ok so i tried makin the 555 timer photovore which was a fail and I wasted almost all the money I had. But I still don't wanna give up and i wanna try making another robot with just the parts that I had bought since I don't have any money left and my parents wont give me any money. Can i Make a robot with these parts? -
5 X green LEDs
2 X 1.5 to 3V DC motors (11000 rpm)
Tamiya Narrow Wheel set
4 X 270ohm resistors
a 555 timer
Breadboard
9V battery
4 X 1.5V cells
9V battery snap connectors (about 5 of them)
7 X CdS Photocells
on/off Switches
1 X 5V voltage regulator
hookup wires
probably an old analog mouse (i've heard it has some kind of IR emmiters in it)
I still have like $5 left. and the above are all the parts i have. I might have some more that I can't think of right now. Also this is the circuit I tried to make http://costaricabeam.solarbotics.net/Circuits/Vores/555%20Photovore.png and I dont wanna try it again.
PS my local electronic component store doesnt have L293D or a 74AC240. However it does have atmega8515l-8pu which I can afford but then I wont be able to afford the cable that is needed to connect it to the computer.
It’s the motors that are actually going to get you here
The motors you have there have no gearing. This means they spin way too fast, and have no torque when doing so. My advice is to start looking up 555 projects --there are hundreds of them and it would be a good way to start learning electronics.
first question what problem did you have with photovore? 7V should be enough… as datasheet says NE555 goes up to 18V… so addign a 9V battery would really work… maybe you got some LDR with way too much resistance… I think you can simply try…
I will through up a photovore tomorrow and see what will happen… here is 3:15 AM so got to go to sleep… I will keep you updated…
nope…its not the LDRs thats for sure. its either the motors or the 555. I checked the LDRs with a multimeter and they have almost the same resistance (theres a minor difference)
the problem that i had was the motors were not responding when i covered any one of the LDRs while the other was exposed to light.
Check this out. It’s one of mine. It uses nothing but resistors, LDRs and 2n3904’s. LEDs are extra. Use the smallest wheels you can make, since your motors have no gearing…
look at my Zuzu this is the cheapest robot ever made around 2 bucks you can make it
you can get two motors from CD-ROM, no the cd spinner, but the door motor, I used them so if you have bad or unused cd-roms go for it
2x BC547 NPN transistors, those are low current, normal purpose but will drive the motors with no problem. they cost here 0.50 RON, 0.18$ per piece not a wtf sum, two pieces 0.36$… you will need LDRs, two pieces, 0.74$ here, and a protoboard, a small one, the smallest one, 0.37$… eventually a hot glue stick, 0.37$…
since you don’t have gears, so put those motors in 90degree array so it will hit, touch the ground only with the shaft, get a piece of the smallest heat shrinking tube, put it on the shaft, shrink it, it will attach himself to the shaft hard enough to get a rubber contact on the floor. As Zuzu has take a look, go, take a look… my friend made a similar robot with comparators and IR emitter and reciever for line follower, his motors drives the same way…
If you search, you can learn from other, other from anothers and so on. Were are robotists… you know, robotists, even on hobby level, even at university level, like me, I am here to help and here to learn we are friendly people don’t be afraid to ask you can bomb mit with private email but I will be here to help in avr topics and mechanical topics…
I convinced a friend to lend money and im probably gonna buy 2 solarbotics GM9s and the wheels that i can use with them since its the most affordable DC motor in my local component store.
Last but not the least thanx ALOT for helping me and thak you everyone who replied to this thread. it helped alot and after about a week of googling i finally found a robot that im hoping to successfully build since im buying gear motors. im going to make this guy-
im going to mount my motors on the battery holder like the start here robot and i will use Green instead of white LED’s and see if it works( i can’t find white LED’s anywhere). will it work with green LED’s? i dont want it to be the perfect line follower but as long it behaves like some kind of a robot im happy.
PS. i can’t wait till next year 'cuz were gonna be doing robotics in computer science and my first day of high school was amazing!!!
thats the one im currently trying to make. I finally got my gear motors and the 555 photovore is still not working. i am gonna post a video response to your youtube video. the motors are not responding to the LDRs.
Its getting frustrating now. ive been trying for over 20 days but still no luck.
so stay calm:D