Randy's Robot Showcase

i, randy

This is Espresso, a Gamoto-powered Firefighting robot, with a Cricket for a brain. I made this for the 2004 contest, but never got to enter it due to a last minute spill onto the basement floor. It's now fixed and working well, ready for next year. I have posted detailed pictures of its construction, as well as a video of it going through the maze. It uses dead-reckoning combined with localization by IR sensor at key points for correction.

This guy is Vito, a legged robot. He is a two-legged walker (well, he's two-legged anyway), and can stand up from a crouching position, take a bow, and actively balance himself. He can adapt to angled or uneven surfaces, and to mild pushes in any direction. Click on the picture for more detail.

LEX, the big-wheeled lexan robot, using the LM629 PID controller chip. This is my largest, fastest robot. I wanted something that would really be able to move quickly, yet precisely. Click on the picture for more about LEX.

This a CD Sumo robot. I made this after reading about the design of the FirstBOT on the web. It was inspiring because it was so simple. I made it in a couple hours, start to finish, using old music CDs. It uses a PIC 16F84 controller, on a PCB by Micro Engineering Labs.

This is LEO, short for Leonardo da Vinci. This was my very first robot. It has a Basic Stamp 2 for a brain, and seeks light. It uses stepper motors for drive wheels, and a chopper style stepper motor control board.

US FIRST Robotics is a nationwide robotics competition for high school students. This is a picture of our 1999 team's robot, and more information on the program

This is "Trembling Cricket," a Gamoto and Cricket powered Firefighting robot, submitted in the 2004 contest by a UMass Lowell student. It won third place! It was originally built by me and Fred Martin, and entered as Gamadome in 2002, but it had a less than stellar performance the first time.

This is a Gamoto-powered student project, from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. The class required the students to make some kind of demonstration, using the Gamoto controller and a cricket.