EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Crowd Funded Projects => Topic started by: hectorka on August 27, 2014, 01:15:19 pm
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Hi guys,
hope to get some constructive criticism from you. :D
The project is called Robogaia 2D Robotic Obstacle Detector
It allows your robot to determine the distance to obstacles and walls and to avoid them.
Here is the link :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1154457775/robogaia-2d-robotic-obstacle-detector (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1154457775/robogaia-2d-robotic-obstacle-detector)
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I've been following the project on Hackaday Projects; I like the idea but I'm surprised you decided to go to Kickstarter so soon.
There is too little text on your Kickstarter page; it's mostly photos. You need more text if you hope to convince anyone that they will actually receive a good product. IMO, you asked for too much money/too many backers; there are not likely that many people who both want such a device and will find it on Kickstarter during the campaign. I find it off-putting that your device has two USB connectors, one of which is used only for power; the usual method for drawing more current from USB is to supply a Y-cable with the device. That lets it work with both USB hosts that only supply 100–500 mA per port and those that can supply more. Also, it definitely should be able to be used with controllers that aren't USB hosts (e.g. Arduino), in which case the USB power limitation would be irrelevant anyway.
The video is one of the worst I've ever seen:
- the animation, while a bit entertaining, looks very unprofessional
- the music drowns out your voice
- the lighting is bad
- I can't hear about 15% of what you're saying.
I will be brutally honest: I think the campaign would have been better with no video than with that video.
Hopefully you find this helpful if you decide to try again. Also, I suggest you have a look at some successful KS campaigns to see what they did.
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I don't know what they were thinking while they made the comparison list. :-//
They are indeed a killing competition for the Hokuyo, on both specs and price.
But they shoot themselves pretty much in the foot by comparing the Robogaia with the RPLIDAR.
For only twice the price of a Robogaia you get with the RPLIDAR:
- 2x the angular range
- 7.5x the angular resolution
- 4x the detection range
- 5x the scan rate
This makes the price argument for the Robogaia look pale, even if they are able to match the distance resolution of the RPLIDAR, which is <0.5mm for distances up to 1.5m and increasing to 12mm at 6m distance.
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I couldn't find a figure for the accuracy of the distance measurement in your description.
Also, does your claim of 7.5 degree angular accuracy include the field of view of the optics?
Other than that it looks like a neat idea!