I revived econoSpazzi for Maker Faire. His code has been ported to the FetaDuino by Rocket Brand Studios. The LCD is great, and I built it into a nice acrylic frame and added a joystick.
A simple menu on start up lets you select Demo mode (seen in the econoSpazzi Dance Party video), Jumpstick mode (digital on-off control of the solenoids), and Smoothstick (analog PWM control of the solenoids).
You can vary the tempo during demo mode using the joystick. The joystick also allows you to control econoSpazzi's movements in Jumpstick and Smoothstick modes.
While I was filming Make: Live episode 12 with Becky Stern and Matt Richardson, I saw they had a Beatbots Spazzi. I love those things. Becky was really nice and gave me a set of the Makerbot printer parts. I was really stoked to make one.
However, when I looked up the other parts I would need, I saw that the solenoids they were specifying on the Makezine.com website were $18 each. That's too much for my wallet.
I knew a source for a similar solenoid for only $1.50 each. Thus, econoSpazzi was born.
Here's the site for the original Spazzi project on Makezine.com. I bought my solenoids from allelectronics.com (update: No longer available last I checked). They are rated for 24V DC, but I found that after I cut the included spring to size, they worked fine at 10-12V DC.
The hair is some gel-rubbery thing that was from a kid’s toy. I came across it while tidying up the house. A few drops of super glue later and econoSpazzi has a cool hair style.
There’s more I want to do with him. I’d like to have a mode where he follows along to music and another where he responds to optical detectors, plus a demo mode where he runs through some cool dance moves.
I started experimenting with using PWM (analogWrite on Arduino) with econoSpazzi’s solenoids. The results are more sublte gestures than shown in the video, along with singing solenoids!
I’m trying to figure out the code so that you can tap a button and set the tempo for his movements. My limited skill at programming being my biggest obstacle at this point. ; j
I just built the Spazzi robot and would like to know if anyone has written code to make the robot dace to music or randomly. The code in Make magazine is for manual control, looking for someting a little more automated. Thanks,
My current code is far from perfect, and only dances to a set beat. It does not respond to music, but I have the same goal as you. However, if it would be of interest to see how I programmed several different moves and implemented PWM for smoother motion, I can post my code.
Yes, please post your Arduino code for the Spazzi Robot. With Halloween approaching, I thought it would be fun to add an ultrasonic sensor to make it dance if people approached. Thanks!
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