Tag Archives: robot

PopsicleBot

I saw this “Popsicle Bug” robot on this website. I was very inspired by it and wanted to make one of my own. It reminded me of my old lego projects that I did in college. Except this was very light weight. The original maker left it very organic which is what I wanted to do and its fairly inexpensive to make. I used regular thread from my wife’s stitching box instead of a fish line. You can pretty much use any string/thread thats strong enough to handle the tension.


Arduino: Servo

Used a Vex 3 wire servo from VexRobotics. I used a small example code for Arduino called Sweep to see how far the servo can turn. I was happy to find out that it can do 180 degree instead of 100 degree.

(From Vex Robotics)

  • Rotation:100 degrees
  • Stall Torque:6.5 in-lbs
  • Voltage:4.4 – 9.1 Volts (Motor life will be reduced operating outside this range)
  • PWM Input:1ms – 2ms will give full reverse to full forward, 1.5ms is neutral
  • Black Wire:Ground
  • Orange Wire:Power
  • White Wire:PWM signal
  • Current Draw:20mA to 1.5 A per Servo


Arduino

It all started when I saw this post on Lifehacker.com to make a “Snail Mail Notifier for your Smartphone”. The post is about making a iphone sms push alert that would let you know when someone opens your mailbox (to deliver mail etc.). The video tutorial originated from Make magazine. It talks about this micro controller called Arduino.

“Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.” via Arduino.cc


Lego Mindstorm

I started working on small robotics projects during my university (URI). Most of the work was with Lego Mindstorm. Here is a link to the project Sweet Tooth. The robot started looking like a elephant first and the trunk/teeth had the touch sensor which made it change direction when touched. You can read more about it on the page. The project ended up being a six legged transformer type robot which would change into a three wheel bike and drive away when someone/something hits the bumper.

Version1Version2Final Version