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Marty The Robot

Get future-proof with Marty, the programmable and customisable robot for kids, makers & educators

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Marty The Robot

Marty The Robot

Marty The Robot

Marty The Robot

Marty The Robot

Get future-proof with Marty, the programmable and customisable robot for kids, makers & educators

Get future-proof with Marty, the programmable and customisable robot for kids, makers & educators

Get future-proof with Marty, the programmable and customisable robot for kids, makers & educators

Get future-proof with Marty, the programmable and customisable robot for kids, makers & educators

Alexander Enoch
Alexander Enoch
Alexander Enoch
Alexander Enoch
2 Campaigns |
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
$131,164 USD $131,164 USD by 893 backers
$66,359 USD by 430 backers on Aug 13, 2016
Highlights
Mountain Filled 2 Projects Mountain Filled 2 Projects

 

Order your Marty at www.robotical.io

Marty has now launched, and our first batch has been shipped out. To order a Marty now go to https://robotical.io/shop/sku/1

 

Introducing Marty

The mini walking robot that costs little but does a lot

Marty is a fully programmable, WiFi enabled walking robot for kids, makers, educators, and for anybody who just wants a cute robot. Marty makes learning about programming, electronics, and mechanical engineering a fun and engaging process. He is designed to be customisable with 3D printed parts, and is also completely upgradeable.  He’s is even compatible with single board computers like the Raspberry Pi!

Out-of-the-box Marty can be controlled remotely over WiFi, but you can also program him in a variety of programming languages. Kids and beginners can learn with Scratch, where coding is as simple as clicking and dragging blocks. Experienced programmers can control him using more powerful programming languages such as Python and C++, or state of the art robotics tools such as ROS.

 

  "Could radically alter how children learn about mechanics and computer programming"

Tech Age Kids   "I really like the way it actually walks with legs and feet, most kids robots just wheel around."
 

   "Robotical, a robot to help teach coding, has been hailed as one of the UK's most exciting spinouts"

"Sure there are a ton of other robots made for kids, but Marty is astonishingly special."

"I’m probably most hyped about Marty’s eyebrows"
 

The Engineer    BBC Live Lessons      

     

 

Marty has a unique leg design, which makes him easier to use than a traditional walking robot and gives him a longer lasting battery. He can walk, turn, dance, kick a ball, and - of course - bust out some funky dance moves!

 

Marty was developed by Dr. Alexander Enoch over the last year and a half originally as a side project during his PhD (for which he was building bigger walking robots) at the University of Edinburgh. We've now got several functional prototypes and we're ready to start producing kits, but we need your support to make it happen!

 

  

Marty's legs are a bit different to a traditional walking robot. Each leg has three motors: one for forwards and backwards, one for side to side, and one for turning.

That's fewer motors than a traditional two legged walking robot, and makes Marty cheaper to make, easier to use, and makes him use less energy to move around. His new design allows him to make all kinds of movements, and gives him a bit of swagger!

A spring in his step. We use springs to help support Marty’s weight and reduce the amount of work the motors have to do. He can even stand on one leg even with all his motors turned off!

Happy? Worried? Angry? Ambivalent? Marty can show emotions with his moving eyebrows!

 

Getting started programming Marty is incredibly easy. To beginners we recommend starting in Scratch, a "graphical" language where programming is as simple as clicking and moving blocks. Scratch is aimed at ages from 9+ and widely used around the world. You can make Marty interact with the environment by moving blocks around to read information from his sensors and sending commands back to his motors. When you are ready to go into learning text-based programming, Marty makes the transition as easy as possible by providing the same interface with an extensive and engaging set of guides and tutorials.

No previous knowledge of programming is required to program Marty, but if you know what you're doing you can jump in straight away using Python, C++, Java, C#, and many more programming languages!

 

Customising and 3D Printing

You don't need a 3D printer to get a Marty, but all the plastic parts can be 3D printed, and the CAD files will be available. So if you do have access to a 3D printer you can customise the designs as much as you like. The electronics on board also support additional sensors and motors.

For instance, you could make a four-legged Marty, a wheeled Marty, a bigger Marty, make arms with closable grippers - or anything else you can think of!

 

Here's a little project we did last weekend:

Raspberry Pi compatible

The robot is built to hold a full size Raspberry Pi (a little credit card sized computer), so while it's not required to have one, you can add one and then you have a walking quad-core computer! With a Raspberry Pi on the robot you can do things like vision processing all on-board for tracking a ball and playing football, or even detecting faces to make Marty communicate with your friends!

