DC motor question

arduinofun · July 29, 2009, 4:57pm

I was walking through Lowes the other day, and found this great trash can that looked like a robot to me. I was able to pick it up for super cheap!! What I want to do is add two DC motors to the bottom and a caster wheel. I want to make this robot carry my books around school for me. I am lugging more text book weight than I ever did in the Army with my ruck sac. My physics book alone is killer.

Where could I find some DC motors and wheels that do not cost a fortune that would be able to go on this, and carry the weight? I like the ones I saw on Parallax ( http://www.parallax.com/Store/Accessories/MotorServos/tabid/163/CategoryID/57/List/0/Level/a/ProductID/507/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName%2cProductName ) but those cost more than what I want to spend for this project.

I would like to make this "follow me" but I am not sure how to go about that yet with the Arduino. So my backup plan is to possibly embed a remote into the strap of my backpack.

My books will go on the inside of this. I was thinking I could power this with one of my 12v Vespa scooter batteries.

arduinofun · July 29, 2009, 5:28pm

I think I might have found a
I think I might have found a few items at Electronic Goldmine

robologist · July 29, 2009, 11:27pm

I’ve got a similar trashcan,

I’ve got a similar trashcan, round though, that is meant for a robot.

These motors from All Electronics have a ready made wheel, but are pretty slow, but fairly torquey and low current.

roboticsprofessor · July 30, 2009, 10:56pm

I was thinking of a similar

I was thinking of a similar bot. I teach college electronics and have a rolling cart I want to motorize to follow me.

I was thinking about local wheel chair companies. I think for a school or for a student, one of them might donate a set of wheels and a battery from an old wheel chair.

The “follow me” part: I have some students experimenting with the wireless transmitter/receiver. They are trying to rig a BOE Bot (www.parallax.com) to follow them around. Human would carry the transmitter and the robot will scan around with the receiver and try to move the robot to the source.