ROBOTMAK3RS Blog

Some days ago, I ran over a very nice holonomic robot, created by Dutch NXT builder Aswin Bouwmeester . It is called Agilis , a very appropriate name: What makes this robot particularly interesting is the series of blog entries its creator has published on his blog NXT time ; there, he describes in detail how to program holonomic movements with the powerful frameworks of leJOS , a popular Java-based programming language for the MINDSTORMS.

Isogawa Yoshihito , the creator of many a mechanical LEGO® miracle, has published a new great invention, called はしる遮光器土偶 ( Running Dogu ): More details can be found here . Dogu are small humanoid and animal figurines made during some prehistoric era in Japan's history.

RJ McNamara has posted a very nice description of a holonomic drive system. It uses Power Functions motors instead of the regular NXT ones and Rotocaster wheels.  These wheels along with the 120 degree separation of the drive wheels allows holonomic robots to move forward, backwards as well as side to side. (They can also spin on their own axis as they travel in a straight line which is cool to watch. What's great about this post is that he goes through the Math necessary to control the robot.  He does a really good job of laying out the equations and how they need to be used to get the robot to move the way you intend. Full details -  http://www.rjmcnamara.com/2012/06/holonomic-platforms-robotc/

RJ McNamara has been working on a very nice look quad motor holonomic drive platform.  No videos yet but plenty of great pitcures (and CAD renders) of his setup. He has three different versions, 2 with 4xPF motors and one with 4xNXT motors.  The NXT one uses the Mindsensors Motor Multiplexer to control them all.  He also has spaced 4 Ultrasonic sensors around, and checks the readings one at a time to minimise interference from the others. At the end of each motor is 2 RotoCaster omnidrive wheels (That's right, 8 in total!) Lots and lots of great pictures, as well as the full LDD cad designs for anyone who wants to download them. http://www.rjmcnamara.com/2012/04/quad-drive-holomonic-platform/

Here are some cool videos to follow up on Jim's post about these great new wheels from Rotacaster. By sparramc: A Lego Mindstorms NXT Autonomous Quad Rotacaster Killough Platform Omni-Bot By xandersoldaat: Rotacaster Test 2 (visit his blog for other test videos) By bazmarc: LEGO Space Police Sentinel - Rotacaster - Mindstorms The official page to find more info on these Next Generation Holonomic Robot Wheels by Rotacaster can be found here:  http://www.rotacaster.com.au/robot-wheels.html