Dave-The Robot
Cheap,Arduino Compatible,Diy,Open Source Robot Kit
Dave is a small,easy to make,versatile,DIYrobot kit.
Dave is a cute,small robot which is suitable for people of all ages.
It is customiseable and is quite diffrent from other robotic platforms.
Dave includes the famous Arduino microcontroller as its brain.
This means it is easy to program it and get it up and running.
The main feature i have included in Dave is that you can change everything in the robot including the brain to the sensors.
The versatility makes the robot easy to use and have serious fun with it.What is the use of a robot kit if you cant get it to customise ,but in this kit you can change everything in it. Well,that is why is wanted to make Dave a open source hardware.Now that means that after all the robot kits have been shipped to their owners.There will be additional plans to mount the sensors on to Dave and make it do whatever you want to.
There are many thing you can mount on this beautiful robot kit.Including leds,servos,advanced sensors to a peizo buzzer.The will be holes on the bottom and the top plate of Dave to use zip straps and mount your favourite things.Now all us know that how importaint zip straps are to use in actual robotics.
Now on how Dave came to life.
A month ago my younger brother asked me:Can you suggest me what robot kit I should buy? My budget is not very high too.I want something cheap but playful.It should be under 40$.Getting this question i spent my whole day one front of my computer screen but i could'nt find a good one.Me and my brother came across a few robot kits the next day.The kits price were all above 80$.Desperately,my brother got down with a sad feeling on his face.I couldnt let him be like that.I satisfied him and i said"I will desing a robot kit for you.It will meet all the specs you need.You can make it whatever you want to." The whole month i spent in front of my phone and pc again but now,this time i was learning every bit and bob of robotics.Now here i am with the complete kit.I told him i would give him the kit on his B,day but i failed to do so.I was unable to pay the parts as the shipping rates were too high and i couldnt collec that much amount in a month.
Design
Parts(Basic Kit)
What can Dave do:
Out of the box Dave comes assembled.If you want it to be unassembled then it can be like that too.There is no additional cost of assembly.
OUT OF THE BOX
Out of the box PET can do basic obstacle avoiding.With additonal programming it can even act as a sumo bot.It can protect your precious and valueables too.
The Advanced kit can give emotion to pet too.It can hear using the sound sensor.It can 'see' light intensity using the light sensors.Now there is no limitaions what it can do.Your choice is what you want it to get to do.
Now enough talking let's see the spec of Dave's parts:
MOTORS
For movement Dave uses geared dc motors of good quality.It comes with it mount and all the necessary nuts and bolts used to mount the motor on the chassis of the robot.It comes with a handy set of female connectors to connect on to the motor driver board.
Sensor
To "see" Dave uses the basic,trusty,handy HC-SR04 distance sensor module.One of the eye sends out the ultrasonic wave and when the wave hits an object,it gets reflected bac and the other eye detects the returned wave.Now with simple mathematical calculations we can know how far away things are.
Brain
For the "brain" Dave uses a Arduino compatible board.It includes the arduino nano complete with all header pins.The nano is a great board as it is quite small.I could have used the pro mini but i tossed it out as it requires an additional usb to serial converter.The nano board a handy usb conector which means you require no additional curcuit to program the board.
Motor Driver
For driving the motors Dave uses the TB66FNG motor driver.It is cheap all in one board.It can supply both the motors on Dave with a current of 1 ampere on each motor.It has a working voltage of upto 13.5V ,far more than we require.It is quit e easy to control with the arduino board.
Battery
Now in most robot kits you require to put additionl batteries in the robots,but with Dave,it comes with 7.4 v Li-ion rechargeable battery back.It has a current capacity of 1.5 amp.This are specs of the basic kit.
Final words,the above price may sound good but the cost of bringing Dave in production is just too high.Thats why i need your help.With small amount you can get a cute robot kit.I tried to make the kit as cheap as possible but not a notch in performance.I hope you will help me and Dave.
GOAL
My basic goal is around for 600$.
STRETCH GOALS
1000$-Advance kits will include an extra surprise sensor.
1500$-Get a surprise sensor plus an extra HC-SR04 in both the standard and advance kits.
2000$-Get a surprise sensor plus two extra HC-SR04 in both kits.
More to come.......
What Will I Get For
1$-Thank you for supporting me.I will be thankful to you.
10$-Get the basic robot chassis drilled with all holes and get your own designed face plate.
20$-Get all the electronics used to make pet except the brain of the robot.It includes the battery also.
25$-Get all the electronics you need to make a basic robot like Dave.It includes battery also.
40$-Yes.this is the amount you need to get your own Dave.It includes everything to get the basic propet us and running.
55$-Get the advanced Dave kit! Includes three more sensors.IR sensors(pair) Light sensor(pair) sound module(single)
90$-Double trouble -Get a advance and a basic Davet kit.
75$-Get two standered Dave kits.
105$-Get two Dave advance kit.
110$-Get three Dave standard kits.
160$-Get three Dave advance kits.
More on request....
Please add a basic 15$ towards shipping.If the shipping rate is less than 15$ than you will receive a free 9 gram servo!(No hidden cost).
After transferring the money,please give me quick mail and i will display your name on this page in the list of purchasers!!
For now payment is accepted only in PayPal.
Send me the kit money+shipping on PayPal on this id- [email protected]
For any query feel free to contact me at:[email protected]
Cheers
Navigate via ultrasound,(DO A LOT MORE IN ADVANCE KIT)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/dave-the-robot