Yet another BRAT

Lynxmotion Legged Robots
1

I got a bit bored, and started thinking about what I can completely build with parts I already have here. I have W.A.L.T.E.R., but his motor controller is still MIA, so that’s stalled at present. The servos in the hybrid leg I built aren’t beefy enough to even lift the leg all the way up, so that’s stalled too.

Then I got to thinking… :smiley:

I have all the parts to build up a BRAT! :wink: I assembled the legs last night, and just need to attach them to the body and install the servos. I even dusted off my Bot Board II with the Atom PRO still on it. In fact, the Bot Board II is still attached to the body of the BRAT I built up some time ago. I loaded up the IDE and connected the Bot Board II to the USB<>Serial adapter connected to my PC. With all the bad things I’ve read about various USB<>Serial adapters, I wasn’t sure it would even program the Atom PRO.

I decided I would go all out and take the latest BasicMicro Studio out for a spin, downloaded it, installed it, and fired it up. I also downloaded some of the BRAT software from here and made my first attempt at programming the Atom PRO. It worked the first time! :smiley: Oh yeah, I also had to solder on some replacement screw terminal blocks to the Bot Board II that I had broken off. These new terminals look and feel stronger, and seem to keep a good clamp on the power wires.

I’m going to finish this build, get all the joints properly calibrated, and see if I can get this BRAT to walk without using an SSC-32. I’ll be following the tutorial step for step on this, at least to make sure everything is setup and working properly. There are definitely a few things I want to experiment with as far as upgrades to this little fellow at some point. I think it will be fun! :smiley: I expect this to keep me somewhat busy while I am putting other things together.

I thought I had started a thread on my last BRAT build, but I can’t seem to find it now. It’s been awhile.

I haven’t decided what I am going to name the little fellow yet.

8-Dale

2

Looking forward to seeing it walk and dance. By the way, can you post any pictures of the BB2 with the replaced terminal blocks? I thought about doing the same thing with replacing them with something else. I even thought about soldering a soft leaded recpticle for the board.

3

I’ll be able to post pictures in a week or so after I get a new web cam. I got these screw terminal blocks from Digi-Key and they fit the Bot Board II (and I suspect the SSC-32 also) perfectly. Now I wish I had saved my invoice so I could remember the part number for these. I’ll see if I can find it again.

8-Dale

4

Congrats and good luck…I soon be updating more pic’s and vid’s on my X-Brat thread if you are interested in taking a look!

Mark

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5587

5

I found the part number! It’s Digi-Key A98333-ND. These are a bit larger and wider than what Lynxmotion uses on boards, but they also have more wire clearance and still fit perfectly as replacements. I don’t have problems getting wires into and keeping them in these.

Pictures soon! :slight_smile:

8-Dale

6

Those look really good. the screws seem a bit larger. They do look like really good replacements. I also thought about looking for some spring terminals like used on the back of stereo equipment. You wouldn’t need any tools to connect or remove wires.

http://cpc.farnell.com/productimages/farnell/standard/AV1148105-40.jpg

The pin spacing is not correct, but just to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

7

In my exp you wouldn’t want to use those as the wires can get yanked out…I like the screw terminals much better but that is just my $.02

Mark