Chris Rybitski just shared his latest project with us, it’s a Stage Platform Robot. It is a way to remotely move stage items around. He built a 9 inch tall robot that can drive around with 900 pounds on its back. He built the majority of the metal frame from square tubing that has been welded together. There is an Arduino controlling the robotics and a speed controller that is able to effectively drive the large wheel motors. The user controls the system using a laptop computer that talks to the platform using a wireless router. The system has some well thought out safety systems such as a proximity sensor that prevents it from running off the stage. This system reminds me of the Amazon robots.
Normally when things need to be manipulated on the stage there is an elaborate setup of winches and cables to pull things into place. This involves some serious preparation. This system will eventually have the ability to be programmed to be commanded to predetermined stage positions, currently the operator remotely drives it into place. If you have some need for something similar be sure to have a look at the code which is available at the bottom of this page.
