I've been wanting to make a robot dog ever since I saw Blue Falcon and Dynomutt and Dr. Who's K9 in the 70's. And I've also always wanted a robot that I can talk to and talk back to me. I also wanted to make a robot that has some animatronic gizmos to make it look life-like. I've also been wanting to make a robot to get rid of some of the junk I've been accumulating and parts I've purchased.
Phydo (Physics Dog) will be the robot I've always wanted!
So far he's going to be bigger than I planned. My first attempt (Scraps) was made out of a small tackle box, but I couldn't figure out how to get the ears to work. So, I started over by making the ears first. Then I made the snout a little too long, but it turned out it fits a small speaker and the lip-light board perfectly.
I initially wanted to just have the ears perk up when it heard a loud sound. But, a larger head let me give the ears 2 degrees of motion to display more emotions (anger, surprise, sorrow).
The tail will also have 2 degrees of motion. Back in the 80's people drove around with fake TV/phone antennas attached to their cars for some reason. I found 3 of the in the street and kept them for the tail of my robot dog I wanted to build some day.
What's planned:
He already has Johnny Five type lip lights and the Emic 2, speaker, 1 Sharp IR sensor, 4 servos for the ears, 2 for the tail.
I've already purchased:
- 2 large servos for the neck,
- Pixy for vision,
- 2 Propeller Quickstart boards,
- 2 Flame sensors,
- 3 light sensors,
- IR remote control
- 4 PIR sensors, for the Watchdog subroutine I'm planning on.
- line following board,
- 4 Pings,
- 2 Sharp IR sensors,
- voice recorder circuit to deliver voice messages (I had that idea way before cellphones),
- various beepers, and buzzers,
- 4x20 LCD screen,
- 2 microphones elements,
- 1 touch sensor (to pat on head),
- accelerometer
Need to buy:
- Voice recognition circuit (the one I have kinda sucks)
- Temperature/Humidity sensor
- mux ADC chip
- GPS, compass, gas sensors (maybe)
- decent battery pack
Close up of the Ears (including the first attempt)
The snout held together with JB weld and crazy glue
Misc head parts
"Scraps" the abandomed prototype
Should be able to roam around my house, respond to loud sounds with a ear perk, answer questions like "What's the temperature?", augment home security, deliver voice messages, be an awesome robot and win me some prize money from somewhere.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/phydo-1
