Im not sure if this forum is the right place for this, but i thought i post this too
So would it be in theory a huge effort to build an energy bay.
The problem is not the construction of this, more i want to know how much work would it be to build a floor conencting device (-/+) with arduino.
So i can navigate the bot into it and later code a routine to automate this process.
So would this basicly mean i just have to attach the connectors like to the battery or do i have to watchout for some circumstances in particular?
Im aware that there would be a power flickering within the current while i have more bots recharging.
I have thought of this myself. If I made a small 3 wheeled robot that wandered around the house, it would be nice if it could plug itself in.
I was thinking of some sort of platform that the BOT would have to drive into. The platform would have a set of electrical contacts that could detect the BOT and start the charging process. To help the BOT find the platform, perhaps an IR LED on the platform that had a specific signal. The BOT would have an IR receiver that looked for that signal in the house and if found, went directly towards it.
Roomba robots find their way to the charging station by following an IR beacon so that's certainly one way to do it.
Have you thought about using inductive coupling to charge the robot? Admittedly this will add some weight but a decent high frequency coil need not be that big. This also allows the robot to charge if it just gets close to the charging station, thus simplifying the process of getting the robot onto the charger.
