What about this?

[EFrog]

Hi, This might be the wrong place to put this but this site is jumbled up,

OK Im looking in to Prebuilt robot body's for my PC based Home robot (The name will not be Released) [Yet] I found The Withe Box Robotics PC-Bot Here (http://www.whiteboxrobotics.com/2006/PCBOTs/spec.html) Is this a GOOD Robot? How well does it work? Is it fast like at walking speed? What are the Things I should and on? and What type of tracking does it have? These are Questions that you cant ask the company, So Hopefully some one here has enough Knowledge to Answer all of my questions.

Thanks,

[EFrog]

I'm Sorry But Im in a Hurry I would like to Buy this Thing so I get this Show on the Road,

Sorry for my Impatience,

[PeterD]

Hi EFrog,

I don't have any first-hand experience with the White Box 914 so I can't really comment on weather this is a "good" robot or not.

I did, however, spend some time researching the information they presented on their website. Here are my impressions after that brief exposure.

The 914 has a really attractive industrial design. Very "R2D2", especially with the camera 'eye' on top. At just 21" tall (about knee high), however, I think it will be challenging for an adult to to interact with it.

Its unclear to me exactly how you do interact with this robot. One of the photos on the website appears to show a remote control, but I couldn't find a mention of one in the text. In a video I saw someone controlling it from a PDA, presumably over IRDA or WiFi. But, the 'bot itself ... does it boot & run automatically or is a keyboard & display needed to get it going initially?

1GB of RAM and 40GB harddisk, along with a mainboard that has only 1 PCI expansion slot seem like a bare-bones system that may not have much headroom for future expansion. For example, after loading WinXP Home & the Robotics Studio, how much room will remain on that disk for application development?

The wheels look good for hard, smooth surfaces like hardwood floors. However I wonder how well it would travel on carpet. There doesn't seem to be much clearance. Stepper motors are an interesting choice for driving the wheels. Perhaps they were selected because there is no other position feedback mechanism for navigation.

It seems that there is an array of IR sensors around the perimitter of the base to avoid obstacles. That seems fine, as far as it goes, but it may not go far enough. I can think of two examples where they would not be sufficient: stairs and benches. Its unclear from the website if this robot is capable of detecting and avoiding a step down. The IR sensors won't see anything and without some other sensor it could easily drive off a top stair like a cliff.

Similarly, seating benches would be a "low bridge" for this robot. The IR sensors could see the empty area below the bench but not the seat that could collide with the top of the 'bot.

Finally the batteries are lead-acid - which is quite old-fashioned compared to the NiMH and LiOn/LiPo battery technologies available today. I'm sure the batteries are a large fraction of the portly 55lb weight and yet also limit the runtime to under 3 hours.

The 914 does use the MS Robotics Studio which seems to be a powerful software development environment. You can read more about it in this thread (http://www.botmag.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362).

Conceptually, the 914 is similar to both the WiFi robot tank (which you can read about in this thread (http://www.botmag.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153)) and the magazine's PC-Based Robot series. The 2nd installment of that series is coming in the next issue and it explores some of the design considerations for this type of 'bot.

Hopefully, other members here may have actually seen the thing and can give their impressions

If you can give us more information about what you are planning (for example: are you going to build some applications on this platform? or are you going to use it out-of-the-box for telepresence applications in a home? or ...) then we can help you to evaluate how well it fits your needs.

I hope that helps,

-- Pete

[EFrog]

Thanks For that information that helped allot,

What Im planning for this Robot is a Telepresence and a home bot for when Im at work and a play with experiment with the bot, I problay be watching my Grandparents with this at there house so I might buy four of five a few for each house (mine and Theres) I'm thinking this robot will work great for that.

I was planning on applying my own Platform to it, I already have it running.

[JonHylands]

Four or five?

Are you aware they sell for $5000 each?

- Jon (wishing he had 25 grand to drop on robotics...)

[EFrog]

Yes I'm aware they sell for $5000, Not to brag though,

[PeterD]

Maybe it would be wise to buy one first and then spend some real time testing it - to ensure it does what you need & expect - before buying the whole lot.

[JonHylands]

Other Options:

http://www.robotadvice.com/bandai-nettansor_robot.html
http://www.wifibot.com
http://www.surveyor.com/SRV_info.html

- Jon

[EFrog]

Other Options:

http://www.robotadvice.com/bandai-nettansor_robot.html
http://www.wifibot.com
http://www.surveyor.com/SRV_info.html

- Jon

Thanks But not to break your Bubble But I have four SRV-1's and two Wi-FI BOTS I was looking for other types of Bots,

Sorry,

[EFrog]

Maybe it would be wise to buy one first and then spend some real time testing it - to ensure it does what you need & expect - before buying the whole lot.

Thanks I might Do that But this is on my company's Credit Card so Im free,

[TheDuck]

I'm confused about them not offering any pre-sales support; especially for that price. Well, maybe not since there is a history of this sort of thing with them. I used to follow them but became tired of waiting for more product and less promises. I noticed their forum had disappeared. You might want to qualify their current support offering in the hopes it isn't like it used to be.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070112052449/http://www.914pcbots.com/community/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=71&func=showcat&catid=17

[EFrog]

Thank you for that,

[EFrog]

More help the Better I know theres SOMEONE out there that has one that can tell me the Nitty Gritty about the things.

ARggh

[EFrog]

Well I Received My PC Bot and its running my own platform perfectly,

BUT!! the Battery is total CRAAP is there any Better Batteries out there that will fit??? :rolleyes:

[PeterD]

Hi EFrog,

You bought a PC 914 robot and the battery is bad, is that right?
Is it defective? Can it be replaced under some warranty? Or are you just unhappy with the performance (e.g. runtime)?

There are lots of batteries (technologies, sizes & capacities) available. Your key statement is "that will fit".

To replace the battery you will need to know the size of the space it must fit into, the type of connector (Tamiya, Deans, PowerPole, etc), the voltage rating, and the capacity (in mAh). When you have that information then you can make a select a replacement battery.

IIRC, the PC 914 has some type of built-in charger. Different battery technologies require different charging profiles. If you change technology (from lead acid to LiOn, for example) then the built in charger may not work.

[EFrog]

Yeah the Performance is low AFTER i loaded my platform on it the platform uses more power and sensor input, fan cooling etc.

I talked with the company about it and they said connect a battery of you choice inside the bot :Of my choice"? I want to know what type will get me most hours out of the Bot,

[EFrog]

Well Windows crashed and caused it run in to a wall, no damage its running now,


Thanks for the Help everyone!!

[JonHylands]

Check this out:

http://www.pcworld.com/video/id,403-page,1-bid,0/video.html

That is a neat little wifi internet controlled "spy" bot...

- Jon

[EFrog]

Wow thats nice Ill look into that,

[Paulwa]

Everyone should be so lucky, huh? :-) About the credit card thingy, I mean.
Paul