Robohub.org
 

Ground Drone Project: Urban mobile robot chassis


by
13 November 2014



share this:
GROUND DRONE PROJECT 2

The Ground Drone Project wants to make a low cost ground robot chassis for hobbyists and inventors that is capable of traversing challenging obstacles . The project’s original articulated traction control design offers a unique approach to obstacle traversal. The project’s Kickstarter offers backers a $100 kit instruction and bill of materials reward, and a partial to complete chassis for backers pledging $300 and up. If the Kickstarter is successful, the instructions and bill of materials will be available for all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrIFHHVCPLs

Currently available chassis are either too small or extremely expensive. In addition, these platform kits cannot leave a controlled environment – a huge problem for makers who aim for full home applications. In order for a robot to be useful in our world, it must traverse unpredictable obstacles, including stairs. This has been an extremely hard problem for roboticists to solve, but a working solution now exists!

GROUND DRONE PROJECT

Technical details

Three years went into creating a solution that removes extra actuators such as servo flippers, and into inventing an articulated modular chassis that uses pure physics. Articulate traction control connects three segments together with suspension joints that allow the chassis to articulate diagonally-downward and diagonally-upward, as the below diagram illustrates.

GROUND DRONE PROJECT 3

The three-section waterproofed boxes are empty, providing 450+ sq. inches of free space for electronics, along with open deck space for mounting payloads.

The goal of the project is to deliver an affordable and highly mobile mechanical chassis with the promise of empowering hobbyists and small businesses.

You can back the Kickstarter project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1145776805/ground-drone-project-a-versatile-mobile-robotic-pl?ref=category

You can back the Kickstarter project here:
kickstarter.com/projects/1145776805/ground-drone-project-a-versatile-mobile-robotic-pl



tags: , , , ,


Phillip Walker Phillip Walker is the co-founder and CEO of Transcend Robotics, a robotics company focused on ground mobility.
Phillip Walker Phillip Walker is the co-founder and CEO of Transcend Robotics, a robotics company focused on ground mobility.





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 119 – Robotics for small manufacturers, with Will Kinghorn

  02 May 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Will Kinghorn from Made Smarter about how to increase adoption of new tech by small manufacturers.

Multi-agent path finding in continuous environments

  01 May 2025
How can a group of agents minimise their journey length whilst avoiding collisions?

Interview with Yuki Mitsufuji: Improving AI image generation

  29 Apr 2025
Find out about two pieces of research tackling different aspects of image generation.

Robot Talk Episode 118 – Soft robotics and electronic skin, with Miranda Lowther

  25 Apr 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Miranda Lowther from the University of Bristol about soft, sensitive electronic skin for prosthetic limbs.

Interview with Amina Mević: Machine learning applied to semiconductor manufacturing

  17 Apr 2025
Find out how Amina is using machine learning to develop an explainable multi-output virtual metrology system.

Robot Talk Episode 117 – Robots in orbit, with Jeremy Hadall

  11 Apr 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Jeremy Hadall from the Satellite Applications Catapult about robotic systems for in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing.

Robot Talk Episode 116 – Evolved behaviour for robot teams, with Tanja Kaiser

  04 Apr 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Tanja Katharina Kaiser from the University of Technology Nuremberg about how applying evolutionary principles can help robot teams make better decisions.

AI can be a powerful tool for scientists. But it can also fuel research misconduct

  31 Mar 2025
While AI is allowing scientists to make technological breakthroughs, there’s also a darker side to the use of AI in science: scientific misconduct is on the rise.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence