Tin Can Robots
I am
working on several new robots right now. I would like to focus on just one, but
I can not get all the materials at one time due to lack of availability. I just
found some micro servos and the wheels began to turn. I was in my Meijer store
the other day and I found some nice tin cans with lids. They are about
2.6” in diameter and a couple of inches tall. I have gathered some parts
to make a minimal robot. This includes two AAA battery holders’ two micro
servos and a PIC 16F876 microcontroller. I will drill two holes in the front of
the can to allow two memory wire whiskers to pass through. I still have not
found any wheels that will work yet. I
was going to screw the whole thing together, but I would need a pound of
screws, nuts, washers and spacers. I found something called mounting tape that
will work instead. This is a double sided foam sticky tape.
I have broken this project into
several steps as follows:
1. Gathering parts. This can and
usually is my most frustrating part of any project. I always have problems
locating just the things that I am looking for and either stop
the project or wind up substituting.
2. Fabrication. I like this
step. This is where you get to drill, mill, cut, grind and paint things. This
to me is the best part of the project.
3. Programming. Once again I
like this phase. This is where my talents really shine. I have been programming
since high school and have learned may systems and
programming languages.
It is my intention to build
several robots made from unconventional materials. My first robot project,
which I never built, was from the December 1958 issue was called, “Sparky
the robot pup.” This was a simple three brain cell robot that used piano
wire whiskers to avoid objects. This was quite an advanced project for its day.
I must have been five then and a lot older when I wanted to build this robot. I
recently got reprints of the article. It was based on tricycle drive principles
with a single wheel for steering. Today we can do a bit more with far less mechanical
and electronic overhead. The original used a metal wash tub for the shell
(body). I found a stainless steel dog dish that just fits over a Parallax
BOE-BOT. The BOE-BOT also has wire whiskers and will fork as the base drive and
electronics.
In the scheme of small robots
this will be considered a large robot. The tin can boot that I am making is a
bit smaller with a body diameter at about 2.6” I believe that smaller
robots provide more flexibility because the can be run on a much smaller table
top track. My interest is in line following and maze solving. A smaller robot
will work better on a track that is many times its own size.
Now let us focus on the track. First
of all since it will sit on a table it should have an inverted skirt to keep
the robot(s) from falling off. A band of a couple of inches will probably work
fine. If this is going to be placed on a table the bottom of the track should
be padded. A decent size track could be
about 4’ x 4’ with a two inch inverted skirt. The track can be made
of plywood covered with a white piece of Formica. White allows the robot to see black tape
better. The bottom of the finished track can be covered with felt to prevent
scratching anything that it is placed on such as a table or desk. If you place
it on the floor you must remember that you will have to do a lot of bending to
move the robots around. When not in use the track can be placed in a closet or
under a bed. The track simply provides a convenient little robot track that can
be configured and used over and over. Think of it as a trackless train set.
When I was younger I had ‘027 trains and my father built me three four
foot by eight foot tables and placed then in an inverted u pattern where I sat
in the u and controlled the trains. As trains shrunk so did the tables. The
same is true for desk top robotics. If you
are working with large robots you may need to go outdoors. Smaller means that
you have more possibilities for test stacks.
Another thing that can be done is
to create your various test tracks on
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Drop me a line at: dday100@yahoo.com |
