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Home > IoT & Hardware > Robotics > Learning Robotics using Python
Learning Robotics using Python
Learning Robotics using Python

Learning Robotics using Python: Bring robotics projects to life with Python! Discover how to harness everything from Blender to ROS and OpenCV with one of our most popular robotics books.

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Learning Robotics using Python

Chapter 2. Mechanical Design of a Service Robot

The main purpose of this book is to learn robotics by designing and building robots and programming it using Python. To learn robotics, we will first look at how to mechanically design a robot from scratch. The robot that we are going to build is used as a service robot in hotels and restaurants to serve food and drinks.

In this chapter, we can see various mechanical components used in this robot. Also, we can see how to assemble its components. We can design and assemble the parts using CAD tool and also build a 3D model of robot for simulating the robot.

The actual robot deployed in hotels may be big, but here we are intending to build a miniature version of it only for testing our technology. If you are interested to build a robot from scratch, this chapter is for you. If you are not interested to build the robot, you can choose some robotic platforms already available on the market to work with this book.

To build the robot body...

The Requirements of a service robot

Before designing any robotic system, the first procedure is to identify its requirements. The following are a set of hardware requirements to be met by this robot:

  • The robot should have a provision to carry food
  • The robot should be able to carry a maximum payload of 5 kg
  • The robot should travel at a speed between 0.25 m/s and 1 m/s
  • The ground clearance of the robot should be greater than 3 cm
  • The robot must be able to work for 2 hours continuously
  • The robot should be able to move and supply food to any table avoiding obstacles
  • The robot height should be between 40 cm and 1 meter
  • The robot should be of low cost

Now, we can identify the mechanical design requirements such as payload, moving speed, ground clearance, robot height, and the cost of the robot. We will design the body and select components accordingly. Let's discuss the robot mechanism we can use to match these requirements.

Robot drive mechanism

One of the cost effective solution for mobile robot navigation is differential drive systems. It's one of the simplest drive mechanisms for a mobile robot that is mainly indented for indoor navigation. The differential drive robot consists of two wheels mounted on a common axis controlled by two separate motors. There are two supporting wheels called caster wheels. It ensures stability and weight distribution of the robot. The following diagram shows a typical differential drive system:

Robot drive mechanism

Differential drive system

The next step is to select the mechanical components of this robot drive system, that is, mainly motors, wheels, and robot chassis. Based on the requirements, we will first discuss how to select the motor.

Selection of motors and wheels

Motors are selected after looking at their specifications. Some of the important parameters for motor selection are torque and RPM. We can compute these values from the given requirements.

Calculation of RPM of motors

Assume...

Installing LibreCAD, Blender, and MeshLab

LibreCAD is a free, open source 2D CAD application for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Blender is a free, open source 3D computer graphics software used to create 3D models, animation, and video games. It comes with a GPL license as per which users can share, modify, and distribute the application. MeshLab is an open source, portable, and extensible system to process and edit unstructured 3D triangular meshes.

The following are the links to install LibreCAD in Windows, Linux, and OS X:

Creating a 2D CAD drawing of the robot using LibreCAD

We can take a look at the basic interface of LibreCAD. The following screenshot shows the interface of LibreCAD:

Creating a 2D CAD drawing of the robot using LibreCAD

A CAD toolbar has the necessary components to draw a model. The following screenshot shows the detailed overview of the CAD toolbar:

Creating a 2D CAD drawing of the robot using LibreCAD

A detailed description of LibreCAD tools is available at the following link:

http://wiki.librecad.org/index.php/LibreCAD_users_Manual.

Working with a 3D model of the robot using Blender

In this section, we will design a 3D model of the robot. The 3D model is mainly used for simulation purpose. The modeling will be done using Blender. The version must be greater than 2.6 because we only tested the tutorials on these versions.

The following screenshot shows the blender workspace and tools that can be used to work with 3D models:

Working with a 3D model of the robot using Blender

The main reason why we are using Blender here is so that we can model the robot using Python scripts. Blender has an inbuilt Python interpreter and a Python script editor for coding purpose. We are not discussing about the user interface of Blender here. We can find a good tutorial of Blender on its website. Refer to the following link to learn about Blender's user interface:

http://www.blender.org/support/tutorials/

Let's start coding in Blender using Python.

