Innovati - Robotinno Review

Introduction

We were first introduced to to the Innovati Robotinno out at RoboGames 2010. We were able to meet with the makers of the Robotinno and interact with each of their products.

Our first impressions of the Robotinno where excellent. We felt that the Robotinno was developed properly with good materials. Overall the impression was that the kit was well built. We were more facinated with the second genration of the Robotinno which actually included hands with the ability to grip. Except to see our review on that kit in the near future.

Thankfully, Innovati agreed to work with the RUG Community to assist us with the review of their products. Once we received the product we eagerly opened the box and began the review process. Now we have to say that this kit is not for the faint of heart. It is to be considered an Advanced Robot Kit. If you feel confident building robot kits and are ready to take on a bi-ped humanoid like robot then this is the kit to get started with!

Lastly, you can use this kit for research and/or competitions. For example, when we were out at Robogames 2010 we saw the Innovati Robotinno play soccer with the HiTec Robonova humanoids.

Overview

The Innovati Robotinno Robot Kit comes with various aluminum pieces that are used to make up the main structure of the Robotinno. Furthermore, many servo's are included which are custom made to fit the Robotinno aluminum components almost perfectly.

Kit Contents

• Servo Commander 16
• Servo's
• Red Aluminum Components
• Battery
• Battery Charger
• Manuals
• CD
• Hardware (screws, nuts)
• Tie wraps
• Double Sided Tape Strips

Servo Commander 16 Specifications

• Built-in cmdBUS connection
• Shared power jumpers between servomotors and control electronics
• Control support for up to 16 servo's
• Servo control from 0.5MS to 2.5MS
• Robust Software for servo control
• Built-in 250 memory blocks
• 4 event notifications
• State Inquiry Commands

Quick Review

Our aim here is to talk about the high leel view of the robot kit. We have created a video that quickly gets you up to speed with the robot kit and makes everything clear.

This video is not available yet

Assembly and Construction

To make this part as easy and straight forward as possible we have recorded a multi-part step by step video on how to assemble and work with the Innovati Robotinno Robot Platform. The time for construction of this kit was quite long. Therefore, there are many vidoes to capture all the efforts that were taken during the assembly process.

These video are not available yet

Support

We gave Innovati a 4 for support. One of the main reasons is because we required very little support from them. The kit although complicated was somewhat understandable. The steps that need to be performed during the construction of the Innovati Robotinno were repetitive. Half way through we were able to continue the construction of the kit with minimal support from the assembly guides.

We have found Innovati to have all the information required for this kit online on their website. We were able to locate all the manuals, assembly guides and additional information quickly and easily.

The only real snag we had during the entire process was that we attempted to use Windows 7 with the included software. This did not work as expected. Mainly because it could not detect the Servo Commander. However, Windows XP was able to interact with the controller without a problem.

Conclusion

Overall this is a great kit to get started with if you are looking to work with an advanced robot - particular one that is a biped. Keep into consideration that space is limited on this robot. Therefore you cannot just add as many sensors as required. However, you will be able to get into concepts such as balancing, walking, running, jumping and crawling.

Look for our additional articles where we actually control the Innovati Robotinno with a PS2 controller as well as have it walking around and performing certain actions.

Where to buy?

DIYbin.com