I am just curious about all the kits available. Being i am a real virgin in this area, so I have no idea what is good for me, if any right now. I am extremely new to all of this, and just learning. I have no idea what I am doing, but I want to learn programming, for which I have a few options. I have some videos and a few downloaded lessons for it. So, are there any people that would take me under their wing and try to teach me what I am doing? I would so appreciate the help, I need someone that is calm, and willing to spend a bit to go slow and assist with answers to questions, and maybe a bit of help in setup. Again, I am a real novice, but really anxious to learn. Some of you have helped me already with answers for setup questions with my system, and I am truly grateful.I just want to learn, but want to do it right.
Have you decided on the sort of robot you want?
The pidog is an interesting and attractive kit to choose but the fact it has legs and cannot quickly change direction may quickly loose its appeal. I have the pidog and It is relatively simple to call a series of pre-made actions such as walk forward, tail wag, bark… however, this is like a pre-recorded or automaton ability and after you run it a few times, there will be no awe factor in it. It isn’t like it is a real thinking robot. The servos have to do a great deal of work, take a lot of current from the battery so it doesn’t run for long and it is slow and clunky.
For a more absorbing project, you might prefer a wheeled robot. May I offer my preference here, based on practicality. Go for skid-steer and avoid steerable wheels. I have never tried mecanum wheels because it doesn’t offer me anything the skid-steer can’t achieve, apart from going sideways… I started my journey using Arduino and for ease of programming and connecting up sensors and motors through a HAT, this advanced my knowledge a lot. I am using Raspberry pi 4B and 5 now that I have gathered the basics of robotics and understand the limitations of the components. For example, the ultrasonic sensor is generally amazing, but there are many real world situations where failure to provide a distance kills a project. Typically, you won’t get back an echo from a wall at a shallow angle to the sensor axis. Often, inf is the value returned and that seriously impair an impressive robot experience. TOF sensors are better in those cases but the beam is very narrow and can easily miss chair legs for example. The big downside regarding the Raspberry pi is that installing libraries and other software is best done in an Environment. This is a complication all of its own when using the RPI camera, for example. You have to get all the code in the environment and run it from there. I have given up with this approach because of the vagaries of ensuring the paths to vital items and ultimately portability. I develop on a separate RPI because my work is highly experimental, so there are a lot of dead end directions that I go down. Break the packages, I say! If you are hoping for a robot run by A.I. then that will be a cost to consider. Good luck with your robots.
It depends upon where your goals lie.
I bought a pidog. I’ve added multiple alternative control methods such as joystick and voice
My code for these is posted elsewhere on this forum
Ive also created a couple of fully autonomous programs. One uses a mix of ROS2 humble and the existing camera for monocular orbslam to 3d map and navigate its environment
My second methodology uses the existing camera and monocular depth vision via intels midas AI to create and navigate a safe occupancy map. This stretches to about 6m maps with 1cm 3d resolution after fusion with pidogs intrinsic and extrinsic camera matrices
..which pidog then self navigates via a modified version of the bug2 algorithm.
I learned a lot about robot algorithms from here…
From which I implemented several, just for experimental purposes
Alternatively. There are free online AI personality pidog models that you can use for smarter autonomy, but will need to purchase chatgpt type credits to use these. Here’s a couple of examples using one of the vox models
As another example, another member posted some of their code here..
I’m sure that there is probably similar 3rd party software out there for Sunfounders other robots, but I’ve never looked.
However. Pidog is not very manoeuvrable. And it does eat through battery life. Maybe in the order of about 20 minutes, depending upon what its doing.
If you want something faster, then wheeled is the way to go.
Alternatively, if pure electronics is your interest, rather than robotics, any of the kits will give you a good starting point.
I hope that the above examples can help you to shortlist your own goals to some extent.
It was a steep learning curve for me to put all the above together, but there’s lots of helpful people on this forum who can help you through. Have fun!
Hi, I’m not sure if this is of general interest? I’ve spent a few days integrating some of Sunfounder’s software into a ROS2 environment on my pidog. This allows me to make use of some of ROS’s…
My code for these is posted elsewhere on this forum
Ive also created a couple of fully autonomous programs. One uses a mix of ROS and orbslam to map and navigate its environment
Hi, I’ve now completed my ros2 pidog project as posted in various segments previously. The final part for me was to get my voice commands, joystick control, autonomous-walkabout, hazard avoidance,…
The other uses the existing camera and monocular depth vision via intels midas AI to create and navigate a safe occupancy map. This stretches to about 6m maps with 1cm 3d resolution after fusion with pidogs intrinsic and extrinsic matrices
..which pidog then self navigates.
Alternatively. There are free online AI personality pidog models that you can use for smarter autonomy, but will need to purchase chatgpt type credits to use these
However. Pidog is not very manoeuvrable. And it does eat through battery life.
If you want something faster, then wheeled is the way to go.
There’s lots of helpful people on this forum who can help you through. Have fun!
Thanks for all the information. Right now, I have my Pi5 in a Pironman case, so I’m not sure what type, or how many, hats I can have inside the case. But I do intend to experiment once I get used to using it and the programming that goes along with it. I also ordered a Pironman Max, and I think I will try using it as a NAS, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I also have a second Pi5 for the Max case.
The internal structure of the Pironman 5 case does not support the installation of a HAT. However, you can connect the HAT to the GPIO pins of the IO extension board, which extends the PI5 pins.
Please note that only one HAT can be connected at a time, and you should ensure that the pins used by the HAT do not conflict with any pins needed for the case’s functionalities.
If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out.
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