Python scripting in Blender

Blender is mainly written in C, C++, and Python. Users can write their own Python script and access all...

The Requirements of a service robot

Before designing any robotic system, the first procedure is to identify its requirements. The following are a set of hardware requirements to be met by this robot:

  • The robot should have a provision to carry food

  • The robot should be able to carry a maximum payload of 5 kg

  • The robot should travel at a speed between 0.25 m/s and 1 m/s

  • The ground clearance of the robot should be greater than 3 cm

  • The robot must be able to work for 2 hours continuously

  • The robot should be able to move and supply food to any table avoiding obstacles

  • The robot height should be between 40 cm and 1 meter

  • The robot should be of low cost

Now, we can identify the mechanical design requirements such as payload, moving speed, ground clearance, robot height, and the cost of the robot. We will design the body and select components accordingly. Let's discuss the robot mechanism we can use to match these requirements.

Robot drive mechanism

One of the cost effective solution for mobile robot navigation is differential drive systems. It's one of the simplest drive mechanisms for a mobile robot that is mainly indented for indoor navigation. The differential drive robot consists of two wheels mounted on a common axis controlled by two separate motors. There are two supporting wheels called caster wheels. It ensures stability and weight distribution of the robot. The following diagram shows a typical differential drive system:

Differential drive system

The next step is to select the mechanical components of this robot drive system, that is, mainly motors, wheels, and robot chassis. Based on the requirements, we will first discuss how to select the motor.

Selection of motors and wheels

Motors are selected after looking at their specifications. Some of the important parameters for motor selection are torque and RPM. We can compute these values from the given requirements.

Calculation of RPM of motors

Assume the required...

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Description

If you are an engineer, a researcher, or a hobbyist, and you are interested in robotics and want to build your own robot, this book is for you. Readers are assumed to be new to robotics but should have experience with Python.

Who is this book for?

If you are an engineer, a researcher, or a hobbyist, and you are interested in robotics and want to build your own robot, this book is for you. Readers are assumed to be new to robotics but should have experience with Python.

What you will learn

  • Understand the core concepts and terminologies of robotics
  • Create 2D and 3D drawings of robots using freeware such as LibreCAD and Blender
  • Simulate your robot using ROS and Gazebo
  • Build robot hardware from the requirements
  • Explore a diverse range of actuators and its interfacing
  • Interface various robotic sensors to robots
  • Set up and program OpenCV, OpenNI, and PCL to process 2D/3D visual data
  • Learn speech processing and synthesis using Python
  • Apply artificial intelligence to robots using Python
  • Build a robot control GUI using Qt and Python
  • Calibration and testing of robot

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : May 27, 2015
Length: 330 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781783287543
Category :
IoT & Hardware
Languages :
Python
Concepts :
Robotics
Tools :
Linux

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Product Details

Publication date : May 27, 2015
Length: 330 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781783287543
Category :
IoT & Hardware
Languages :
Python
Concepts :
Robotics
Tools :
Linux

