Robot - Line Follower

I began work on my first robot about two years ago. For no particular reason, I decided to begin with a line following robot and truth be told, my first attempt at building it was a complete failure. Looking back at my efforts, I believe, for a beginner, I was rather too ambitious. The circuit that I had designed had a bunch of unnecessary stuff which I then believed would give my robot an edge over the others. But it never worked and I had to start all over from scratch.

In my second attempt, I managed to get the robot on track. As delighted as I was with my first robot, it was nowhere near where I wanted it to be. I took it to a couple of competitions and not much to my surprise, it failed in both of them. I knew it was time to make some major changes in the design.

In my third attempt, (actually, it wasn’t the third, it was a revision of my second attempt), I updated the firmware and came up with a much more stable and accurate version. It performed well when tested and much to my delight, it finished first in two competitions and second in another. Though I was proud with what I had achieved, I felt that the robot was visually rather unappealing. And you’ll come to know why from its picture given above. It had wires running all over it and I had no other option but to rebuild it. A month or so later, I had the robot all ready and that is the current version of my first robot.

In this instructable I will guide you through the steps that I've followed in building the current version of my robot. It’s one of those robots which belong to the “scratch-built” category. You might find it difficult to find all the parts that I have used. So I insist you to read through the steps that I have followed, and then implement it in your own way with the parts that you've found.

This instructable requires that you are familiar with the following:
• Soldering and related equipments
• Hand tools like screwdrivers, wire cutters and strippers
• Reading schematics and connection diagrams
• C/C++ programming for AVR microcontrollers (optional)

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line follow robot, no programming required

You will notice that the pictured robot is built to micro dimensions(it measures 45mm in diameter), but this isnt neccesary, and this instructable will explain how to build it according to the parts that you can get hold of. the line follow robot is a great first robotics project, giving you good idea of how to achieve autonomous behaviour using simple electronic components and some mild soldering skills.

parts needed include:

 an NPN transistor
a resistor (the value of which later be determined later)
batteries (between 6 to 12 volts depending on size of robot and motor requirements, I used two 3v button cells).
two motor and gearbox assemblies
a switch
a light dependent resistor (LDR)
and a suitable shell. (mine was the clear case from a toy, it measures 45mm in diameter).
a multimeter or ammeter

note: the picture does not include the transistor because at the time of taking the picture i was still in the process of designing and didnt think that the transistor was neccesary. also, only one resistor was needed.

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Robopod the Arduino Powered Robot

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Let's Build a Robot!

I've been building stuff like this since I was about ten or so years old... and I love it!

It's amazing how fabrication techniques have improved in the last few years. Inexpensive hardware, 3D printers, and awesome boutique electronics stores like Adafruit, SparkFun, and Seeed Studio have opened a Pandoras-box of Awesome.

Are you ready to build your robot? Please make sure to read through the entire Instructable before making any purchases - parts are listed throughout. 

If you have any questions, let me know - I'll do my best to help. Want to see ROBOB (ROB-OB) in action?

https://vine.co/v/hBhqD1ZQHLm

Ding ding ding... let's go!

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James - Your first Arduino Robot

So you want to make a robot? Don't know where to start? How about you learn how to make a robot with me and make James!
James was made as part of a Robotics Class I teach to a few high school students.

I called him James in memory of my late Grandfather James Henry Edwards who passed away 14-3-2013. He loved teaching and helping kids and died doing what he loved, hopefully this James will carry on that legacy.

For this build we will be using the Arduino Uno with a Prototyping Shield. You could use whichever Arduino you want with its own Prototyping Shield or Breadboard.

If you are looking to buy this Prototyping Shield search on ebay for “arduino prototype shield uno” and you should see it. Alternatively you can buy a similar looking one from Core Electronics: http://tinyurl.com/brxjx5h

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How to build a 3D-printed robot reindeer toy

3D Printing! Mold-making! Digital Rendering! Apoxie Sculpt!!! Woodshoppery! For this project Tina and I decided to try to learn about 3D printing and I'll show you what we learned and how we ended up making the toy. We were asked to make two robot reindeer toys as props for a Christmas film; one is a retro, 1970s robot and the other is the updated sleek modern version. The legs and head have slight articulation and the nose has a red blinking LED.

Also; I'm entering this build in the 3D Printing Contest. If you like it please vote (up there in the top right corner) I would LOVE to win a 3D printer - holy smokes, how awesome would that be????!

Here are the materials that I remember using:

SLS 3D printing
Foam block
Wood (3/4 ply, 2x4)
5/8 threaded rod
Epoxy glue
Spray paints and primers
Smooth-on Mold Star 30
Red tint
Solid Works
Patience

The first step in the build was figuring out what it would look like. I scratched out some possible shapes and designs in my sketchbook and ran them by the production designer. As it turned out he was taken with one of the doodles and we went ahead with that design without changing it too much (mostly the antlers and the addition of a rocket jet pack on it's back). I hired a 3D renderer (Brad Rothwell, who has submitted some great stuff here on Instructables) to make a Solid Works rendering that I could submit to the printers.

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