Categories: Robot Hacks and Mods
Hi,
I'm going to buy a roboquad, harvesting the forum haven't get me any information on what kind of micro controller is used for the wowwee toys.
Zooming into the pictures doesn't help to read the serial codes on the chipset of the control board.
It would be great to reprogram it directly or to substitute it with my arduino controllers.
Many thanks.
Member
Jacksonville, United StatesIf I remember right it is a Sun chip and the firmware is hard wired into the chip inwhich will not allow you to change the routines. If I were you I would just get rid of the board and add your own.
Jax
GWJax, To Hack and make mods on robots is a life style and comes natural and not by choice. If a robot has a screw to open it then it must be opened!
Member
Cincinnati, OH, United StatesOr buy a roboremote.
Keep the robotic dreams alive,
-BG
"We all move to our own robotic stride. If you wish to keep your robots as is then do so. If you must open that screw then that's the path you choose."
Member
Jacksonville, United StatesBG I think he wants to make the Quad to do other things that the remote can not handle nor the RoboRemote, like adding a wifi camera and adding more AI features, connecting it to a computer and give it commands from there or what ever the Quad can't do at the present. It is a good base for a Quad based robot as it's very stable and tuff to distroy unless you really wanted to.. hehehe
Jax
GWJax, To Hack and make mods on robots is a life style and comes natural and not by choice. If a robot has a screw to open it then it must be opened!
Exactly I would like to put my own IA because I'm a researcher in swarm robotic. I basically need more sensors (color and sound sensors) + signal generators (color and sound) and a bluetootoh module. It would be hell to reverse the gait motions but I give it a try.
Ideally would be perfect to use the rovio but is expensive and the roboquad has more mobility in a house environment.
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaThese 1 2 are about as zoomed in as you can get. I do have larger images, but after a certain size its just pointless.
The CPU is an unnamed epoxy blob (same in most of Wow Wee's line), the one in the RoboQuad has no apparent programming lines (the pins are labeled), so the programing is probably burned in ROM. It is most likely a SunPlus chip, so even if this one was programmable, you'd be better off replacing the CPU since SunPlus is very fond of keeping everything propriety.
The other chip is probably a dedicate motor controller chip (basically a bunch of h-bridges), I'd have to pull out my RoboQuad to check the chip if you want to see a datasheet (Rusty memory suggests the datasheet for it can be found online).
Memory suggests its mostly 3.3v.
Member
Jacksonville, United StatesCorrect n. it is mostly 3.3v on the operation of the chips except the motor which are 6v and those other chips are a bunch of h-bridges. As said before I'd replace the entire main board and make a new one.
Jax
GWJax, To Hack and make mods on robots is a life style and comes natural and not by choice. If a robot has a screw to open it then it must be opened!
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaI'd just replace the CPU, and use all rest of the existing circuitry (which is what I did with the RoboBoa).
Member
MalaysiaVery interesting.
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
Member
Jacksonville, United StatesNocturnal said: I'd just replace the CPU, and use all rest of the existing circuitry (which is what I did with the RoboBoa).
Yes you could do that and it would be a good educational process as well by testing what lines do what but then again replacing the board would also give a good educational teaching. It's just about which way he want to take his approach in teaching.
N. what did you replace the Boa with and do you have a link to what you did?
Jax
GWJax, To Hack and make mods on robots is a life style and comes natural and not by choice. If a robot has a screw to open it then it must be opened!
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaEither way can be educational, in different ways. I think or friend is more interested in applying it in his research. From my perspective replacing the CPU is cheaper than fabricating a new board (budget sometimes being an issue in research), but replacing the entire board may make using it as a research platform easier (depending).
When I dissected the RoboBoa, I thought the joints in might be interesting to adapt to a simple robotic arm. Unfortunately this project has been sitting on my shelf for a while now (along with a few others) while I have been devoting my times elsewhere. You can read about it on my site, this link should take you to a listing of the related posts in reverse chronological order.
This image is probably the best representation of the steps relevant to this discussion. You can see on the notepad the simple pinout I made for the CPU, the notes underneath are each pins function, along with relevant details about the signal (all of which was done with just a multimeter). The original CPU I removed with a hot air gun normally intended for paint stripping, and a razor blade (for lifting the edges). I then attached wires to the pads to connect the relevant signals to my dev board. That large number of unattached pads almost entirely relate to RoboBoa's LEDs.
Good job!
Can I get more details on the motors of the roboboa and roboquad?
Are they DC or servos?
Member
Melbourne, AustraliaThey are just DC motors. The four legs have a single switch to determine start/stop position. The two relating to the neck and head have pots for positional feedback. They are probably similar in spec to these.
Member
Jacksonville, United StatesThat would be correct Nocturnal, and I believe the VR's are rated at 5k for the yellow VR's and 10k for the orange VR's, but correct me if I'm wrong with the color of the VR's, but all WowWee VR's that I have come accrossed are either 5K or 10K.
Jax
GWJax, To Hack and make mods on robots is a life style and comes natural and not by choice. If a robot has a screw to open it then it must be opened!
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