Venux

Let's Make Robots Robots
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This is Venux, my steampunk-inspired brass fly trap.

There's more information on my Build a brassier flytrap blog.

One flower is complete, with touch sensor and electromechanical fly accessory. I marked her as complete, although she may eventually have two to four flowers each controlled by two servos. One servo swivels the stem while the other opens and closes the mouth.

The hairs on the flower are connected as a touch sensor, so she knows to close when a yummy snack is in her grasp.

I will bring Venux along to the Steampunk Worlds Fair the weekend of May 20th -22nd.

Looks for brass flies to eat

  • Actuators / output devices: 2 servos (8 eventually)
  • CPU: uServotino
  • Operating system: Arduino C++
  • Power source: 4xAA alkaline batteries, electromechanical flies
  • Sensors / input devices: DYI Darlington touch sensor
  • Target environment: Bookshelf, arboretum
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/venux
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Do I hear…

… a steam engine running in the background!? I wanted to be the first! lol Either way, that’s some great bio-steam-metic work there. I see it eating little tiny button cells with antistatic plastic wings :slight_smile:

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I’m working on the 'eating’

I’m working on the ‘eating’ part now. Trying to decide how to trigger the trap.

Stay tuned…

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I just saw your electric

I just saw your electric valve 8 video.   along with Venux, your really embracing the whole steam punk thing, eh?   keep up the good work.   are you still going to the steam punk festival in Mass?   or did I miss it?

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The event is the

The event is the International Steampunk City in Waltham MA. I’m not sure if I’ll make it or not. I have another steampunk event that I’m DEFINITELY going to later that same month.

However, it would be fun to make it up to Waltham. We’ll see…

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Super Arty IG !

Looks great !  You’ll need a microscope and nerves of steel to make those steampunk Flys !

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Slick!!!

This is looking wonderful…I can see it with the pot done in faux malachite!

 

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Thanks for the suggestion. I

Thanks for the suggestion. I am so un-arty. I never considered painting the pot to look nice. What a good (and obvious) thing to do.

Also, I had to look up faux malachite. ; j

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I spray painted the flower

I spray painted the flower pot with a Rustolium brand faux stone finish. Better than nothing, and easier than hand painting a faux technique. If I had more time, I might have tried your suggestion.

However, without your suggestion, I woundn’t have bothered with paint at all. Thanks. ; j

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Very weel done and inspiring

Very weel done and inspiring IG. Looks great :slight_smile: Thanks for sharing.

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Thanks, Korel. I’m glad you

Thanks, Korel. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

There’s more videos and pictures on the ‘Build a brassier flytrap’ post, which I linked in the description above.

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BTW love your clock in the

BTW love your clock in the background,where did you get it?

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Yeah, I like it too. I

Yeah, I like it too. I found it at:

http://www.saversplanet.com/clock-mechanism/

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That’s really really cool

That’s really really cool project to build artificial plant. That must be so sick when you got few of them all together. Oh! of course that classic LMR firefly would be a big plus within this project. Teehee~

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Thanks IG i’ll check this

Thanks IG i’ll check this out :slight_smile:

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Thanks, hardmouse. If others

Thanks, hardmouse. If others start making the flies, we’ll have to coin a term. Gareth-Flies? G-Flies?

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i like the style

nice,very nice.this is more than science,your making is a piece of art.

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Thank you for the wonderful

Thank you for the wonderful complement! Making it art is a stretch for me, but it is something I am trying to strive for.

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Nice

Nice project, or should I say piece of art? 
It’s more artistic than scientific and it’t fun too.

A very nice way of using a darlington pair. You should make it close when you touch only one of the leaves too by making a circuit with two darlington pairs in series. A little unstable because it would have an hFE of about 9-10 million depending on what transistors you use, or you can get the same thing with a triple darlington, but it’s less stable. :slight_smile:

Again, very cool project. :) 

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Thanks for the complements,

Thanks for the complements, and for the suggestion. I’ll have to try the Darlingtons in series on a breadboard and see how it works out.