TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a robot building platform for facilitating building of robots on the robot building platform and further alteration, modification and expansion of such built robots.

BACKGROUND ART

There exist a number of. robot development kits within the field of robotics. Most kits provide the user with the basic components, such as base software, hardware and mechanical components, necessary to build a robot including: software kit for programming, a micro-controller or a processor, actuators, sensors and different mechanical structural components used to connect and hold the hardware, actuators and sensors together. Though these kits provide the user with the flexibility to design and create a custom robot, these kits only provide the components to build a robot and not a platform. Such kits require extensive knowledge of robot mechanics, hardware, and machine software. The requirement that a user be familiar with such knowledge excludes a segment of potential users from being able to develop robots.

The United States Patent Application No. 11/832,616 (Provisional Application No. 60/867,772) relates to a robot development platform, such as a robot development kit, for facilitating only alteration or modification of components and software included in a provided robot platform. It relates to a robotic development platform which provides a user with a basic robot that is already assembled and programmed and which can only be modified and expanded. The option of building a variety of robots is very limited with such a platform as one cannot alter the basic structure of the robot platform owing to its very nature of being a robot in itself. Such a robot development platform also does not allow multiple robots to be mounted on the basic robot and therefore, limits the the multi-tasking capability of the basic robot.

Most robots and robot development kits use a single main computing device (micro-controller or a processor) and rely heavily on robot's onboard memory. They do not allow any external computing device to be mounted on the robot and connect to and work with the robot's main computing device and thereby, increase the robot's computing capability. As a result, a more efficient main computing device is required for the robot or robotic kit which very much increases the cost of the base robot or base robotic kit. The United States Patent No. 6,263,989, United States Patent No. 6,431 ,296 and United States 6,668,951 , all relate to a robotically controlled mobility platform. They do not relate to a robot building or a robot development platform consisting of a software platform, a hardware platform and a mechanical platform used to build and develop robots.

The United States Patent No. 4,536,690 relate to a self propelled robot platform for cooperative use in connection with a supporting conducting surface. It only deals with a very limited and specific robot and robot platform. It does not relate to a generic robot building or a robot development platform consisting of a software platform, a hardware platform and a mechanical platform used to build and develop a variety of robots.

There is a demand for robot building platform where a basic platform consisting of a software platform, hardware platform and a base mechanical structure which is not a complete robot in itself but which can be used to build robots and further alter, modify and expand such built robots. The platform neither being as limiting as a robot in itself nor as limitless as only components.

There is demand for a robot platform should that allows multiple robots to be mounted at different locations on the platform and be interfaced with the hardware and software of the platform.

There is a demand for a robot platform that allows an external computing device to be mounted on the platform and connect to and work with the platform's main computing device and thereby, increase the computing capability of the platform.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

In the view of the above, the present invention advantageously relate to a robot building platform which is not a complete robot in itself but which can be used to build robots and further alter, modify and expand such built robots. It allows multiple robots to be mounted at different locations on the platform that be interfaced with the hardware and software of the platform. It allows an external computing device to be mounted on the platform and connect to and work with the platform's main computing device and thereby, increase the computing capability of the platform.

Various non-limiting examples of robots, robot development kits, or related technologies are described herein, illustrating various features or advantages associated with the present invention. The following is a brief summary of at least some of the embodiments of the invention and examples discussed in this invention. A robot building platform, consisting of a mechanical chassis in the form of a cuboid with square window like expansion slots, for mounting robots or robotic devices such as drives, actuators, sensors and other robotic devices, two each on the top and bottom planes, three such slots each on the side planes, a rectangular strip on the bottom portion of each of the front and the back planes for front panel and back panel respectively; a hardware unit fitted on the inside of the back plane of the cuboid consisting of a power unit, a main board consisting of a single or multiple micro-controller or microprocessor based development unit, I/O circuit, serial and wireless communication unit, onboard programming unit, display driver unit, and hardware drivers for drives, actuators and sensors, a generic expansion board and multiple boards with I/O circuits for every expansion slot and front and back panels and different data and power buses; and a software development kit.

Another example may be similar to the above, in which a computing device such as a personal computer, thin client computer or a smart-phone is mounted on external of the front plane of the cuboid and connected to the main board of the platform using serial or wireless communication.

Another example may be similar to the above, in which an autonomous robot development platform is made using the above platform where the two expansion slots of the bottom plane together hold a differential drive, the six expansion slots on the side planes hold six robotic arms performing different tasks and the two slots on the top plane together hold a spectacles type frame consisting of two lights.

Another example may be similar to the above, in which an autonomous robot development platform is made using the above platform where the above platform is positioned in a manner in which the front plane of the cuboid becomes the top plane. The expansion slots of the side planes of such positioned cuboid each hold half part of a differential drive and the six expansion slots on the front and back planes hold six robotic arms performing different functions.

