In the DIY area of the Intel Edison board, the number of mobile robot kits compatible with the board is small. The things become even worse if we compared to other single board computers such as Raspberry Pi. But new stuff begins to appear for the Intel’s ecosystem in the DIY area.
The Devastator Tank Mobile is one of the most impressive mobile kits released for the Edison users. And a few days ago, the kit were released in a new version with fresh features.
The DFRobot company tries to introduce you to the Devastator kit world with examples and how-to documentation. You can learn how to use the kit and how to build applications using a tutorials, libraries and sample code. And this I really like at this kit.
Before to explore the new features of the second version of Devastator, you should know that the kit has a price of $399.00. Is not cheap considering this high price for a tracked robot, but at least, it comes with all you need to build applications.
Specifications:
- Romeo for Intel Edison Controller
- Microprocessor: Intel® Edison (dual-core processor, 500MHz Intel Atom CPU and 100MHz Intel Quark microcontroller)
- System Operating Voltage: 5V
- Input Voltage (limits): 6-12V
- System Output Voltage: 5V/3.3V
- Devastator Tank Mobile Platform (Upgrade Version)
- Motor Stall Torque: 5.8kg/cm
- Motor Reduction ratio: 1/44.9
- Motor Stall Current: 2.1A
- Motor no-load Current: 130mA
- Maximum Speed: 133cm/s
- URM37 V4.0 Ultrasonic Sensor
- Power: +3.3V?+5.0V
- Current: < 20mA
- Working temperature: -10 ~ +70 C
- Detection Range: 5cm – 500cm
- Resolution: 1cm
- Interface: RS232 (TTL), PWM
- Servo Rotation Angle: 180 degree
- USB Camera Pixels: 2 MP
- Box Dimensions: 350 x 250 x 130 mm (L x W x H)
- Assembled Dimensions: 225 x 220 x 230 mm (L x W x H)
- Net Weight: 2.3 kg
The new version of Devastator comes with two fresh high-torque metal gear motors that improve the speed and the payload capacity of the platform. Also, the platform comes with new suspensions allowing the mobile robot to move across a range of terrains.
The most important thing is what you can build with the platform. You can program the Intel Edison platform to avoid obstacles, send real-time video streaming, and many other computer vision applications.
Based on an aluminium alloy chassis, you can add more sensors and modules that are not included in the standard package.
What makes special this mobile platform is the Intel Edison controller called Romeo. The Romeo board is an embedded system based on Intel Edison and Arduino SoC. It has a price of $89.50, just in case you want to use separately in a custom project. This one-in-all board is designed for robotics applications, and most probably this is what we need. It supports Linux as operating system, Java and C for programming.
If you want this kit, but the price is too high for you, I give you a hint. The Dfrobot Devastator Tank Mobile Platform without the Romeo for Intel Edison Controller (With Intel Edison) and the camera is around $95.99. If you buy the Romeo for Intel Edison Controller (With Intel Edison) that cost $89.50 and a USB camera with a few dollars, the price of your custom mobile kit goes a little over $200. At a price of $200, your custom kit is almost half of the Devastator Tank Mobile price.
