Pi Borg, the Cambridgeshire-based robotics specialist, has just launched their latest Kickstarter, and it’s a bit of a monster!
There are two parts to the campaign (both of which are pictured above): the ThunderBorg motor controller and the MonsterBorg four-wheeled robot.
The ThunderBorg is a 5A dual motor controller. It has on-board voltage monitoring, an RGB LED, a built in DC-DC converter (allowing you to use power supplies from 7V to 36V), and is just larger than a Raspberry Pi Zero. It allows control of speed via PWM and works in forward and reverse directions. From the campaign text:
It controls 2 DC motors per board and has a powerful 5 amp per motor continuous rating. Each board will alternatively control a 4 wire stepper. You can drive more than 2 motors by connecting motors in parallel or adding more ThunderBorgs in a daisy chain.
It has various protection features on-board including over-current protection, short circuit protection, over temperature protection and under-voltage lockout. Here it is in close-up:
The second part of the campaign is a four-wheeled, off-roadable robot called the MonsterBorg with the following features:
- Up to three hours runtime on 10xAA batteries.
- Designed for the Raspberry Pi 3, Pi 2, B+ or Pi Zero.
- 4 x 300 RPM Zhengke 37mm motors (pre soldered)
- A 3mm thick Aluminium chassis
- 105mm / 4 inch diameter off road wheels
- ThunderBorg 5A motor controller
- ThunderBorg Lid for 10xAA batteries
- Mount for the Raspberry Pi camera
- No soldering required
It does require assembly, but with everything pre-soldered, this should be pretty easy.
I recently attended a get-together at The Pi Hut with Tim and Claire from Pi Borg and had a chance to have a play with the MonsterBorg. This is no crawler like the DiddyBorg. This is a four-wheeled, rugged, speedy robot. The big, heavily-gripped wheels and the 300 RPM motors deliver plenty of torque, but without sacrificing a decent lick of speed. You can see that same prototype robot in the campaign video at the bottom of this page. I loved “having a go” with the MonsterBorg. In practice, it really makes you want one!
Here’s a better photo of the robot:
Speaking of “wanting one”, I should tell you about the pledge levels.
- The ThunderBorg motor controller by itself is currently available for £22 (Earlybird, 50 of them) rising to £29 after. This is a very good deal for what is probably the best, affordable motor controller on the market. There are options for multiple units.
- The MonsterBorg robot is available for £150 (Earlybird, 25 of them) rising to £180 after. Considering the quality of the robot, this is very good value. This is cheaper than the Pi Borg DiddyBorg, and I think much better. Obviously, this price isn’t going to be everyone’s idea of value, but considering it’s pre-soldered, incredibly powerful and very nice to look at in-person, you can be sure it’s worth looking at.
Delivery for the campaign is scheduled to be May-June, which I would say is ambitious, but Pi Borg do have a proven track-record with delivering on time.
Take a look at the campaign here or watch the video below for more details and a demo of the robot!
