Answers
 

I will have to get a good video of this thing in action with closeups. Can I load one here at CD?

I never had it set up with RC control...only a toggle switch (can you say primative?).

The next question about the offset between the axle and the platform, yes it helps, especially when you are new to this
and are climbing on. but if you are used to the control of the wheels steadying you on the machine there will be less of a problem. After all this is just like doing a wheelie on a wheelchair
but instead of manually rotating the wheels to keep your balance you are using a twist grip to do it! If your control is good and
backlash of the gearing/drive is minimal then it is up to your skill
at sensing and correcting for your balance!

It only makes sense to lower the CG as much as possible.

I want more power ...bigger wheels....and a certain amount of suspension would be nice. I thought that the van door motor
might be a good step up in power, that would be the easy way. The other way would be to design a slim transmission and use the drill motor without its own transmission (way too much slop!!)



D.F

Re: Answers
 

By RC I believe he means Robot Controller--that is, we use the PIC Chip, but did we at first (or would it be helpful to) use the IFI Robot Controller? To answer your question, no, we never went with the IFI RC. One, we don't have the money to buy extra RCs for every segway we build (that assumes we'll have more than one--we have two now, and I know Mr. Fahringer is already planning a "new and improved" model). Two ... try finding space for the RC and radio modem! Maybe in another design you'll have ampel room, but in ours we don't have much room to use the RC and keep it protected. Also, you asked if using the RC would make it jerky. In our setup it would not, but I imagine if you try to use the gyro then the scan-time on the IFI controller would come into play, and the balancing might be crude.

And to the question of auto-balancing. The answer is a big, resounding ... maybe! I want to do it, and I think it would be a good sojourn into using sensors with custom circuitry that might be useful for next year's autonomous mode. But, there always seems to be too much to do and too little time, so we'll see.

Stephen

Well, so far we're doing pretty well. We've built a test bed using edubot parts to test balance code. Ironically enough we built it to well! it balances on its own, so we just plopped the abttereis on the back to throw it off :-). We plan on using either the Isaac16 RC or the full size RC we have from 2000, so I'll let you know how smooth it is.

Larger Vandoor powered Version!
 

A larger vandoor motor powered version is now designed and may take form with help from our students this summer. A benevolent team with a good condition vandoor motor would be truly appreciated as it should allow interested FIRST team members to try our version without our school saying no for liability reasons. The teachers have been forced to fend for themselves, insurance wise and they are not willing to take even the most remote chance of liability suit.

The issue is one of ownership and the project will not be owned by New Horizions to protect our teachers.

I am still awaiting a decision from Segway's Maureen Toohey
and others as to whether it would be o.k. to give the plans for the Knight Krawler to FIRST and the FIRST community so they would have a neat pre-robotics program to teach manufacturing and electronics and have a pyseudo Segway to show for it.

If Dean or Segway thinks that it is not a good idea then I'll forget it.

Dave Fahringer

Hmm, good idea to check with Segway before posting plans. AS for the vandoro powered version, good luck. So far our segway is taking shape albeit slowly. I hoep, with Segway LLCs permission, to be able to release ivnentor drawings and plans for it after completion.

MWHAHAHAHA

Right now were doing some sweet summer projects that will include our own autobalancing segway

Fantastic!
 

You are so fortunate to be allowed to work in the summer months on a project so interesting! The project we had in the Knight Krawlers was for me a year saver! I worked with avid robotics students to make the mechanical unit and had the help of our all around expert robotisist Ron Woodward to make the control box but the programmers were assigned a different task for their mentorship and never got it to take advantage of the kit gyro. They did however learn how it is to balance a Segway with no autobalance and some got very good at it! a lot of practical problems will be solved by your team if you can get it to balance with the weight ( and weight shift ) of a person on it!

If I can be of any assistance let me know!

Dave Fahringer

Right now its in the design phase, we havent actually built anything, but if we run into anything ill tell you