How To Build A Simple Robot
Posted on May 29th, 2005 by William Cox in RobotsThis article lists some ideas for starting a simple robot. A good read for beginners.
This was orginally conceived as a multipart series from Mr. Craig
Gardner, but he took our money and ran. This is all we got. Lesson
learned.
If you like this article, please check out this. How to Build A Simple Robot, The Beetle Robot.
This is the first of a multi-part series on how to build a simple
robot. I will not be covering a lot of theory but instead will cover
the nuts and bolts of building a robot. In this first installment I
will cover some of the different options in building this robot.
Platform:
You have several options for the base material.
1. Wood Depending on the size of your robot plywood may be a good
choice it is inexpensive or free and easy to work with simple tools.
You can get 1/4" and 3/8" plywood at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft,
or Hobby stores. A good place to look for free material is at a Cabinet
shop they have lots of scrap too small for their use but perfect for a
small robot.
2. Aluminum Light weight and moderately easy to work can also be found
at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. You should
always be very cautious when working with aluminum as edges can be very
sharp and should be sanded or filed to round the edges.
3. Plastics Acrylic or Plexiglas are both easy to work and can also be
found at Hardware, Home Improvement, Craft, or Hobby stores. High-speed
tools should not be used, as they will melt the plastic. When cutting
or drilling use low speeds.
4. Old CD’s These can be easy to find most people get them in the mail
from AOL or Earthlink instead of throwing them away you can use them to
make a robot. They can be a little on the brittle side so go easy when
you do any cutting or drilling.
I will be using Plexiglas from my local home center but you can use whatever material you want.
Motors:
1.Servos You can use servos for easy to get gear
motors. Hobby shops will usually carry several sizes and brands. You
will need to modify them for use there are many sites on the net with
different methods; the one I like is detailed at the PARTS website at http://www.portlandrobotics.org/.
Servos already have all of the control circuitry built in and are easy
to control they have 3 wires signal, +, and ground by pulsing the
signal line you can go forward, stop, or backward. Servos are probably
the easiest and cheapest way to go but may not be the best for you.
2.Gear motors These are available from surplus stores or hobby shops
some people modify servos and remove the electronics to use them as
gear motors. Gear motors will require control circuitry normally an
H-bridge to allow forward and reverse motion and in some cases braking.
Gear motors can give the greatest flexibility but at a higher cost
compared to servos. Another source for gear motors is the toy section
of your locale department store. What you want are the radio control
toys that have differential steering, meaning they have a separate
motor for each side. To turn left they go forward on the right motor
and turn off the left motor and do the opposite to turn right. The
really good cars will turn right by going backward on the right motor
and forward on the left this will allow a vehicle to almost turn on a
dime. If you use gear motors you will need to devise a method to mount
the wheels I will be using a toy for my example.
Wheels:
You can use wheels from toys or you can buy wheels from a hobby shop
they have pneumatic or foam wheels for model aircraft that are very
easy to use.
Power System:
Batteries You will need to decide what type of batteries to
use. It can quickly become very expensive replacing batteries.
Rechargeable batteries are best; there are a number of different types
to choose from. Electronic supply stores or Hobby shops are good places
to look, you will need batteries and a charger to charge them with.
Power supply We will need a voltage regulator to drop the
voltage from the battery to the 5 volts needed by the Microcontroller
and other parts of the Brain for the robot.
I will cover using two different voltage regulators both are
available FREE from National Semiconductor as samples. Each part has
its good and bad points.
LM2825 Integrated Power Supply 1A DC-DC Converter is a
complete switching power supply on a 24 pin DIP although a little large
it requires no other components and has an efficiency of 80%. It does
require at least 7 volts on the input but your batteries will last much
longer than with a linear regulator.
LM2940 1A Low Dropout Regulator is a linear regulator in a TO
220 package it requires a couple of filter capacitors it is not as
efficient as the LM2825 the big up point is it only requires 5.5 volts
input to give a regulated 5 volts out.
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June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
the build is simple but it works.. can you add more of solar bots and sources of on where can we get small solar panels except calculatrs
June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
IM 11 GOING TO 12 YRS OLD AND WANT TO MEKE A ROBOT HOW?!?!?
June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
for the beetle robot instructions the picture covers some of them do u mind sending me them or something. o and great web page it tells u how to make stuff and not how to order it its awsome hope u can reply
June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
i am 15 and i want to make a simple robot with household stuff i want to make a simple bug
:sigh
June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Hey Guys, I put together a robot called the “WASP Solderless” and it was very easy and I didn’t need any tools to do it. The cool thing was I still got to work with electronic parts. I’m not sure who sells it.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
im in the fourth year of high school and we need to make something for our science investigatory project. our project is based on our physics cubject ang our theme is about electromagnetism. we need help because our deadline is on the last week of the month. :sigh
June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
this site was very amazing…and I get some great information…thank ya very much… :grin
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 am
GOOD
but
pictures of robots made ,shouild hve been displayed
August 6th, 2008 at 11:49 am
very informative, but also please mention how to program the microcontrollers & using which languages. do c or c++ work?
August 12th, 2008 at 6:22 am
i wana make a simple robot with simple approach but wana some epert’s help anybody plz help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
August 13th, 2008 at 11:07 am
i m going to participate in a robotic competition and i want to know the procedure for making obstacle avoiding robot.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I am going to make my first and I think this article is going to help me……Thanks….
September 12th, 2008 at 2:55 am
this site was very amazing…and I get some great information…thank ya very much…
September 30th, 2008 at 1:25 am
good i like your creativity
September 30th, 2008 at 5:24 am
i am B.TECH 1st year student i want to make a robot for simple use as “to burn a candel” or pick up a boll etc.
pls tell me required part and oter things to make a robot.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 am
this site is very good for give a very good information f or build a robot
October 26th, 2008 at 8:35 am
hey i want to make a b’day card built wid robotics does ny1 can help me out plzz
October 28th, 2008 at 11:46 am
hey i find this sight very interesting but i can’t find parts. CAN SOMEONE HELP PLEASE!!!! :smile
October 30th, 2008 at 8:44 am
This is cool. I want to make a simple robot , line follower, pls help,
October 31st, 2008 at 3:43 am
i m b-tech 2 years std …
this site is good but how we can start to make simple robot….
what is procedure,step by step …
pls help
November 13th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
hey i paying anyone $200,000 if you can teach me how to build robots
November 24th, 2008 at 6:41 am
hii.. i m studying B.ENGG (HONORS)( 2nd year) in Information technology. i want to build a robot for the tech fest being organized by some other colleges . so can you send me some information regarding which type of robot i should build at this level of my study.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:15 am
Hello.I am a a6 years old and i want to make a simple robot car.Please help.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
hi. i am 12 yrs old and want to make a robot out of a old vacuum cleaner. It still works but does now suck up objects really well. How do I do this?
January 8th, 2009 at 7:55 am
i wanna know how to make a simple robot out of junk. and i want it to be a bit presentable. i don’t know if that thing works. i guess i have to find out. =)
February 6th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
this is cool
but um make easier to read
its a little hard to read
so yeaaaa
im gonnna try to make it also!
bye
diana
February 15th, 2009 at 7:15 am
it s cool i got confidence dat i can make a robo in short
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:44 am
i wanna know on wat basis the motors & DPDT are selectedfor a simple robot
March 11th, 2009 at 1:40 am
hi.
i wan make simple robots …..wat is the step?????????
May 1st, 2009 at 4:47 am
good robot . i tried myself