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
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…
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 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!
