SPYRO SpoonTail

Let's Make Robots Robots
1

Guys this is my(our viz. me and my cousin) second robot based on Oddbot's Quadbot. Must firstly thank DAGU & robotshop.com for providing me all the materials required.

I have to esspecially thank Ignoblegnome and Oddbot for helping me out on this project.

The more I researched the better the robot became. Arduino is really very different from picaxe, so many differences , so many new features and the processing tool makes it a winner when there is a PC to Spider connection.

The development of the robot started on 20th April 2011. Had to tackle one problem after another.

The name SPYRO $ilver £ye was given by my cousin,because of its 4 legs and the SRF05 "eyes". And I liked that name so I kept it.

 

 

First challenge was the assembly (the servo alignment was the trickiest part).

So I got the chassis then was the connecting part.

Which was quite simple after closely examing some other pics of Spider controller in action.

The programming part was quite challenging but finnally got the knack of it.

Then came the problem of connecting a SRF05 to the board, it was the first time I was using the spider board, a SRF05 and Arduino programming software.After troubling so many people with my queries on the same, I finally got it done.

Here is a guide I made just in case you need it.

Finally ended up with this (lot more upgrades to come don't worry! ):

The sensor program worked pretty well so did the entire autonomous program. But I just can't seem to be able to power the whole thing via batteries alone. I tried 6x1.5V AA batteries & 8x1.2V AAA batteries but in vain. When ever I do connect the batteries the bot moves a few steps then resets by itself :(

So for now the program I am using is using an interface between the PC and the Spider via a Serial Monitor. Here is a snapshot of the command list ( using switch..case commands) which I used in the video.

An autonomous version is around the corner. Just wait, but till then keep giving me advices guys :) and do help me making it autonomous.

"The more you know, the more you realize you know nothing"

  • Actuators / output devices: 8x DAGU micro servos
  • CPU: Dagu SPIDER (Arduino Mega Clone).
  • Operating system: Windows
  • Power source: USB power for Arduino
  • Programming language: Arduino
  • Sensors / input devices: SRF05
  • Target environment: indoor
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/spyro-spoontail
2

Great robot! I like the

Great robot! I like the chassis,the blue leds and the motions of your robot. You did a good job my friend,thanks for posting :slight_smile:

3

It would be cool if you

It would be cool if you could enlarge the chassis and replace the mega servos. Maybe you could replace the foot wheel with continues servo so I can run faster id nesseary.

4

Yea I was thinking about

Yea I was thinking about using the standard servos, this was just a test, thanks for the tip, by the way its not a foot “wheel” its just a foam wheel which is meant for grip/support :slight_smile:

5

Thanks a lot sir, hope you

Thanks a lot sir, hope you get some new ideas from my idea :wink:

6

Big ass cap

Add a cap across + and - as close to your servos as you can. Be sure to use a cap with a little + sign on one side and use the biggest one you can find.

7

Wow

That is a great robot. I am pretty intrested in building a robot similar to this. Two question, is it possible for you to post the program you use to control the robot ( i kinda just got in to robots) and the chassis that you use, can you build that any where or did you make that yourself?  Excellent Job!!!

8

Oddbot did the design for

Oddbot did the design for this one. You may search for DAGU’s robots or robotshop.com .

9

The program is based on

The program is based on Arduino, I strongly suggest you start with the START HERE robot, and then you can do this one, you can contact DAGU or robotshop.com for the chassis :slight_smile:

Cheers!

DTB

10

I had one more simple

I had one more simple problem which I am not able to solve, I cannot make the servos and sensors work at the same time, so for now the autonomous program is:

1. Walk 5 steps forward

2. Look (find distance)

3. If distance < 20 cm goto step 1 else goto step 4

4. Walk 3 steps back, turn right

5. Goto step 1

11

Very cool bot

I bet this was a lot of work. Looks great! At the moment I got some problems with the ultrasonic rangefinder (URM3.7). I am not sure if it is broken - or just wrong triggered. Do you read PWM or Rx/Tx signals? For your battery problem: I would suggest a second power circuit for the servos. If two servos are moving at the same time it needs too much power = your arduino reboots and then restarts again. Dont forget to connect the grounds of the circuits together. Greets!

12

For sensors like ultrasound

For sensors like ultrasound rangefinder, you can just use the PING programs located in Arduino which should work perfectly as long as everything is connected properly, I did make a tutorial on how to connect an SRF05 to a SPIDER board , it may come in handy for. As for the power problem thanks for the tip! its not 2 servos moving at a time, its 8! Will try to do something about it.

Cheers!