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Engineering Capabilities

Tribotix - Engineering Services

Consulting and Research & Development

This website in many aspects is related to our online store, but Tribotix also do Consulting work as well as Research and Development projects. The skill sets of our designers include:

  • Custom design of robots and robot arms,
  • Embedded systems, including pcb design, electronic design and embedded software/firmware,
  • Wireless System design and integration, including LORA, ZigBee, Bluetooth and WiFI, and
  • System Integration – we have Industrial Experience using many types of PLC’s, SCADA systems and National Instruments software and hardware.

To highlight our expertise in these areas, the following three projects are good examples of previous projects that we have successfully undertaken:

HyKim - 21 Degree of Freedom Robot Bear
Wireless Trivia Project
HyValve – an Hydraulic Control System for Ocean Racing Boats
HyKim - 21 Degree of Freedom Robot Bear

In 2006 a robot bear, Hykim, was designed in collaboration with the University of Newcastle’s NUBots. Hykim was designed in response to RoboCup’s call for a Standard Robotic Platform robot to replace the Sony Aibo. At the time of design Hykim was one of the world’s most advanced commercially available robots, and we believe one of the first with 3D printed structural body pieces.

The design philosophy used to create Hykim was that Hykim would be one of the first truly Open Source Development Platforms – all software, firmware, schematics and documentation were available to end users. Hykim was a truly modular robot, this modular architecture has since been replicated in many legged.

Wireless Trivia Project

In 2010 Tribotix was commissioned to develop a Wireless Trivia system that could be used in Pubs, Clubs and Motels. The concept was to have the TV’s within these establishments show Trivia questions and patrons could use dedicated handsets to participate in the competition, accumulate points and eventually be rewarded with prizes.

Tribotix’s role in this project was to create the wireless hub and handsets that would then interface to a PC which issued the questions, recorded results and communicated with PC’s in other pubs so that the competition was ‘nation-wide’. To achieve this we created an 802.15.4 ad-hoc MESH network using Jenic devices and an Atmel ATMEGA128 for the control and I/O interface. This project involved conceptual project design, pcb design, software/firmware for 802.15.4 mcu and Atmel mcu

HyValve – an Hydraulic Control System for Ocean Racing Boats

In 2012 we were asked to develop a Hydraulic Control system for Ocean Racing Boats, the result of this was HyValve. The HyValve Control board was designed to allow Robotis’s RS485 Dynamixel modules to directly control Hydraulic Valves. This control board processed a range of inputs including signals from JoySticks, Encoders and Pushbuttons and then sent positioning commands to the Dynamixel modules. Additionally open-collector digital outputs (capable of sourcing 15mA) are available to connect status LED’s or connect to PLC’s.

The HyValve control board could be connected to a standard Navigational Data Logger via Optical Fibre and was also capable of using its 2nd RS485 network to connect to other HyValve boards. This RS485 network provided a great deal of flexibility in overall system design as data from all HyValve inputs could be shared with all HyValve’s connected to the RS485 network. This allowed for central control panels/stations to be duplicated on either side of the boat …. Ideally suited to catamarans.

HyValve was demonstrated at the 2012 METSTRADE Show in Amsterdam buy our European partners Cariboni ….If you are interested in this design there is a lot more detail in the HyValve User Manual.

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