Hand Tracker

***Update: Fixed some spelling***

***Update: Video added***

    A few weeks ago our school was told we were going to have a science fair so I went to work brain storming ideas.  After a while I decided that I wanted to do something that had to do with robotics.  Then I narrowed it down again and decided that I will explain how robots work.  After that I started to work on the project but thought it would be boring to just have a poster and a few pictures of my past robots, so I made a small robot to go along with it.  

   When I started thinking of what kind of robot to build I knew it would have to have a few qualities.  First, it would have to be a quick build since I only had about two weeks to work on it.  Next,  it would have to be made with only parts I had so I would not have to wait for shipping.  After that, it would have to be an easy build but not so easy that I did not learn anything.  Finally, I wanted this robot to interact with the people viewing my project.

   With all this in mind I decided to make a hand tracking robot.  First, I took a Dagu pan/tilt sensor mount of an old project and put a Dagu IR array sensor on it and wired it up to a picaxe 28x1.  Then, once it was all together I put it in a tupper ware container for prototyping.  Once I did that I started coding it, and this turned out to be the hardest part.  After I finally got the code running alright I worked on the final enclosure with some help from my dad.  The final enclosure was a little box with a pexi-glass slide in lid to show  all the brains with the "head" mounted on the back.  Also I put in an arcade button that you would have to push and hold to turn the robot on.  I used the button so that once people moved away from it and let the button go it would turn off to save battery power.

   Over all I think this project went nicely and looked good.  Also I think I am really starting to get basic.  Finally,  I would like to thank everyone who helped me with my coding problem.

(I will post some video later when I can get someone to help me hold the camra)

P.S.  I won 1st Place in the science fair.