The simplicity of programming the FEZ Cerbot using Microsoft Visual Studio’s .NETMF makes it ideal for young adults and schools. The expandability of the FEZ Cerbot, through .NET Gadgeteer sockets, makes it ideal for advanced users and universities.
Out of the box, FEZ Cerbot includes a speaker to generate tones, 16 front LEDs, two gear motors with wheels and a four AA battery holder. It also includes two reflective sensors allowing developers to create a line-follower, a maze-solver or to prevent it from falling off desks and tables.
WiFi RN171 moduleSerial Camera moduleSDMicro SD moduleDistance U3 moduleCharacter DisplayN18 DisplaysensorsAccelerometerGyroCompassTemperatureThanks to .NET Gadgeteer, the six compatible sockets allow FEZ Cerbot to be extended in many ways. Add a to control the robot from a mobile phone or add a to take snapshots along the way and save using a or . By adding a FEZ Cerbot can detect objects, with information showing on the or the . Lets not forget about the numerous available , like , , and , just to name a few.
The design is completely open-source (OSHW) allowing developers to make changes and utilize the system to its fullest. The complete .NETMF runtime sources are provided, including GHIs extended OSHW library. On the hardware side, the complete schematics and design files are provided in EAGLE format.
While FEZ Cerbot ships with .NETMF and .NET Gadgeteer, a standard JTAG connection is included for direct access to the STM32F4 Cortex-M4 processor. With the design being open source, FEZ Cerbot can be programmed using a developers favorite tools.
FEZ Cerbot - AssembledFEZ Cerbot - UnassembledThere are two options, and . They are both identical but the assembled version makes it simpler for those with no soldering experience.
EDIT: Watch the first video ever of the FEZ Cerbot balancing!
One of the sweet things about this robot (beside the many sweet features) is the potential for the robot to balance. You may need to add counter weight but it should balance.
Anyone up for the challenge? What about a $100 coupon for the first one to show the robot balancing using accel/gyro plus document how it was done then community approve of it.
No cheating please
Edit: looks like @ taylorza is very close to win the $100
@ Gus - Full details coming shortly to a code share near you… In the meantime here is a better video.
Here is a better video of the robot balancing. The video shows the start-up sequence
Lay the FEZ Cerbot flat
Reset the device
Wait for the clicks to stop which indicates that the sensors are calibrated
Raise the Cerbot to the upright position and press the button to start balancing
About halfway through I purposely disrupt the Cerbot to demonstrate that it will not fall over at a whim. I still need to tune the PID to recover quicker.
@ mhectorgato - I used the Gyro and Accelerometer modules from Seeed as input to the balancing routine. Other than that I use the on board piezo to indicate the calibration progress and once calibrated the botton module is used to initiate balancing.
@ Duke Nukem, @ Michael - Thank you guys.
I have been wanting to do something like this since I started with the GHI products, but since hardware is not my forte I had to wait for someone to build me a bot. GHI has honestly done a superb job with the FEZ Cerbot.
