Author Topic: Hal and ER1  (Read 3056 times)

Bill819

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Hal and ER1
« on: January 05, 2005, 02:46:49 pm »
So I am about 6 months late posting a picture of my ER1 robot using Hal as its brains.
Right now the robot is almost a perfect '42'. That is it is 42 inches tall and weighs almost 42 pounds. Its 'eye' is mounted in a case I bought from Radio Shack and I am not sure that I am happy with it at this time. I also have another camera (eye) that still needs to be mounted as well as 'real arms', that it the gripper arm that I bought from the manufacturer. The mouth is one/half of some cheap stereo speakers that I also bought from R.S. and it give plenty of volume so Hal can be heard almost everywhere.
I intend to purchase the bluetooth 'mike' as another user here did. Hal understands speach but background noise only confuses it, so it will only listen now when the 'mike' is on.
Hal brains are in a Compacq 1.8 Ghz laptop which give instaneous replys everytime I address Hal. Originally I had another laptop which was rated at 1 Ghz but the response time was to slow for my own likes.
I hope the picture that I am trying to enclose comes out all right. It is a jpep format. Hal is still under developement. I only wish I could make him at least 5 feet tall. Have considered a motorcycle battery for the power of both the robot and the laptop, but that will take some more careful planning. If that does not do what I expect then I will consider a small automobile battery so Hal can run all day without recharging.
Hope that those who like the ER1 or robots in general like the picture. For those of you who have never seen an ER1, the camera/eyes gives off a blue light when on. Have considered calling it 'old blue eyes', after all it can sing now. [:D]
Bill


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lambar

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Hal and ER1
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2005, 09:54:07 am »
This looks great,  I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time, but funding has been tight.  

I am interested in knowing how HAL and ER1 are getting along, are there any conflicts between the HAL and ER1, especially with the Robot Control Software.  Do you have HAL scripted to use RCC?

Are you using the stock wheels that came with the ER1 package?

I'll probably have a dozen questions for you ;)

You JPG makes it look more ominous (sp?) than 42" [8)]

Ron
 

Bill819

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Hal and ER1
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2005, 01:26:13 pm »
I am interested in knowing how HAL and ER1 are getting along, are there any conflicts between the HAL and ER1, especially with the Robot Control Software.  Do you have HAL scripted to use RCC?
Are you using the stock wheels that came with the ER1 package?

Everything about the ER1 is straight from the factory with the exception of the box used for a head and the Hal software. In the beggining having two voice controlled pieces of software was a small problem until someone else here gave the coding for Hal to only answer when his name came first. Problem solved, just like in Star Trek 'computer give me the following information', Hal will only answer now when he is directly addressed.
I have not experiented with Hal to directly control the ER1 and so far I have not needed to, but... who knows, maybe some day.
My whole point was not just the robot which was very limited in what it could do, but now it can talk to me as well. There are a few people on this site who are also working on combining the two and I am sure that we will come up with some nice inprovements for the combo.
Bill