Demo Speed Control
The two previous steps have explained why control is needed and how it is achieved, and these have been illustrated in the previous video in Step 3.5. In the video …
Course: Begin Robotics
Meet the robots at Reading: Introducing Baxter
Meet Baxter, one of the newer additions to the University of Reading. Robots have been used in industry for many years. Early ones were employed in the car industry doing …
So how do we control?
We have seen that motor speed is affected by friction and by whether the robot is travelling up or down a slope – and thus to maintain constant speed, feedback …
R2-D2
Dave Keating, a former colleague of Richard, designed Hasbro’s interactive R2-D2 Astromech Droid, a robot which responds to voice commands. Watch this clip to find out more.
Haptics in the real world
In this video William Harwin, Professor of interactive and human robotics at the University of Reading, introduces haptic robotics.
Why do we need control?
Last week, we saw that by using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) we can generate the correct average voltage so that the motor rotates at the correct speed. We also noted …
Earthquake! Demo simulation with Rover
Watch Rover in action, gathering data during a simulated earthquake using x, y and z sensors, as well as measuring spin. Gathering data in a simulated earthquake is just one …
Anatomy of a Rover
Richard reveals the internal anatomy of Rover – one of the University’s mobile robots What are the key differences between ERIC and Rover? Share your thoughts in the comment section …
ERIC negotiates an arena
Watch ERIC (and his friends ERIC and ERIC) navigate around an increasingly complex arena, demonstrating sensors in action.
Anatomy of ERIC
Let’s now take a closer look at the different parts which make up our ERIC robot. In this video Richard reveals ERIC’s anatomy and why each component is so important. …
Define robot movement as it sees light
As we discussed in Step 2.9, some robots can have light sensors to sense if an object is nearby. This video, shows you how to define the speed depending on …
Define speed of robot in response to environment
In the exercise in the next Step, you will have the chance to define the speed of the robot in response to its environment. Before you get started, watch this …
Actuators for Robotic Arms
There is a lot of work associated with robotic or prosthetic arms, devices which need to bend and move – for which actuators are needed. Most industrial robots are based …
Robot Power Supplies
The robots need power to provide the voltage signals that make the motors turn, the sensors operate and the robot brain to operate. The simplest way of doing so is …
How to set and measure motor speed
To be able to set the desired speed of a robot, we need to first measure the speed of it. In the video above, Richard explains how we set and …
