LPRS Radio Modules Bring Re-Cycling Robots to Life

To use Cycler to run the recycling education programmes in Schools a “handler” is required who tells him what to do by sending commands using a concealed radio transmitter powered by easy-Radio. Cycler has five microcontrollers for a brain and nervous system, an MP3 sound file player, amplifier and speakers to allow him to talk, and seven electric motors to make him move.

The handler can make Cycler drive around, move his arms, move his head and has full control over the MP3 player allowing highly interactive dialogs to take place.

In between being told what to do, Cycler runs his own inbuilt personality program which makes him look around, moving and flashing his eyes, whilst moving his head and arms. For practical reasons Cycler is not allowed to drive about unless specifically ordered to do so by his handler. This personality program enables the handler to have both hands in view whilst Cycler continues to move speak and generally look alive which aids the presentation by keeping the attention of the audience.

To date it is estimated that Foundation-Robotics Cycler robots, which visit 3 schools per day, have been seen by some 750,000 children and have proved an excellent means of keeping their young audience’s attention during these presentations.

David Buckley, Managing Director of Foundation-Robotics comments, “My original designs were based on conventional wireless chip-sets and modules which promised ease of use. In practice I discovered I had to spend a lot of time adding many layers of error correction software to achieve any degree of reliable wireless connectivity. After I discovered easy-Radio’s 433MHZ transmitter and receiver modules, I found I didn’t get any errors at all. I even turned off the error correction I had previously had to use and easy-Radio just kept working. easy-Radio has been very easy to use, completely reliable and I would recommend it to anybody looking for a wireless control solution.”

Barry Gillibrand, Managing Director of LPRS comments;” The experience of Foundation-Robotics is typical of the response we get for easy-Radio. An out-of-the-box and stress-free solution to replacing cable connections with short-range wireless modules. Our software is simple and easy to use and ensures reliable, error free wireless communication.”