We like to have some play time at Solarbotics, and the "Bare Bones Photovore" is the results of one of these play sessions. It's a very simple (amongst the simplest, we'll hazard to say) light-seeking solar-powered robot, and find it easy to build using the Bicore Experimenter's PCB.
Solarbotics & EZ-Robot: The EZBv3!
Dave Hrynkiw
May 16, 2011
DJ Sures has been a customer of ours for a good while now, and he recently came in with this really cool product - the EZ-B. He's a professional programmer that's been hacking toys into robots, and wanted an more streamlined way to realize his dream of simple-to-implement robotics. He started with his own versions 1 and 2, and now they've sold out, he approached us to see if we'd be interested in helping him bring EZ-Bv3 to market so he can work on his main love, programming and hacking robots!
The EZ-B offers a streamlined way to connect your PC to practically any device you want to robotize and make autonomous. Here's the gist of it:
- Powerful EZ-B software runs on your PC, and does the "heavy lifting" computing
- PC communicates bidirectionally to the EZ-B hardware via long-range 9600 baud wireless Bluetooth.
So what makes this so noteworthy? Why use this over an Arduino? Here's why:
- Leverage the power of your (usually on) PC to give your robot a huge advantage over 8-bit microcontrollers. Advantages already available to you include
- Using a wireless videocam signal for camera object tracking
- Use Voice recognition on your PC to control your robot
- Use Visual Studio .Net C# or VB to program your own modules and scripts.
- Arduino Shield Compatible! Plug in practically any Arduino shield into the EZ-B!
Want more details? Check out the EZ-Robot website, or the product page!
MORE POSTS
Downloads @ Solarbotics.net Is UP!
Due to minor issues with IP addresses all of our PDF files and videos haven't been available. But, it's up now and faster than ever! All of our downloads are now hosted on our own Solarbotics.net server! Any comments or problems contact the Webmaster. Read More...
Sumobot Circuits
We've been having fun playing with the L293D driver chip. It's one of those things to see how much you can make it do by itself (like with any BEAM application!). Grant McKee has been experimenting with some simple additions to the chip to make it (unto itself) a suitable brain for a simple mini-sumo […]
Painted GraviTrack
We always enjoy seeing our products being modified, revamped and DIY-ed, as well as the results of these transformations. Our customer Vera Kark provided us with some thoughtful feedback on adding mechanical tweaks to improve our Solar GraviTrack build and documentation. She also painted the brown MDF of the machine. She used tempera paint on the wood components still in panelized […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.