TemPoe

Built this little guy for a mate of mine.
The main housing is from a speaker set designed to plug directly into a small MP3 player. The base is a machined aluminium tape head from an old-school VHS player.
As far as behaviour goes, TemPoe tries to align its solar panels with the strongest incoming light to keep its cells charged. The 2 LDR photocouples on the back allow for light tracking, while a single LDR inside the case monitors ambient light levels so TemPoe can 'sleep' if there isn't enough light available. TemPoe also monitors the output voltage of the 2 photovoltaic cells, which is used to determine whether or not to go to sleep.

  • Actuators / output devices: LEDs, piezo speaker, 1 x GM17
  • Control method: autonomous
  • CPU: PIC16LF628A
  • Power source: 2 x AAA NiMH cells, 2 x SZGD5433 photovoltaic cells
  • Programming language: Assembly
  • Sensors / input devices: 2 x LDR couples, 1 x LDR single, 2 x photovoltaic cells
  • Target environment: desktop, Window sills

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

what is its…
What is its function actually???

I find that reading is an

I find that reading is an effective tool to gather information while staring at text.

 

TemPoe tries to align its solar panels with the strongest incoming light to keep its cells charged. The 2 LDR photocouples on the back allow for light tracking, while a single LDR inside the case monitors ambient light levels so TemPoe can ‘sleep’ if there isn’t enough light available. TemPoe also monitors the output voltage of the 2 photovoltaic cells, which is used to determine whether or not to go to sleep.

Sweet. I like yur choise of
Sweet. I like yur choise of materials. And I often wanted to make a "sun tracker" - for whatever reason :slight_smile:

I wanted to be able to make
I wanted to be able to make retro 8-bit sound effects with TemPoe so I used a PIC, but if you’re interested in minimalist sun-trackers you should check out some of the ‘BEAM’ head robots - particularly the 2DoF design which are quite impressive.

It also beeps and flashes!

OMG-it-spins.jpg

It also beeps and flashes! What more could you want?

Exactly, what more do anyone
Exactly, what more do anyone need?<o:p></o:p>I will post a BEAM later. Mine doesn’t even have a beep J <o:p></o:p>