Hey everyone, I’m a modelmaker and designer with little understanding of how electric components work, it goes in one ear and straight out of the other.
A few years ago I made a model of CL4P-TP from borderlands, it was a static model with a built in dock for Ipod and speakers (please see photos in the link) https://www.facebook.com/alan.l.casey/media_set?set=a.10152438180992731&type=3. I’d like to take this idea a bit further and make one with moving arms that can move around.
Making the actual chassis and detailing aren’t the problem, I am however very stuck on what I would need to make the arms move and it to move around, partly because it only has one wheel…
Can anyone help? Sorry if this post is in the wrong place.
Hello @LambChop and welcome to the forum,
A few years ago I made a model of CL4P-TP from borderlands
Hey! I have played that game haha (not much but I do remember the character). I wasn’t able to see the images so it would be great if you could upload them here, you simply have to copy and paste them.
I’d like to take this idea a bit further and make one with moving arms that can move around…
I am however very stuck on what I would need to make the arms move and it to move around, partly because it only has one wheel…
It would be awesome if you are able to do it! However, it’s definitely not the best project for a beginner because one-wheeled robots are really difficult to keep balanced due to the single point of contact with the ground. Anyway, if you’re up for the challenge I suggest first checking the basics of “How to Make a Robot” (I linked a great tutorial series, perfect for beginners), then look for self-balancing robot projects online (these are mostly two wheeled robots but can give you an idea of the sensors you will need) and finally looking for research papers (because unfortunately you won’t find many tutorials or projects like the one you intend to do), here are some that might interest you:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4147892_Design_of_a_gyroscopically_stabilized_single-wheeled_robot
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/space/www/gyrover/gyrover.html
I hope you can make this project work, and if you do, it would be great if you could share it in the Robots section
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Thankyou, I think this will probably get shelved again, it’s a lot of stuff that i really don’t understand.
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Don’t worry, as I mentioned before, it’s a pretty difficult project, maybe you can make a model that is not fully functional, meaning that it only moves the arms and maybe goes back and forth keeping the balance.
Either way, you did an excellent job with your static model!
I don’t really know what i need for that either, always tried to avoid the electrical side of things due to a lack of understanding and interest.
I know I’ll need servos and a power supply for that and that is where my knowledge on the subject ends.
Would it be more feasable if it was considered a large animatronic controlled with a remote? Or would that still cause the same balance issues from the single contact point?
I know I’ll need servos and a power supply for that and that is where my knowledge on the subject ends.
You are not far off, what you need is essentially an actuator (servo, DC motor, etc), a controller (microcontroller, transmitter, etc) and a power supply.
For the arms you could use some RC servos and control them using a transmitter.
The biggest problem with CL4P-TP is that it only has one wheel, but at least it’s a wide wheel so maybe you can control it so that if it moves slowly (only back and forth) it doesn’t lose its balance. Again, you don’t need much to do this, just a DC motor, a motor controller (you could use one with Wifi or Bluetooth to control it with your phone) and of course a power source.
I think checking self-balancing robot tutorials would be helpful too, then you would need an IMU and microcontroller (Arduino is a great option for beginners) that way the robot will have feedback on its inclination so that it does not lose its balance, but that is up to you. Either way, I strongly suggest checking the How to Make a Robot tutorial series (or at least check the topics in which you have doubts, for example, what motor you should use, which control method, etc).
I hope that information helps!
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Incredible job on the model. Although it’s not yet a “real” robot, Claptrap (CL4P-TP) is certainly a fun and spunky robot. Don’t focus on making it mobile if you’re new to robotics - a few small RC servos and you can have a new one tilting back and forth and the arms moving around.
