Jeffry -The Incredible Massaging Robot
Eons ago, I created a quick prototype of a "Massaging Robot" using a standard Lego NXT kit.
Soon after that, I completed my experiments with it, then took it apart to create something new.
Now, I decided to share the documentation with the LMR community, in case anyone else wants to recreate and (hopefully) improve the design.
The idea behind the bot was that if you were to sit down in front of it, an ultrasonic sensor would prompt a greeting message to be played by the NXT brick. A few seconds later, a servo would then spin a manual massager (Something that was commonly found at Bath and Body Works at the time.) around, while another servo would move the actual massager around.
However, when actually testing it, I found that the robot would slide around while doing it's job. It probably would have been a good idea to maybe mount it to a table, or glue a mousepad to the bottom of the bot.
If anyone out there went "challenge accepted" reading this, it would also be a good idea to give the "arm" of the robot 2-3 DOF, so that the massager can move around a bit more.
Pictures:
Jeffry before the mounting of his massager.
Jeffry's hat. :)
The Massager.
Jeffry's final form. The massager had a hole drilled in it, and was then glued to one of the axles that came with the NXT kit.
I'm sorry that this isn't the most imformative LMR article in the world. I dunno how technical I can get with this particular bot. Perhaps I can salvage some video footage later, if this becomes noticed by the community.
Gives people massages
- Actuators / output devices: 2 servos
- Control method: Lego nxt
- CPU: Lego Mindstorm
- Power source: 6 Zinc Batteries
- Sensors / input devices: NXT ultrasonic sensor
- Target environment: indoors