I looking for a robot that can upload a DXF file or XML file then proceed to follow a line or to locate xyz co-ordinates supplied in csv file. The robot must be aware of its location to 1cm accuracy that is supplied by my GPS through NMEA data supplied over a serial com port, and be able to navigate a series of lines defined in the dxf/xml/csv then at precise co-ordinates trigger a 12v 20N solenoid for continuous periods up to 8 hours. I can supply the GPS, but I have limited programming skills. I do have programmers that can manage the task to send the location instructions to the robot, but we need the api to know which instructions to give to the robot when. I hope I make sense.
Hello Corne,
Everything you have said makes sense. Be aware there is a great deal of software required to do what you are trying to do. The magni has an onboard Ubuntu Linux 16.04 OS at this time and we are now starting to run Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB memory space so there seems to be no compute issue and likely no memory space issue but that depends on the file size, I doubt it is gigabyte in size.
We make this robot so that people do not have to invent/develop their own robot base complete with motor controller and full odometry running on ROS (Robot Operating System). We have many customers who are developing their own products by adding on things to magni for their own use such as your situation. That is in fact our ‘value statement’ to get teams going fast so they can focus on their own unique additions for their own usage or product.
We do not directly offer a GPS so you would have to determine how to hook it up. For GPS modules I have used and considering what magni has on it you would plan on plugging in a USB to serial FDDI type of serial interface which linux would support and then a /dev/ttyUSB0 would show up. I do this a LOT for my Raspberry Pi projects and we have 4 USB ports available on the Raspberry Pi in each magni so I see no issue there. As I said, we are on Ubuntu Linux and running ROS, robot operating system.
Look on the web to try to locate a GPS ROS node and you will find that there is a ROS driver at this link: http://wiki.ros.org/nmea_navsat_driver. You should have a software team member look at that page. That or a similar ROS driver would be what you would be integrating into your system and is totally within the scope of ROS robotic systems.
As far as the high current solenoid we have been developing two different solutions (boards) for support of high current single relay. The relay is a fairly high current 15amp relay at this time meant to switch on a high current isolated load. This is a product in development but we have our first generation PC boards back now and are making enhancements right now. The second board is more custom and it uses a 30Amp relay but that board is custom in other ways so is not likely to be a product. How many amps do you have to switch?
So if you are up for doing the software for the system our Magni robot seems suitable and a good fit.
We also offer a software consulting service. For that route I would have you talk with our founder on Monday or later if that sort of support is needed.
I suggest you send an email to support@ubiquityrobotics.com with Attention Mark (me) and we can investigate farther when you are ready.
Cheers,
Mark