About
Fae Bot was born from the idea of being able to move a tool in a huge 3D space.
About
Fae Bot was born from the idea of being able to move a tool in a huge 3D space.
FAE (Farm, Automation, Equipment)
FAE (Farm, Automation, Equipment)
"FAE"
=
Old French "fairy"
Why a Wire Bot?
When one needs to move a tool or a manipulator around, options are limited and have different drawbacks:
- Arms are strong and fast, but have a limited range.
- Wheeled robots have a long range but require either a controlled environment or a way to map an area and plan for a route.
- Multicopters can attain a huge volume but have a limited strength and can be hard to position and stabilize, especially in outdoor conditions.
A suspended robot can move within a big volume, deploy more strength than a quadcopter and position itself more easily, depending less on sensors to achieve precision positioning. In several scenarios they are easier to deploy and design than competing approaches. We think that many farming automation tasks can be fulfilled with such a platform.
Why Fae Bot?
People who want to move a tool or a manipulator in a 3D volume today have no off-the-shelf solution. They may give up when confronted with the difficulties of designing a wheeled or flying solution suited for their needs, when a wirebot is a cheaper and easier alternative.
The only wirebot systems available on the market right now are big industrial systems that are too expensive for many smaller scale applications or experiments. We propose a simple kit that allows engineers and researchers to quickly set up a reliable moving platform.
We can not possibly imagine all the applications for what is essentially a robot mover. This is why this project is open source and easy to modify. It uses well known parts and documented protocols so that they can be easily modified or replaced to fit new needs.
A Robot Mover
In the Fae bot, the moving platform itself is not the main part of the robot. The actual body of the robot is in the winch modules. These are the moving parts that allow the moving platform to place a tool in the work volume. The moving platform is better seen as base for interchangeable tools.
A Fae Bot is, in essence, a robot mover. It simply selects the tool you want to play with and brings that tool to the place where it needs to be. This opens up an applications potential that is endless.
Why a Wire Robot?
When one needs to move a tool or a manipulator around, options are limited and have different drawbacks:
- Arms are strong and fast, but have a limited range.
- Wheeled robots have a long range but require either a controlled environment or a way to map an area and plan for a route.
- Multicopters can attain a huge volume but have a limited strength and can be hard to position and stabilize, especially in outdoor conditions.
A suspended robot can move within a big volume, deploy more strength than a quadcopter and position themselves more easily, depending less on sensors to achieve precision positioning. In several scenarios they are easier to deploy and design than competing approaches. We think that many farming automation tasks can be fulfilled with such a platform.
Why Fae Bot?
People who want to move a tool or a manipulator in a 3D volume today have no off-the-shelf solution. They may give up when confronted with the difficulties of designing a wheeled or flying solution suited for their needs, when a wirebot is a cheaper and easier alternative.
The only wirebot systems available on the market right now are big industrial systems that are too expensive for many smaller scale applications or experiments. We propose a simple kit that allows engineers and researchers to quickly set up a reliable moving platform.
We can not possibly imagine all the applications for what is essentially a robot mover. This is why this project is open source and easy to modify. It uses well known parts and documented protocols so that they can be easily modified or replaced to fit new needs.
A Robot Mover
In the Fae Bot, the moving platform itself is not the main part of the robot. The actual body of the robot is in the winch modules. These are the moving parts that allow the moving platform to place a tool in the work volume. The moving platform is better seen as base for interchangeable tools. A Fae Bot is, in essence, a robot mover. It simply selects the tool you want to play with and brings that tool to the place where it needs to be. This opens up an applications potential that is endless.