This is my 2nd bot. The first was a tracked obstacle avoidance guy but he lacked personality. When the toaster stopped working I figured it was a good opportunity to make a new one!
The tracks are from a dollar store Erector Set knockoff bulldozer kit and they're powered by 2 hobby servos modified for continuous rotation. 2 other servos control the sensor head. One raises the head and the other rotates it.
I plan on changing the voltage regulator to a DC/DC converter and maybe going with a Tamiya gearbox/tread setup in the future.
If I can pull it off I'd also like to make a mechanism that would raise/lower the wheels or treads into the chassis so he would appear to be a normal toaster until activated.. My own personal transformer!
I don't like the fact that he's 100% defensless in a dangerous world either so I may add a fork launcher to the 2nd slot.
It's controlled by a home made Atmega 328 board that I put together:
I added a video of the head "nodding". I thought it turned out pretty well!
Still a long way to go...
Wow, it's been THREE MONTHS since I worked on la toastadora! I had to scrap some of the inside mechanism to make room for retractible treads. So far the mechanisms are coming along but the code is something else...
This guy is looking great! I’m happy to hear you are thinking of making it look like a normal toaster when inactive… maybe you could add a cheap PIR sensor or something so that he can ‘wake up’ when a person comes close to him?
I like the PIR idea! I read about the Serv-O with interest because I’ve been fooling with Atiny 85’s a bit. I’ve only had them blinking lights and such so far but I did get a sketch running an SR04 parking sensor on one. I was thinking about using an Atiny on this project. Maybe charlieplex some led’s inside of El Tostador!. My programming skilz are teh suk tho…:D.
Is that a Miga NanoMuscle rotary actuator you used for the ‘nodding’ motion of the ultrasonic sensor? I don’t remember seeing any used on an actual project here @ LMR before, what do you think of it?
I’m using the MAD 5 controller board which just has 3 wires in from the controls. 1 wire= ground, 1 wire=5V and the other is a “signal” from the Arduino. Then 3 wires from the MAD 5 to the motor. The MAD 5 is a tiny thing! It’s about the same size as the motor and has a tactile button on it that “manually” triggers it. It does seem to draw a lot of current though, because the 7805’s that I’ve been powering it with get pretty warm.
It’s basically a one trick pony though…
You don’t have any proportional control like a servo. About all you can control is the speed the shaft rotates when it “contracts” A spring pulls it back to the relaxed position, plus it doesn’t have a lot of rotation. The site says 60 deg. and I suppose that’s about right.
Hope this helps because there isn’t a lot of info on them out there… It is DEAD SILENT and pretty powerful though but at $10 for the motor and $15 for the driver it’s a bit expensive. There is a tutorial on the migamotors site for using an Arduino as a driver but I haven’t really checked it out…
like it!
