Hi,
which of the supported robots would you recommend for using with ROS (educational purposes)? Turtlebot seems to lead the way but are there any real alternatives? Anything that comes close to Turtlebot (and is in the same/similar price range)?
I would say that the Turtlebot is the most well-supported platform on these forums, just out of experience. That is not to say that other robots aren't well-supported, but there are lots of tutorials and help for Turtlebot users. I'm not sure of any other robots really in that price range.
The Bilibot platform offers similar features to the Turtlebot and has an integrated "powerboard" that allows for a single charger. I believe the Turtlebot requires separate chargers for the computer and the iRobot Create, whereas the Bilibot has one plug to power/charge the create and the main computer supply. It also has Intel i3 processor that's a bit beefier than the dual-atom you get in the Turtlebot's netbook. Plus it ships with an arm (albeit very limited).
Unfortunately, other than basic setup instructions the documentation/tutorials for the Bilibot platform are severely lacking. As a contributing member of the project, I'm working with my local university to help find and fix some holes in that area over the upcoming semester (they purchased a number of them as general-purpose ROS machines).
I've just built my own basically-a-turtlebot with a netbook, an iRobot Create, and a kinect. It's not as 100% pretty, but it works well.
Basically this, but the latest one uses a turtlebot power board instead of the handmade one since it included a gyro that I needed.
Asked: Jan 31
Seen: 129 times
Last updated: Jan 31
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