Robotics I PresentationRobotics I PresentationHERO 2000HERO 2000“Gone But Not Forgotten”“Gone But Not Forgotten”

Rick Irons

April 3, 2003

Presentation SummaryPresentation Summary

IntroductionHistoryInterfacingFeaturesCritiqueFutureSourcesAcknowledgments

IntroductionIntroductionThe HERO 2000The HERO 2000

Weight 78 lbs. Height 32.4 in. Width 16.5 in. Length 22.5 in.

HistoryHistory

Created in late 1980’s by Heathkit Educational Systems

Target audience: Hobbyists Worked with the HERO while an

undergraduate at Boston College (1991) HERO was already out of production, but

about 8 HERO’s were maintained for an undergraduate Robotics course taught by Professor James Gipps

InterfacingInterfacing

Terminal Mode – Remote console connected to HERO and

functions as a portable ASCII terminal.

Link Mode– External computer connected to HERO. We

used this mode with the HERO’s connected to Macintosh’s (Apple II’s?).

Remote Mode– Remote console used remotely to edit a single

line of text and transmit to a HERO.

3 Modes Available:

Interfacing (Continued)Interfacing (Continued)

Could directly control HERO using the keypad on the HERO and also the Remote Console.

FeaturesFeatures

Hardware– 8088 Microprocessor (12 Mhz?)– 64K ROM– 24K RAM expandable to 576K

HERO 2000 BASIC interpreter stored in ROM. BASIC interpreter contains HERO specific commands.

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Remote Console

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Battery Charge Dock

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Base Movement– Four wheel drive base

• Diamond configuration.

– 26lbs maximum pulling force– BASIC Commands:

• Right and left base motors• RHT <distance>[,<speed>][,$]• LFT <distance>[,<speed>][,$]• Distance in inches• Speed: 0-slow 7-fast

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Arm Movement– Shoulder range: 0 to 120 degrees– Arm• Servo motor controlled• Six axes of motion• ARM <degrees>[,<speed>][,$]

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Arm Movement (Continued)– Elbow range: 0 to 180 degrees• ELBOW <degrees>[,<speed>][,$]

–Wrist• Roll Range: +180 to -179 degrees• Pitch: +180 to -90 degrees• WRIST <pitch>,<roll>[,<speed>][,$]

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Arm Movement (Continued)– Gripper• GRIP <value>[,$]• <value> is in the range 0 (Closed) to 9

(Fully Opened).• FORCE <value>[,$]• Range is -6 to 8. Negative values open

gripper and positive values close it.

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Torso Movement– Range of 180 to -165 degrees– TORSO <degrees>[,<speed>][,$]– Position 0 at front of the base

Miscellaneous Movement Commands– HOME - Places all axes of motion into home

position.– MPOS(X) - Returns current position of motor

X.

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)Sensors– Temperature

• TEMP - Returns temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

– Sound• SOUND - Returns a sound level reading taken from

the microphone in relative units.

– Light• LIGHT(<expression>)

• Returns a relative light reading from the light sensor at <expression> degrees.

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

– Sonar• Head sonar

– Rotates 360 degrees– SONAR(<expression>)– Expression is angle to take reading from– Max distance 127.5 inches– 0.5 inch resolution

• Base sonar– SONARB– 0.5 resolution

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

Speech– SAY”<plain text>”• HERO says words specified by <plain text>• Mispronouncing is possible• Can spell out words phonetically

– SAY “[p a ie v m eh n t]”– Must be in brackets

• Attributes also available– Amplitude, Duration, Inflection, Notes, Filter

Frequency, Modes, Rate, Articulation

Features (Continued)Features (Continued)

– SPEAK”<string>”• Same as SAY except plain text is not

allowed.• Everything in the <string> is assumed to be

a combination of mnemonics and attribute specifications.• Message transmission code.

CritiqueCritique

Advantages– Valuable educational tool.– Cool design.– Lots of features (Sensors, Arm, BASIC

Interpreter, Speech, Movement).

Critique (Continued)Critique (Continued)

Disadvantages– Broke down often.– Sensor and movement capabilities were

rarely accurate. The same sensor or movement command on different robots often produce different results.

– Needed to be a technical person to be able to do anything worthwhile.

FutureFuture

None, apart from die hard hobbyists.Boston College has two HERO’s, but

neither are functioning.Searched Ebay for any HERO

auctions (complete HERO’s or parts). Nothing found. Not a good sign.

Was the HERO “A robot before it’s time”?

SourcesSources

HERO 2000 User’s ManualMemory of BC Robotics courseHERO 2000 Web page:

http://www.robotprojects.com/hero2000/hero2000.htm

AcknowledgmentsAcknowledgments

Professor James Gipps Boston College SOM CS Dept.– HERO 2000 User’s Manual

Ellen Irons– Help with presentation layout