This is my first robot which is still a work in progress. My goal is to create a pet robot that charges itself and navigates autonomously. At the time of this writing I am still working out the kinks in the power system and programming.
The body is aprox. 5" cubed not including the wheels and solar panel. It is constructed of HDPE and 0.135" diameter bolts.
The power system is a 2W solar panel that charges a supercapacitor bank for a short term energy supply.
Obstacle avoidance, solar charging
Actuators / output devices: Two HSR-1425CR Servos, two HS-225BB Servos
Two isn’t necessary for basic functions per say, but with two you can do trigonometry given two points and two angles for more advanced mapping, navigating, etc.
I don’t believe that your solar cell is capable of producing enough current for your system to run. As far as I can see, you have 4 servos, 2 range sensors and a microcontroller all running from a small solar cell. If you can make this work it would be amazing to say the least.
Your supercapacitors are not more than batteries in this circuit and still has to be charged by the sun before the energy can be used. If your solar cell is not producing enough energy to sustain the current drawn by the robot it will stop and you have to wait until the cap is recharged.
I’m very interested in the power supply system… Do you have schematics of this? Also what caps are you using (Rated voltage, capacity, how many, series or parallel…)? Would it be possible to see a video of this thing running around or something?