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Table of Contents

13 Chapters
1. Introduction to Robotics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
1. Introduction to Robotics
What is a robot?
Where do robots come from?
What can we find in a robot?
How do we build a robot?
Summary
2. Mechanical Design of a Service Robot Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Mechanical Design of a Service Robot
The Requirements of a service robot
Robot drive mechanism
Installing LibreCAD, Blender, and MeshLab
Creating a 2D CAD drawing of the robot using LibreCAD
Working with a 3D model of the robot using Blender
Questions
Summary
3. Working with Robot Simulation Using ROS and Gazebo Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Working with Robot Simulation Using ROS and Gazebo
Understanding robotic simulation
Questions
Summary
4. Designing ChefBot Hardware Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Designing ChefBot Hardware
Specifications of the ChefBot hardware
Block diagram of the robot
Working of the ChefBot hardware
Questions
Summary
5. Working with Robotic Actuators and Wheel Encoders Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Working with Robotic Actuators and Wheel Encoders
Interfacing DC geared motor with Tiva C LaunchPad
Interfacing quadrature encoder with Tiva C Launchpad
Working with Dynamixel actuators
Questions
Summary
6. Working with Robotic Sensors Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Working with Robotic Sensors
Working with ultrasonic distance sensors
Working with the IR proximity sensor
Working with Inertial Measurement Unit
Interfacing MPU 6050 to Launchpad with the DMP support using Energia
Questions
Summary
7. Programming Vision Sensors Using Python and ROS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Programming Vision Sensors Using Python and ROS
List of robotic vision sensors and image processing libraries
Introduction to OpenCV, OpenNI, and PCL
Programming Kinect with Python using ROS, OpenCV, and OpenNI
Working with Point Clouds using Kinect, ROS, OpenNI, and PCL
Conversion of Point Cloud to laser scan data
Working with SLAM using ROS and Kinect
Questions
Summary
8. Working with Speech Recognition and Synthesis Using Python and ROS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Working with Speech Recognition and Synthesis Using Python and ROS
Understanding speech recognition
Working with speech recognition and synthesis in Ubuntu 14.04.2 using Python
Real-time speech recognition using Pocket Sphinx, GStreamer, and Python in Ubuntu 14.04.2
Speech recognition using Julius and Python in Ubuntu 14.04.2
Working with speech recognition and synthesis in Windows using Python
Working with Speech recognition in ROS Indigo and Python
Working with speech synthesis in ROS Indigo and Python
Questions
Summary
9. Applying Artificial Intelligence to ChefBot Using Python Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Applying Artificial Intelligence to ChefBot Using Python
Block diagram of the communication system in ChefBot
Introduction to AIML
Introduction to PyAIML
Working with AIML and Python
Working with A.L.I.C.E. AIML files
Integrating PyAIML into ROS
Questions
Summary
10. Integration of ChefBot Hardware and Interfacing it into ROS, Using Python Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Integration of ChefBot Hardware and Interfacing it into ROS, Using Python
Building ChefBot hardware
Configuring ChefBot PC and setting ChefBot ROS packages
Interfacing ChefBot sensors with Tiva C LaunchPad
Writing a ROS Python driver for ChefBot
Understanding ChefBot ROS launch files
Working with ChefBot Python nodes and launch files
Questions
Summary
11. Designing a GUI for a Robot Using Qt and Python Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Designing a GUI for a Robot Using Qt and Python
Installing Qt on Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS
Working with Python bindings of Qt
Working with PyQt and PySide
Working with ChefBot's control GUI
Questions
Summary
12. The Calibration and Testing of ChefBot Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. The Calibration and Testing of ChefBot
The Calibration of Xbox Kinect using ROS
Wheel odometry calibration
Calibrating the MPU 6050
Testing of the robot using GUI
Questions
Summary
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.3
(16 Ratings)
5 star 62.5%
4 star 18.8%
3 star 6.3%
2 star 6.3%
1 star 6.3%
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Pranshu Tople Dec 22, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Awesome Book for all students, engineers, hobbyist & researchers. It teaches excellently, step by step of making a Turtlebot like robot that too very cheap at Home/DIY. If u are interested in Robotics or Python, you should go through this book atleast once. Hats of to Lentin Joseph for writing such awesome book.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Achu Wilson Jun 06, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This is one of the best books for learning robotics practically. The highlight of this book is that it deals with all the realms of robotics, mechanical CAD design, electronics circuit design, embedded firmware development, high level image and speech processing, autonomous navigation using AI techniques ,and much more. It also gives an intro to using ROS for a beginner. a MUST READ BOOK.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
William Schreiber Sep 12, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The title of this book is misleading. Yes, there is python in the book and the examples are written in python, but the book is really about how to take existing technology and build an advanced robot at a price most hobbyists could probably afford. Most of us build a line follower, a light avoider, a robot that bounces off walls and then randomly turns etc, but moving to that next step of building a robot that knows where it is and can find its way back (SLAM algorithm) is something else most builders never get to since it is a hard nut to crack. He gives a blue print for an advanced robot which can be built for well under a $1000 and uses ROS (robot operating system), PCL, a Kinect, IMU, ultrasonic sensor ARM processor etc.He takes all the pieces that are out there and shows you how to integrate them all into an advanced robot. It wasn't what I expected from the book but I was pleasantly surprised since it was exactly what I need to get myself to that advanced robot I really want to build.Warning, that the directions may be out of date (it is predicated on an older version of ROS) and you will need to use the internet and/or other resources to do all of the things he documents. It is still worth every penny
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Eduardo Veras May 04, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Very informative and easy to follow.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
AMAL MATHEW Oct 19, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
nice book to begin with ROS
Amazon Verified review Amazon

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