Additionally, Marty’s design makes it compatible with all Raspberry Pis, including the new Zero, as well Arduinos, Beaglebones, and other commonly used boards!

 

An App Store for Software and Hardware

Robotics is more than just software, and a robot app store isn't a real robot app store unless it also has hardware add-ons. Our app store will let users share 3D printable parts and code for the robots, along with links to any additional parts or sensors the add-on requires.

 

 

 

Marty's control electronics are custom made and designed to address a few of the issues we have with other control boards on the market. Based around a 180 MHz ARM Cortex M4 micro-controller, the board takes care of all Marty's low level functions, generating movements in real time, reading sensors, and connecting to WiFi.

As well as controlling Marty's servos, our control board also measures the electrical current being used by each servo. That means we can tell if a motor is being over-stressed and turn it off before it risks damaging itself.

The control boards also include:

  • An accelerometer for measuring tilt and acceleration.
  • A beeper for making noise.
  • Lots of ports for connecting additional sensors, motors, and circuit boards.

The control board is also designed to support a single board computer like a Raspberry Pi - providing a power and data link.

 

FAQs

Click on a question to expand that section

Do I need a 3D printer?

No! All our main kits come with all the plastic parts you need to make a Marty! If you have access to a 3D printer you can customise your 'bot, but it's absolutely not required

Does Marty require a Raspberry Pi?

Nope, it's an optional extra.

What is a Raspberry Pi and how is Marty compatible?

A Raspberry Pi is a very popular little credit card sized computer, used widely in education, by makers, and even in industry. Marty can support an optional Raspberry Pi - and actually that's one of the reasons his head is the size it is! Our electronics include a regulated power supply for the optional Pi, and serial and i2c data connections

What sensors does Marty have?

Sensors

Every robot needs sensors, they're what lets you actually interact with the outside world. Each Marty kit will come with some sensors - including motor current sensing and tilt measurement, but you can add loads more:
  • Motor current sensing
  • Distance sensor
  • Contact sensors/buttons
  • Accelerometer / tilt sensor
  • Some example add ons:
    • Sonar/IR distance sensors
    • Microphone
    • More contact sensors
    • Camera (with a Raspberry Pi, or as standard if we reach the stretch goal!)
    • Temperature
    • Light level

 

Can I get some more info on how you program Marty?

With the robot we will be shipping a software stack on Marty that lets you get stuck in at various levels, from controlling individual joints to calling whole routines.

Marty is wifi enabled, and that means that code can be run either on the robot or on a PC/tablet/phone on the same wifi network. By default, all Marty's low level functions such as movement generation run on Marty himself, and your programs will be run on an external computer. Alternatively with some small effort you will be able to make it fully autonomous if you want to (without even adding a Pi). Here's an overview:

  • Remote Control: You click a button on your laptop/phone/etc. and a simple instruction "walk: 2 steps, 50mm step length, 0 degrees turning, 1.2 second step time" is sent to your robot, which does all the clever stuff.
  • Scratch: Runs in your browser and opens a web socket to the robot on your client side. You'll send high level instructions like "walk 2 steps" or "read distance sensor" and the robot will send acknowledgements back
  • Python: Interpreted on your machine, options to hook into various levels of behaviour, from whole movements to individual joint control. Run threads in parallel to read sensors etc or control different bits of the robot (e.g. eyes/arms/legs) independently. (Or maaaaybe even micropython on Marty himself.)
  • C/C++: Run on your computer with our library to interface to your robot. Or, program the robot to execute your code on top of his base code. A bit like an Arduino.
  • c#/Java: Coming soon if there’s demand!
Any specific questions, just send us an email!
What's the funding for?

Making a hardware product is expensive - and even though it would be cool to 3D print all the kits, that's a bit too time consuming for a consumer product. To make injection moulding cost effective we need a whole bunch of orders, since the molds themselves are very expensive. And to make the electronics for the price we'd like, we also need to make a batch of boards. So here we are!

How robust is Marty?

Marty is a robot that won't be broken by falling over. The design has been tested by the hundreds of hours of demonstrations and teaching we have done all around UK.

The main drive servos have metal gears, and our electronics measure the current going through the motors, so we can turn them off if something really bad is happening. The loading in each joint is well spread, so there's not a big radial load on the servo shaft, and the parts are all engineered to put up with a lot of abuse. The only bit that may break when he has a big fall are the eyebrows - and we can and will make those stronger!

