My little robot

amando96 · February 10, 2010, 3:02pm

Hi guys, this is my current project, i thought the programming would be easy, but since i havent used my arduino for months, it's not going so well, lol.

Well there's more in this blog:

https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/node/16010

Started out as a simple google sketchup plan...

Anyway, i plan on removing my arduino board when the project is close to finished, and making a bare bones arduino, and stack the other circtuitry on top of the barebones arduino by using female and male headers...

i plan on it being able to follow, or avoid light, following, and avoiding objects, following a black, or white line, and knowing when to stop if the floor sudenly disapears(stairs).

also thinking of adding a current measurer to the motors, so when it senses a stall it turns around 180º(in case the IR beam fails to inform the arduino of an object)

i was lucky to find this PCB in an old printer:

It has a fun looking shape, using it for the line follower.

here's some more shots:

That triple 7 segment display is a battery tester , got it off dealextreme for 3 dollars, and free shipping!

Plenty of breadboard trunk space for more developing :D

here's the battery tester in detail:

I tested that battery pack with my multi meter, and it read 6.20v so not bad for 3 bucks!

it's suposed to read 6 lipo batteries, though it can also read a normal battery, it scans through all the batteries automatically!

those ''antenas'' with the ldr at the end are going to be removed, i just put them there to try out the light seeking, they will most like be placed on the cool shaped PCB board at the front :D

oh, and the wheels are from an old printer, fixed them to the gearbox shaft with polymorph, i'm really liking how it's going, when my shift register arrives i'll add the LCD, and then i'll what more good will come from here :)

as for the ''play zone'' i plan on getting a large wooden base and make markings on it so the bot can read them, and interpret them to do things, it will also be easier to try, if possible adaptive mapping!

thanks to anyone who reads, and have a nice day!

For now, follows light(badly)

Actuators / output devices: Tamiya dual gearbox
Control method: autonomous
CPU: arduino board, soon to be barebones(the board makes it easier to test)
Power source: 4 AA batteries, and 9v battery to arduino
Programming language: Arduino C
Sensors / input devices: 2 LDRs, for now
Target environment: indoors, or special ''play zone''

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/my-little-robot

trigger · February 10, 2010, 3:55pm

Feedback

I saw your post asking for feedback. The bot looks kinda rough but it’s a good start. I would work on cleaning things up. Some cable management would be very helpful. I like to leave my robots to play with my cats while I’m away. The number of wires sticking out could easily get snagged. I would also suggest replacing the breadboard your using with this: http://www.atomicsalad.com/archive/2007/03/11/tutorial_sparkfun_protoshield_assembly_use.php

That will give you a prototyping breadboard area without as much of a mess and take up less space in your chassis.

ignoblegnome · February 10, 2010, 4:42pm

Cute looking robot. I like

Cute looking robot. I like that you left room for experimentation and different modes of operation.

That integrated battery tester is awesome! I wish I had one of those for every robot! I’m officially on hold from spending any money on robots right now, or I’d go immediately and order me some.

I have some similar wheels, that I bought from the Electronic Goldmine. They look just the same. I bet they are from a printer. I’ve been wondering how to mount them. Why do you have servo horns on them? Is that part of how you mounted them?

Nice work. Can’t wait to see what else you do with it.

amando96 · February 10, 2010, 5:46pm

Yes, i have been thinking of

Yes, i have been thinking of making my own proto shield(like to keep everything as low cost as possible), waiting untill my PCB etching techniques get better, the arduino will only be there while i’m still developing/testing…

hopefull in the finished version the only loose wires will the motors, and power.

you should have seen how the wires where before! lol they where even worse…

amando96 · February 10, 2010, 5:51pm

thanks well, as i was

thanks

well, as i was trying to figure out a way to mount them on the gearbox, i noticed that the servo horn fitted snuggly in the old mounting hole in the center of the wheel, and the servo horn has a hole right in the middle, so i used that to center the axel, and joined everything together with polymorph!

the servo horn can be removed, but then i will have to super glue the polymorph to the wheel, and i haven’t got any glue at the moment lol, if you want i will post a brief walk through!

ignoblegnome · February 11, 2010, 11:37am

I’m definitely going to give

I’m definitely going to give that a try. Finding the exact center of a hub or shaft is always a chore.

Update: The hole in the wheels I have don’t fit with any of the servo horns I have. Either too big or too small. Thanks for the idea, though. Maybe I can find something else that already has a nice center hole that will fit.

amando96 · February 11, 2010, 4:31pm

guess i was lucky, the

guess i was lucky, the ‘‘inner bore’’ in my wheels is also 8mm, though the servo horns i have a from a very low quality OEM servo, the futaba/hitec horns i have dont fit.

Here’s something i found out just now, if you have the tamiya dual gearbox, the ‘‘12 teeth pinnion gear’’ is exactly 8mm in diameter, with two you can center the axel…

voodoobot · February 11, 2010, 5:52pm

The bot looks nice and a
The bot looks nice and a deffinite good start. Was there any concern about the weight with using the aluminum frame? Have you considered weight reduciotn like drilling holes in a grid pattern?

amando96 · February 11, 2010, 6:50pm

Thank you It was sort of

Thank you

It was sort of thinking about the weight, my first robot had a wooden chassis, and full rotation servos for locomotion, it weighed one kilo, and the servos couldn’t handle that much very well, so instead of continuing with that one i decided to remake it completely.

And i had this chassis(originally for a 1/10th scale nitro RC car) laying around for years, instead of throwing it in the bin, gave a good use, i think the finished version will be under 500 grams, because the breadboards weigh a lot compared to PCB(who knows, could be easily transformed into a sumobot, with some more cutting)

voodoobot · February 11, 2010, 7:23pm

yeah, it’s amazing how fast
yeah, it’s amazing how fast the weight adds up and I recall using the metal(team associated rc10 tub style(gold anodized), not the nice flat pan) chasis with my old rc setup which added a fair amount to it. I later upgraded it to use a graphite chasis, but those are a bit more expensive and not the greatest things in the world to cut(Dust and fibers are bad for the lungs) if you wanted to modify them like you have.