A robot building platform, consisting of a mechanical chassis in the form of a cube with a square window like expansion slots, for mounting robots or robotic devices such as drives, actuators, sensors and other robotic devices, each on the front and back planes, a rectangular window like expansion slot on the bottom portion, a small square window like expansion slot in the center and a rectangular strip on the top portion for panel on each of the side planes; a hardware unit fitted on the inside of the bottom plane of the cube consisting of a power unit, a main board consisting of a single or multiple micro-controller or microprocessor based development unit, I/O circuit, serial and wireless communication unit, onboard programming unit, display driver unit, and hardware drivers for drives, actuators and sensors, a generic expansion board and multiple boards with I/O circuits for every expansion slot and front and back panels and different data and power buses; and a software development kit.

Another example may be similar to the above, in which a computing device such as a personal computer, thin client computer or a smart-phone is mounted on external of the top plane of the cube and connected to the main board of the platform using serial or wireless communication.

Another example may be similar to the above, in which an autonomous robot development platform is made using the above platform where the two expansion slots of the front and back plane hold two robotic arms performing different functions and the two rectangular expansion slots at the bottom portion and the two small square expansion slots at the center of the side planes together hold a differential drive, where each side plane holds half part of the differential drive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a front view showing of the robot cabinet in the form of a cuboid.

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the of the robot cabinet in the form of a cuboid when lying horizontal.

Figure 3 is a schematic representation of the left and right planes of the above cabinet which are identical to each other.

Figure 4 is a schematic representation of the top and the bottom planes of the above cabinet which are identical to each other.

Figure 5 is a schematic representation of front plane of the above cabinet. Figure 5A is a schematic representation of back plane of the above cabinet.

Figure 6 is a schematic representation of an expansion slot of the above cabinet.

Figure 7 is a schematic representation of a dummy cover of the expansion slot of the above cabinet.

Figure 8 is a schematic representation of a full dummy cover of the front or back panels of the above cabinet.

Figure 9 is a schematic representation of the divided dummy covers of the front or back panels of the above cabinet.

Figure 10 is a block diagram representation of the hardware unit of the robot building platform.

Figure 11 is a block diagram representation of the main board of the hardware unit of the robot building platform.

Figure 12 is a block diagram representation of the different software units included within the robot building platform.

Figure 13 is a front view of a schematic representation of the mechanical structure of a robot building platform in the form of a cuboid when longer side plane of the cuboid is in vertical position and touch-screen computer is mounted on its front plane.

Figure 14 is a front view of a schematic representation of the mechanical structure of a robot building platform in the form of a cuboid when longer side plane of the cuboid is in vertical position and laptop computer is mounted on its front plane. Figure 15 is a front view of a schematic representation of an autonomous robot development platform is made using the robot building platform as described in Figure 13.

Figure 16 is a front view of a schematic representation of an autonomous robot development platform is made using the robot building platform as described in Figure 13 where the robot building platform is positioned in a manner in which the front plane of the cuboid becomes the top plane.

Figure 17 is a front view of a schematic representation of the mechanical structure of the robot building platform in the form of a cube.

Figure 18 is a schematic representation of the front and back planes of the above platform.

Figure 19 is a schematic representation of the left and right planes of the above platform.

Figure 20 is a schematic representation of the top and bottom planes of the above platform.

Figure 2OA is a schematic representation of a dummy cover of the expansion slot on the front and back planes of the above platform.

Figure 21 is a schematic representation of a dummy cover of the rectangular expansion slots on the left and right planes of the above platform.

Figure 22 is a schematic representation of a dummy cover of the small square expansion slots on the left and right planes of the above platform.

Figure 23 is a front view of a schematic representation of the mechanical structure of a robot building platform in the form of a cube where a touch-screen computer is mounted on its top plane.

Figure 24 is a front view of a schematic representation of the mechanical structure of a robot building platform in the form of a cube where a laptop computer is mounted on its top plane.

Figure 24A is a front view of a schematic representation of the mechanical structure of a robot building platform in the form of a cube where a smart-phone is mounted on its top plane.

Figure 25 is a front view of a schematic representation of an autonomous robot development platform is made using the robot building platform as described in Figure 23.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The following embodiments and examples provide an overview of a robot building platform.

In one embodiment, as illustrated in Figure 1 , a robot building platform consists of a mechanical chassis in the form of a cuboid positioned in a manner in which the longer side planes are in a vertical position. The shorter side planes, as illustrated in Figure 4, each consists of two square window like expansion slots as illustrated in Figure 6. The longer side planes, as illustrated in Figure 3, each consists of three of such expansion slots. Each expansion slot consists of a open square window (Figure 6-01) and mounting screws (Figure 6-02).