 
 
 

A Marty kit comes with everything you need to build a walking robot, apart from a screwdriver. You'll get:
  • All the plastic parts to build a Marty - 36 parts in total.
  • Servo motors. To make Marty move. You'll get four metal geared ones for the main drive motors, and three more carbon fibre geared ones for the leg twist and eyebrow movements.
  • Screws. For screwing. And some spares in case you drop some.
  • Control board. To plug everything into and actually make Marty do stuff.
  • WiFi. Yep, that's on the control board.
  • Starter sensors. A couple of buttons, an accelerometer for measuring tilt (and acceleration), current sensing to see how much work the motors are doing, and a distance sensor so Marty doesn't walk off the table, unless you tell him to :-(
  • Starter batteries. A set of AAs to get you started, but you'll probably want to swap these for some rechargeables (or a LiPo or LiIon pack) once they drain. Or, if we reach the stretch goal, Marty will come with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, and a charger.
  • Software. For remote control, and for programming in languages including Scratch, Python and C++.
  • Instructions. For the few that still read them, we will make them extra-cute!

 

Well, free for personal use, anyway. The leg mechanism is patent pending, but we only want to use IP protection to try and stop big companies from potentially bullying us - not to stop you guys making cool things. We'll post the files for 3D printable parts online, and you're encouraged to modify and share them. Same for software!

Marty is designed to be more than a pretty face. Multiple degree of freedom limbs make a robot that is interesting to control, and with the capability to use sensors like motor current, accelerometers, force sensors, and even camera(s), you can get into some quite advanced topics in robotics - from movement generation to mapping, localisation, and high-level planning.

Right now you can program Marty in Scratch, Python and C++, and there will be APIs to simplify issuing commands and reading from sensors. We'll support more languages with time, with precedence given first to popular ones such as Java, C# and a few others more.

With a Raspberry Pi (or other single board computer) on board you can do your vision processing for a completely autonomous robot. With a Pi you can even run ROS, the Robot Operating System, on the robot - and we'll provide wrappers to make it easier to interface with the entirety of the robot software.

Alexander Enoch recently finished his PhD in robotics from the University of Edinburgh. For that PhD he designed and built a walking robot that could change how springy its joints were, and he built a little 3D printed walking robot as a side project. Before that, he received a Master’s degree in robotics from Heriot-Watt University, where he was also president of the robotics society. He quite likes robots. As well as that, he's been a science communicator at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. He's the founder of Robotical and inventor of Marty, and he's delighted to be funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering on an Enterprise Fellowship.

Hannah Wright has worked for the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and has a background in marketing and communications. With a background in theatre and drama, Hannah makes sure we don't leave out the creative side of robotics. She also handles all the social media and marketing stuff.

Angus Pearson studies computer science at the University of Edinburgh, and is really good at making computers do stuff. A very competent programmer, he's also good at designing PCBs and writing firmware - so he does those things at Robotical!

 

 

Alejandro Bordallo is a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, where he makes robots work together and around people in perfect harmony. If you've ever seen us doing a demo, you've probably met Alex - and if you've been in the vicinity you'll definitely have heard him. Alex is also captain of Edinburgh's RoboCup robot football team. He's is a ROS guru and helps make Marty a powerful robot platform.

 

Nantas Nardelli has just finished his BSc in computer science from the University of Edinburgh, and will soon be leaving to start his PhD at Oxford where he'll be making computers learn to play Minecraft, StarCraft and other games autonomously. Before that he's helping us get the software stack sorted, so our firmware, Scratch, Python, C++ and ROS interfaces, APIs and SDKs all play nicely together. He has been to several RoboCup World competitions with his own robots and with Edinburgh’s team.

Awards

  • Inspire, Launch, Grow Innovation cup;
  • Converge Challenge Kickstart runner up;
  • Innovation Forum What IF? award;
  • EU Robotics Forum Entrepreneurship Award Runner up;
  • UK Maker Faire Maker of Merit 2016.

 

Risks

We've got functional prototypes, so we know what we're making is possible. The biggest risks come from issues with the supply chain and toolmaking - the robots have lots of moving parts, and the tools have to get these fits right. Worst case scenario is that a tool is made incorrectly, and we have to wait two months to get a new one, but in theory that is already factored into the timescale.

Our salaries at Robotical are covered from other sources, so the money raised from this crowdfund will be used to actually make the products, and not to pay bills!

As a backer you'll get at least weekly, no holds barred reports about progress - so you can see exactly how things are going.

 

Prototype Development

Marty has been in development for a while now, he started off as a side project during Alexander's PhD, but he's come a long way since then!

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