VEX Protobot Robot Kit

The VEX Protobot Robot Kit contains over 300 parts and pieces which can be used to build the VEX Protobot, the VEX Tumbler, or some creation of your own!

300+ Parts.
Full plans for building Protobot and Tumbler.
Includes structural metal, fasteners, wheels, gears, and motors.

NOTE: A VEX Robot Control System is not included with this kit. Combine the Protobot Robot Kit with your VEX control system or adapt your own controller system for a complete working robot.

The VEX Protobot Robot Kit serves as the core around which all of our Robot Starter Bundles and Classroom Bundles are based. Bundles offer the best way to buy a complete robot package while saving you money because they combine the required control systems with the Protobot Robot Kit at a discount. When combined with one of our control system options you can create a radio control, programmable autonomous or dual control robot. This kit contains over 300 parts, pieces and detailed assembly instructions in the form of a Quick Start Guide to build the VEX Protobot Robot, the VEX Tumbler Robot, or some creation of your own design!

If you already own a VEX robot control system, the Protobot Robot Kit includes all the structural metal, fasteners, wheels, gears, and motors you'll need to build either the Protobot or Tumbler robot designs.

Kit Contents

Motion

4 x 2-Wire Motor 269
21 x Shaft Collar
4 x Shaft, 2" Long
6 x Shaft, 3" Long
1 x Shaft, 4" Long
20 x Bearing Flat
4 x Gear, 12-tooth
4 x Gear, 36-tooth
6 x Gear, 60-tooth
2 x Gear, 84-tooth
4 x 5" Wheel
4 x 4" Wheel
4 x 2.75" Wheel

Metal

2 x Bar, 25-hole
1 x Plate, 5 x 15 hole
2 x Chassis Bumper (15-hole)
4 x Chassis Rail (16-hole)
2 x C-Channel, 1x2x1x15 hole
1 x C-Channel, 1x2x1x25 hole

Electrical

4 x Motor Controller 29
1 x Robot AA Battery Holder

Hardware

54 x Screw, 8-32 x 1/4" Long
15 x Screw, 8-32 x 3/8" Long
12 x Screw, 8-32 x 1/2" Long
2 x Screw, 8-32 x 3/4" Long
10 x Screw, 6-32 x 1/4" Long
8 x Screw, 6-32 x 1/2" Long
34 x Nut, 8-32 Keps
4 x Standoff, 3" Long
4 x Standoff, 2" Long
6 x Standoff, 1" Long
4 x Standoff, 1/2" Long
12 x Shaft Spacer, Thin (4.6mm)
2 x Shaft Spacer, Thick (8mm)
100 x 4" Tie Wraps
50 x Bearing Pop-Rivet

Equipment

1 x Tool, Allen Wrench Small (5/64")
1 x Tool, Allen Wrench Large (3/32")
1 x Tool, VEX Open-Ended Wrench
1 x Tool, Nut Starter
1 x Manual, Protobot & Tumbler

Downloads & Docs:

Specifications:

Drive Base Width:12.375"
Drive Base Length:9.125"
Arm Length:17" (arm all the way down pointing forward off the front of the robot)
Arm Height Down:8" (arm all the way down pointing forward off the front of the robot)
Arm Height Up:17.75" (arm all the way up)

From: limor Sat Aug 13, 2011 2:01 am	Go to Forum ->
We have started selling the basic VEX kit. VEX is the most popular kit for school robot competitions in USA. It has been around for years but only recently have they completed adapting the kit to comply with EU safety regulations and InovationFirst formally launched European VEX. Typically VEX components are used to create wheeled robots that can move and pick up objects and put them or throw them them. An example of a VEX competition will involve 2 remote controlled robots from each group that have to throw the blue balls from one side of the arena to the other while preventing the competition to throw over the red balls. We want to provide an add-on kit that will make the VEX platform autonomous. Maybe even let these games be performed without users remote control. And what would be a great way to give VEX autonomy if not with the help of our new entry-level embedded linux platform - the MiniEMBWiFi ? Answer: the MiniEMBWiFi + Webcam + Arduino In order to give the VEX robot some autonomy we have been playing around with the following configuration: VEX Protobot (comes with 4 motors and speed controllers) Arduino (sends PWM signal to the speed controllers and digests sensors) MiniEMBWiFi (comes with on-board wifi) Webcam (nothing fancy, will work at 320p) LiPo Battery (7.4V, 5000Mah, couple of hours worth of continuous play) Voltage regulator (MiniEMBWiFi likes 5V) To process the video signal from the webcam and then do some autonomous work, we installed RoboRealm.com on a remote (powerful) laptop. RoboRealm has a very comprehensive set of video processing functions. The idea is to stream the video signal to the RoboRealm running on a powerful PC and it will then send commands back to the Linux over wifi, which will stream these commands to the Arduino, which will command the motors to do intelligent stuff. RoboRealm@PC <--> MiniEMBWiFi + wifi + webcam <--> Arduino <--> VEX speed controllers <--> VEX motors The first step is to link the video signal from the MiniEMBWiFi to the PC In the video you can see that the video signal reached from the robot to the PC (RoboRealm) at 320p decent frame rate. Now that we have a video signal streamed from the robot to the RoboRealm brain, we need it to stream back commands to the motors. For that we make use of a Linux utility called socat and something similar running on Windows. The idea is to emulate a serial port on the windows that will be virtually linked to the arduino (serial over net). This will allow RoboRealm to think that the Arduino is connected locally to the PC (hopefully no buffering and delays) and will allow the Arduino java development environment to think that the Arduino is connected locally. The MiniEMBWiFi essentially serves here as a combination of a remote wifi-camera + zigbee-shield for arduino. If all goes well then maybe eventually we can do some number crunching on the linux board and the Arduino possibly.. (to be cont'd)

From: nunogato Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:07 am	Go to Forum ->
Already made some changes on the kit. I't now fully assembled so it is built from: 1 x VEX Protobot Robot Kit 1 x Arduino Uno 1 x Omnima - MiniEMBWiFi 320MHz Embedded Linux Board 1 x ZIPPY Flightmax LiPo 2S 7.2V 5000mAh 20C (maybe this is too big but it the one we had in the office) 1 x USB Cable A to B - 6 Foot To connect the Arduino to the Linux (didn't had a smaller one) 1 x UBEC Voltage Regulator 5V 3A (to power the Linux board and the USB hub) 1 x UVC USB Camera 1 x 4 Port USB Hub Then we made on the MakerBot the supports for the Arduino and the Linux Board and with some pin headers a small board where the motors are connected, so they are powered directly from the LiPo but the signal comes from the PWM ports of the Arduino. Next task: Make it work Check some pictures