The expansion slots can be used for mounting robotic devices such as drives, actuators and sensors and also robots such as robotic arms. The mechanical chassis with multiple expansion slots is the key to build and further develop robots. Lose mechanical structures do not provide a basic framework necessary for making robots and also, an autonomous robot development kit does not allow one to build a variety of robots as one cannot alter the basic structure of the robot kit owing to its very nature of being a robot in itself. The present mechanical chassis with multiple expansion slots provides a solution to both of these problems. It provides a necessary framework and can be used to build a variety of robots. Also, multiple expansion slots on which even robots can be mounted greatly enhances the multitasking capability of a robot. Such a feature is not commonly found in robots or robot platforms.

The front plane, as illustrated in Figure 5, of the above platform provides for a rectangular front panel at the bottom for input/output connectors, power connectors, display units, sensor units and other such units. Also, a the front plane allows a computing device such as personal computer, as illustrated in Figures 13 and 14, a thin client or a smart phone to be mounted on it.

The back plane, as illustrated in Figure 5A, consists of a rectangular panel at bottom for the back panel which is similar to the front panel. On the inside of the back plane the hardware unit of the platform is fitted.

The hardware unit, as illustrated in Figure 10, of the platform consists on a power unit (Figure 10-01), a main board (Figure 10-02), an generic expansion board (Figure 10-03), multiple boards for every expansion slot (Figure 10-04) and front and back panels (Figure 10-05) and power buses (Figure 10-06) and data buses (Figure 10-07).

The main board, as illustrated in Figure 11 , of the hardware unit consists of a single or multiple micro-controller or microprocessor based development unit (Figure 11-01), I/O circuit(Figure 11-02), serial and wireless communication unit(Figure 11- 03), onboard programming unit(Figure 11-04), display driver unit (Figure 11-05), and hardware drivers for drives(Figure 11-06), actuators(Figure 11-07) and sensors (Figure 11-08).

Any computing device mounted on the platform can connect to the main board via the serial or wireless communication unit and add to the computing capability of the main board.

The generic expansion board provides for further expansion of the hardware unit.

The robot building platform allows a separate computing device such as personal computer, thin client or a smart-phone to be mounted on the mechanical structure of the platform and be connected to the main board using serial or wireless communication. This would allow more advance software applications, that are unable to run on the platform's hardware unit, to be run on the separate computing device and work with platform's hardware and software as if they were one. The less advance software applications can run on the platform's hardware even when the separate computing device is switched off.

The capability of the platform to make use of a separate computing device greatly enhances the computing capability of the platform and also reduces the cost of the platform as it can operate with less advance hardware unit.

Figure 12 shows the block diagram representation of the different software units included within a robot building platform. The generic expansion board's microcontroller's software system is optional and required only for further expansion. Similarly, the provision for expansion slot's robot's software system to directly access the separate computing device's software system is also optional and required only if the robot mounted on the expansion slot requires so.

An example of an autonomous robot development platform made using the above platform is illustrated in Figure 15 where the two expansion slots of the bottom plane together hold a differential drive (Figure 15-01), the six expansion slots on the side planes hold six robotic arms performing different tasks (Figure 15-02) and the two slots on the top plane together hold a spectacles type frame consisting of two lights (Figure 15-03) and a touch-screen computer is fitted on the front plane (Figure 15-04).

Another such example is illustrated in Figure 16 where the above platform is positioned in a manner in which the front plane of the cuboid becomes the top plane. The expansion slots of the side planes of such positioned cuboid each hold half part of a differential drive (Figure 16-01)and the six expansion slots on the front and back planes hold six robotic arms performing different functions (Figure 16-02) and a touch-screen computer is fitted on the top plane (Figure 16-03).

In another embodiment, as illustrated in Figure 17, a robot building platform consists of a mechanical chassis in the form of a cube. The front and back planes as illustrated in Figure 18, each consist of a square window like expansion slot. The front and back planes as illustrated in Figure 19, each consists of a small square window like expansion slots at the center (Figure 19-01), a rectangular window like expansion slot at the bottom portion (Figure 19-02) and a rectangular strip for a panel at the top portion (Figure 19-03).

The nature of the expansion slot of the platform is similar to the previous given example of the robot building platform.

The top plane, as illustrated in Figure 20, allows a computing device such as personal computer, as illustrated in Figures 23 and 24, a thin client or a smart phone as illustrated in Figure 24A, to be mounted on it.

On the inside of the bottom plane the hardware unit of the platform is fitted.

The hardware unit and the software system of the platform is similar to the previous given example of the robot building platform.

An example of an autonomous robot development platform made using the above platform is illustrated in Figure 25, where the two expansion slots of the front and back plane hold two robotic arms performing different functions (Figure 25-01) and the two rectangular expansion slots at the bottom portion and the two small square expansion slots at the center of the side planes together hold a differential drive, where each side plane holds half part of the differential drive (Figure 25-02) and a touch screen computer is mounted on the top plane (Figure 25-03).

With regard to the present invention and each of the embodiments or examples discussed hereinabove, although reference has been made to, inter alia, all are contemplated and understood as embodiments of the present invention. All examples herein are non-limiting examples.