Had a idea, since the Flipper Zero is a microcontroller, it could be made into a robot and have wheels connected via GPIO
#Foomba
dapper fjord
Omni wheels?
misty sky
dapper fjord
Recess the center make a nice home for the flipper?
misty sky
That could work
dapper fjord
I’ll work on the cad file at some point lol
misty sky
I can send you my file
dapper fjord
Do it
misty sky
Actually, I'll throw it into my github repo
misty sky
Or
dapper fjord
Maybe this is how we accidentally become devs lmao
misty sky
dapper fjord
Bet I’ll check it out later when I get home
misty sky
Here are my ideas:
- Add FAP dedicated to Flipper on Wheels mode
- Connect a seperate motor controller via GPIO that connects to all the wheels
- Connect a ultrasonic sensor so it doesn't bump into things
dapper fjord
I did a bunch of robotics chassis design back in the day I’ll see what I can do
Where should I mount the sensor I’m thinking facing forward obviously but I’m also thinking put it up on a stick and angle it downwards slightly
So we can sense things that aren’t just walls but that would also jam up the wheels and such
dapper fjord
Sounds like a v2 type thing?
misty sky
because we might not catch a corner of a wall
dapper fjord
I think we should get a moving chassis first then perfect it
dapper fjord
Do u have a printer? I don’t
misty sky
I'm only a good designer/tester
misty sky
sure
I also want the Flipper to face upwards
and have it make some facial expressions depending on what it's doing
dapper fjord
Hits something sad face
misty sky
Like if it's looking around
It'll show a dolphin looking left to right with binoculars (ultrasonic sensor looks like binoculars)
misty sky
if it's moving, you'll see the dolphin holding a steering wheel
misty sky
Maybe a little can holder so it can carry a soda/beer arojnd for u
Yes
btw, I'm not a robotics person so this is new territory to me
I wish I did robotics in school
dapper fjord
It’s rly easy tbh
It’s just piecing things others have already invented together
Like u just gotta know what the pieces generally are and then you’re on your way to designing scissor lifts for the task at hand
misty sky
OOH, we should also make it do differnet things depending on it's mood
if it's angry, it should start running into people/walls/objects
dapper fjord
😂yes
misty sky
if it's sad, it will move away from people
dapper fjord
Ahhh my friend that’s a whole other buck of worms
misty sky
if it's happy, it'll follow people
dapper fjord
Vision processing is a lot of work and it’ll make us have to redesign the chassis to accommodate the weight/parts
misty sky
just use a temperature sensor
dapper fjord
For mood?
misty sky
Is the object warm? Probably a human
dapper fjord
Maybe yeah
misty sky
could rig up a range of what human tempeatures are usually
dapper fjord
Never done that before tbh
misty sky
and stick into the chassis and look up the chip details online
the temp sensor would probably also be mounted to the same motor controlling the ultrasonic sensor
dapper fjord
If u can do that yes haha I have 0 experience there
misty sky
With both things, we can identify these things
- distance to object
- speed that object is coming towards/away from us
- temperature of object
dapper fjord
Hmmm I wonder how fast they can refresh the reading
misty sky
depends on the sensor, ideally we want real-time data
dapper fjord
Also with ultrasonic multiple sensors and lots of math are needed to detect depth once it’s a human it’s a lot harder to detect than a wall
misty sky
add a margin of error
dapper fjord
The flipper couldnt process that much data I’d imagine
misty sky
could make it scan left and right
misty sky
The flipper couldnt process that much data I’d imagine
It's all numbers and math
dapper fjord
We needed a fancy nvidia jetson to do vision on my old robots
misty sky
We'll offload controling motors to a sepeate motor controller
dapper fjord
It's all numbers and math
Very complex math yes. It involves things I’m currently learning in uni
misty sky
Sensors, we could maybe offload to something else
dapper fjord
Motor controllers still gotta be run by the flipper tho it just frees up pins not processing power
dapper fjord
I think it could do 1 ultrasonic sensor with a refresh rate of 1 or 2 Hz tops
misty sky
By the way if anyone is reading, feel free to suggest ideas, anyone can help contribute to this
A much simpler way of doing this is using a Roomba with a DIN port
instead of designing a whole chassis and worrying about motors/sensors
dapper fjord
Not sure how to connect it but that’s your department lol fuckit bet
dapper fjord
Bruh😂😂
dapper fjord
What do I need to learn to do it
misty sky
Really, just Python for learning the serial interface
But for the Flipper, C and Serial Communication via RS232
dapper fjord
Fuckkkk
misty sky
btw, it can also play music thru Roomba
dapper fjord
I’m a skid
dapper fjord
U help do that part, I already own a roomba so I can knock out physical stuff lol
dapper fjord
Don’t have one of those do u?
dapper fjord
Fuck lol
dapper fjord
See I could solder whatever I need to for that but I’d have know idea what the magic electric pixies would be doing
misty sky
Oh, Roomba is very great at documenting EVERYTHING on how to communicate thru serial to the roombas
dapper fjord
They just want their products to be repurposed I feel like😂
misty sky
dapper fjord
Bet mines a Wifi version too so I could annoy my cat with a foomba
misty sky
dapper fjord
I love Michael reeves
smoky grail
this is gloriously funny
drv8841 or l293 h-vridge motor drivers are available as cheap breakouts
(if you wanna move a custom platform around with motors, instead od hacking a roomba)
you also have solid state lidar modules, like on cheap robots
dapper fjord
Yeah but like roomba would be for the meme
My flipper shipped today so hopefully I can work on it soon
smoky grail
you get a polar output (theta/phi) and there are tons of ways to convert those into maps and navigate them. problem's called SLAM
oh yeah, flipper roomba would be so mememable
also, cheap out option: robots which already do SLAM and have lidar (like some roborocks, xiaomi) can use valetudo, which is a decloudig software and lets you use your robot with mqtt, http, etc
you'd just need a bit of software to listen to 433 mhz flipper signals and send manual control signals to the robot overvaletudo, no more GPIO and hacks needed
native thicket
Do u have a printer? I don’t
I have a prusa mini print farm yall could use
Id print it for free
Just pay for shipping
I would love to see this come to life lol
dapper fjord
I have a prusa mini print farm yall could use
Bet what software do u prefer to use for CAD?
compact onyx
can't go wrong with f360
dapper fjord
I’m most fluent in solid works but they’re all the same to me because I can just convert the file lol
I had a CAD course I took where all the assignments were redesigning f360 parts into solid works and I just figured I could convert em all. Got a 100% in the class lol
native thicket
lmao
misty sky
Hmm, I wonder if I should develop a system for modular Flipper mounts
dapper fjord
I Can make the casing and the actual mount/dismount but I don’t have the first clue as to how to design say different clamps or things to mount it to
smoky grail
easy mode: make the top half of a flipper case, foomba has the bottom half. put flipper in, sticks magnetically or with screws
plastic industry uses clips, 3d prints like living hinges and compliant mechanisms
dapper fjord
Ooh bet bet
Can basically just extrude a cylinder and cut out the proper hole for the magnet
misty sky
femba
dapper fjord
Getting a free arduino, 6 ultrasonic sensors, and a free iot thing for it we can actually start now lmao