Procrasti-bot

Update - added a front bumper switch

The switch is activated by a horizontal bar, and currently only triggers the camera to take a photo.

Description

This is a "robot" that has been inspired by the powers of procrastination (I have a week and a half to go before my end-of-year exams).

Essentially, I have coupled a simple keychain camera (takes 25 photos, at 640x480) with a mobile base made from scraps lying around. It will use the solar panel for recharging, and a very simple (BEAM-style) logic-gate based circuit to move around. The behaviour will be as simple as moving forward until hitting something, taking a photo, then turning and driving off.

This is my first really simple robot, something to absorbe a percentage of my left-over parts pile!

I have extended the press-button for taking photos via a pair of wires, and that will be connected directly to a front bumper. This took a while, as I was working on an SMD switch with a 50W unregulated soldering iron...

I will update this again, when the control circuit is more detailed that just twisted wires and a switch :)

Underneath

From the back, showing the plastic switch as a "castor"

 

Races around, taking photos of everything it hits

  • Actuators / output devices: 2 x hobby motors
  • CPU: some sort of BEAM-based system using logic gates and capacitors
  • Operating system: luck
  • Power source: 1 x AAA battery
  • Sensors / input devices: bumper switches
  • Target environment: indoor

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

Fun idea! This could be a
Fun idea! This could be a whole new kind of photography. :wink:

points for the name…it
points for the name…it made me lol. :slight_smile:

could you tell us the
could you tell us the features of the camera? or maybe the model so we can google it. I’m interested in taking pictures :slight_smile:

Yeah, good points for an
Yeah, good points for an original concept!!

Thanks :slight_smile:

Thanks for the comments, guys! I was digging through my piles of unused parts, and suddenly the idea hit me. If I was more creative, something like this could make become an interesting art project… :smiley:

Re: the camera, it is a generic keychain camera, I think this one is made by Digigr8. As for specs, it can take 25 photos, stored in a volatile flash memory (loses them when the battery is removed). The photos are at 640x480, and it can take 60 of them at half resolution to make a "video". The photos are unloaded via a usb lead, and some software that came with the camera. Interestingly, the camera appears in My Computer as a Twain device, and you can be used as a webcam.

I just bough a 1.5v -> 5v dc to dc converter from sparkfun, so I can power some sort of 5v control circuit. The solar panel I have can charge the battery, and 1.5v is fine for the motors, and the camera.

I think your gearing is wAy
I think your gearing is wAy too low!

Yes, the gearing is a bit

Yes, the gearing is a bit ridiculous! :smiley:

I made those two geared motors ages ago, from the gearboxes out of a pair of micro IR-controlled RC cars. I haven’t posted a video of it in action, because even on 1.5V, it belts along, but has hardly got enough torque to compress the front bumper switch (regardless of paralleling/serialling the motors)…

Oh well, I’ll persevere, but I may replace the front bump sensor with an ir sensor, to give it a chance to stop before slamming into something, otherwise I will have to rename it to one-hit-wonder-bot! :smiley: