Most generously, a robot is any piece of technology capable of making actions based on measurements it takes. This "robot" is Smoking Spaceman, a Metal House Robot toy from the 1950s and not a robot by this definition. As with any evolving technology or idea, the notion of what a robot really is has changed a lot. As you can find in the...
The Seeeduino Mega’s Extra PinsWait, What?If you’ve been shopping around for an Arduino Mega-equivalent board for a smaller pricetag than the made-in-Italy original, you’ve probably run across Seeed Studio’s Seeeduino Mega. The boards use the exact same ATmega2560 microcontroller, with a few hardware differences. The most noticeable are the reduced size of the Seeeduino Mega and its extra pins. Here,...
What is SLAM?SLAM is a solution to the chicken-egg problem of needing to have a map to find your location and needing to know your location to make a map.The Problem:Simultaneous Localization and Mapping describes the robotics problem of a robot that can see its surroundings but does not know its location and is tasked with both finding itself (localization)...
Motor Driver BasicsHow Do Motors Work?Motors, as we all know, make things turn. A motor is a transducer that converts from electrical to mechanical (rotational) energy. A DC motor operates with a constant supply voltage that can be adjusted to allow for variable speed/torque of the motor. The higher the voltage across the motor, the faster it will turn, and...
