Dandelion Tip-Over manual and Auto-Balance maneuvers first tests..

As part of the Dandelion Rover development, we have to recover the robot from a tip over since by design it have that feature.
By design, Dandelion can be drive it in any position since it don't have a "top" or "bottom", both sides are the same, meaning that it is "reversible"...But in reality it have a "preferred" side, mainly due to the internal components layout and a little because of the camera (that issue can be handled by a rotation with the software).

So, we develop a maneuver to recover the preferred side in case of a tip over, here a couple of videos:

The first video was with Dandelion on vacations at the Alfredo Fiebig house as part of his thesis work on the Auto-Balance system.

The videos shows us that the design is correct, Dandelion can be drive it on any side and is also possible to recover it from a tip over to the preferred side.

On the videos we also can see that Dandelion is using a "tail" as a pivot point, this is mainly because the Auto-Balance system is still in develop, here we can see some nice videos about the initial Auto-Balance system that can also perform an automatic side recovery in case of a tip over:

Stay tune for more balancing tests on Dandelion!

How to make a lunar surface and not die trying

As part as our preparation for the next FIDAE (FIDAE 2012 http://www.fidae.cl/portal_fidae.aspx), we prepare a "moon-like" surface to show our Dandelion rover (and the micro ones too) in our stand.

But first a couple of words about FIDAE: FIDAE is a Chilian event about air and space technologies, is the biggest aerospace event in Latin America and more than 70 countries participate showing top of the line technology. This year it run from March 27 to April 1, and after the appearance of the Angelicum Team on the big TV channels, we are on it!!

So, here is how we create a moon-like surface. To start we take the research of the UDEC guys about the moon rocks size and composite, then we ask to one of the R.E.A.L guys that live in "Chaiten", a place where a couple of years ago there was a big volcano eruption, so guest what!, there was there a lot of rock pretty much as the ones on the moon!.

Here some pictures...

So, we take a wood pallet (use it to move big loads) and tip over:

After replace nails for screws to allow an easy assembly/disassembly for transportation and some additional wood to make it stronger, we add some nice white cover...

Now the rocks...

We still need to add the fine particle layer (like ashes) that cover all rocks on the moon, but since we need to transport the whole thing from Puerto Montt to Santiago, we decide to keep just like this for now...

Here some pictures about how Dandelion and Micro-Dandelion looks on it:

Nice!!!, here a couple of videos..

That's it,our first lunar surface ready for FIDAE...

Our New and shiny MakerBot 3D printer is working!!

Hi,

After a couple of weeks of intense work, we finally make our new MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer Up and Running!.
This amazing piece of equipment for rapid prototyping, was give it to the REAL robotic group by Angelicum as part or the Alicanto Mission. This is going to allow us to quickly make new plastic parts and components for the Dandelion Rover and for future projects.

There are other 3D printers out there, but with the price of the MakerBot products, you get an amazing 3D printer kit that is an excellent mix between a high end machine and a "home made" kit that is open for custom improvements for additional features (stronger motors, additional axes, more room for bigger parts, etc.)

 The MakerBot guys allow you to choose between the bare bone kit and the pre-assembled one for an additional US$1k. As we like to learn how things works and to save some money, we choose the dissembled kit...when MakerBot says "disassembled" they really mean it :-)

Even some circuitry need to be assembled, so we start to work...

...wait, there is still more!!, not even close to finish...

The last picture shows the printer almost done, some twists here and there and we was ready for the typical calibration test!..here a video:

Yeah!!, we have a printer!....Here is the nice small plastic box finished:

Now, lets make it worth the cost and do some nice plastic components!!! ..stay tune for more amazing printing...