ROBOTIS’s STEAMCUP recently releases new materials regarding their new OLLO kits (STEAMCUP). The OLLO and DREAM kits are designed for the youngest users from 5 years old and up. When I looked back at my notes, I realized that there are a total of 8 “Junior” Controllers that ROBOTIS has released for this group of users. Well, there is a 9th one (CM-200), but it has never been released internationally, so I did not take that one into account.
So here is a very short comparison of their main features which may be handy to potential users.
CM-150 & CM-151 were made for the DREAM system. They are both programmable and can control both Continuous-Turn and Position-Control actuators, and many sensors via the TASK 3 tool.
The CM-151 has a built-in BT-410 and an upgraded MCU (about twice as fast as the CM-150). It also can use the new web-based R-BLOCK IDE from STEAMCUP (R-BLOCK).
Next are the CM-15, CM-20 and CM-50:
The CM-20 can really only turn on/off its motor to activate the robot’s wheels and mechanical linkages. It has only one wheel axle. It comes with the PLAY 600 kit.
The CM-15 can also only turn on/off its motor to activate the robot’s wheels and mechanical linkages, but it has a special gear train to activate 3 orthogonal axes of rotation at the same time. It comes with the OLLO J and INITIATE kits.
Both CM-15 and CM-20 cannot be remotely controlled.
The CM-50 is programmable and has 3 built-in NIR sensors and 1 wheel axle. It uses an external BT-410 for Remote Control applications. It can also interface with Mobile Devices for more features such as Multimedia and AI features such as Text-To-Speech and Speech Recognition (via the mobile device). The CM-50 comes with the PLAY 700 and OLLO K kits.
Then, we have the newer RB series: RB-86, RB-88 and RB-100:
Externally, the RB-86 and RB-88 look very much alike – both have the same physical dimensions as the CM-50. Both accommodate 6 built-in NIR sensors, 2 DXL Ports (for XL-330), and independent Left/Right motors. However, the RB-88 provides 2 rotational axles, whereas one spins faster than the other. Both controllers are programmable via STEAMCUP’s R-BLOCK.
On the RB-86 and RB-88, the 4 downward-looking NIR sensors can be used to “read” simple bar-codes representing various move commands, or track various lines and line intersections.
The RB-86 comes with the OLLO KINDER kit. The RB-88 works with the OLLO SPARK and EXCEL kits.
The RB-100 also has 6 NIR sensors. Its 4 downward-looking NIR sensors are arranged more evenly across its width to provide detection of complex line-intersection situations:
The RB-100 has an LCD Display and, on its back side, a special 4-pin connector that allows it to control XL-330s used on robots such as the TIG (via a special hub board).
The RB-100 is also designed to work with the RB-88, similarly to the way the CM-50 works with a Mobile Device.
The RB-100 comes with the R-Gee, TIG, and OLLO EXCEL kits.
