’t good enough for brothers Hunter and Josh Irving, who built their own telepresence robot using parts on-hand during their own two-person hackathon.

The robot they came up with, dubbed TELEBOT, features a partially 3D-printed face along with a set of chattering teeth and eyes recycled from an antique doll. An Arduino Uno is used to take audio signals from remote “guests,” simulating their facial expressions with servos that drive its mouth and LED-lit eyes. 

The duo designed TELEBOT’s “body” out of an adjustable lamp for manual movement. And, as an added bonus, the device is capable of glowing in the dark and can be customized with a wizard, cowboy or top hat. 

While it might not be the most comforting robot you’ve ever seen, it looks like a fun build! 

After this pandemic thing is all said and done, historians will look back on this period from many different perspectives. The one we’re most interested in of course will concern the creativity that flourished in the petri dish of anxiety, stress, and boredom that have come as unwanted side dishes to stay-at-home orders.

[Hunter Irving] and his brother were really missing their friends, so they held a very exclusive hackathon and built a terrifying telepresence robot that looks like a mash-up of Wilson from Castaway and that swirly-cheeked tricycle-riding thing from the Saw movies. Oh, and to make things even worse, it’s made of glow-in-the-dark PLA.

Now when they video chat with friends, TELEBOT is there to make it feel as though that person is in the room with them. The Arduino Uno behind its servo-manipulated vintage doll eyes uses the friend’s voice input to control the wind-up teeth based on their volume levels. As you might imagine, their friends had some uncanny valley issues with TELEBOT, so they printed a set of tiny hats that actually do kind of make it all better. Check out the build/demo video after the break if you think you can handle it.

Not creepy enough for you? Try building your own eyes from the ground up.