Project: Building your own robot

[Phoenixs]

Hello coders of BWhacks. As the topic says, i'm writing a guide to build your own, very simple, robot. See pics at bottom of this guide.

There are lot of online documentation available in this project. It makes this little easier.

Difficulty: Medium
Money required: ~120euros

Here is one good pic of ready robot, yours might look like this too:

http://www.mbnet.fi/nettijatkot/2005...bo/robotti.jpg

What is a robot then?

In my opinion, robot is machine, that doesn't require any controlling. It can decide it own moves. In example, robot could think to turn left or right.

Parts list and stuff:

So, lets begin. You can get most of stuff from normal shops but some parts you may need to order from internet. In order to build your robot, you need stuff that I've listed below.:

1. OOPic Microcontroller ( OOPic Home Page )
2. 2 x Servo's ( Futaba suits well )
3. 2 x Infra red sensors
4. 1 x 9V battery
5. Plastic or Aluminum as body.
6. Basic skills in welding.
7. Basic skills in programming.

Optional but important:

1. Time & patience
2. Money, cos some components are not so cheap. I would say around 120 euros and you are ready to start.
3. Coffee ( coca cola will be fine too )
4. Good attitude

So, now we have all stuff we need to start our project. We are using microcontroller as a hearth of our robot, servos as "feets" and infrared sensors as eyes.

Programming

We are trying to get our robot move around, avoid obstacles, spin around, blink leds and play simple sounds. All this is done with programming. OOPic microcontroller has EEPROM memory, so we are writing source code, compile it and transfer it to microcontrollers memory. Sounds simple, eh?

We can use C++, Java or Visual Basic to write our program. I choosed C++. To start programming, we need to use OOPics own IDE.

You can download IDE here: http://tinsley.no-ip.org/files/ooPIC611Setup.exe

You should have this screen after installation:
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/8141/oopicfb1.png

So now plug in serial cabel that came with OOPic ( or go buy one ) to your computers port and to microcontroller, now we can start to program and compile our first program. Also plug in 9V battery.

Our first program:

Since we don't have LCD-monitor yet, we can't make it show us legendary "hello world", we are making it to blink led.

oLED led = New oLED;
led.IOLine = 7;
led.TurnOn;
Do{
  led.Brightness.Inc;
  Delay = 50;
}

Very simple. After you have wrote this to editor, press F5 to Compile & transfer it to microcontrollers memory.

oLED RedLed = New oLED;
oLED YellowLed = New oLED;
oLED GreenLed = New oLED;

GreenLed.IOLine = 5;
GreenLed.TurnOn;

YellowLed.IOLine = 6;
YellowLed.TurnOn;

RedLed.IOLine = 7;
RedLed.TurnOn;
Do{
  RedLed.Brightness.Inc;
  YellowLed.Brightness.Inc;
  GreenLed.Brightness.Inc;
  Delay = 50;
}

Blink all three leds simultaneously.

oLED RedLed = New oLED;
oLED YellowLed = New oLED;
oLED GreenLed = New oLED;

oServo servo = New oServo;
servo.IOLine = 31;
servo.Adjust = 28:
servo.Operate = cvTrue;


GreenLed.IOLine = 5;
GreenLed.TurnOn;

YellowLed.IOLine = 6;
YellowLed.TurnOn;

RedLed.IOLine = 7;
RedLed.TurnOn;

Do{

  servo = 0;
  ooPIC.Delay = 1500;
  servo = 63;
  
  RedLed.Brightness.Inc;
  YellowLed.Brightness.Inc;
  GreenLed.Brightness.Inc;
  Delay = 50;
}

Blinking all three leds and controlling left servo.

If you've done all things right, you will now see one led blinking in your microcontroller. Congratulations.

Final words:

If you really are interested about making good robot, you can buy more components to your project. Like lcd monitors, more memory etc

Now you can start working with your program. You can do a lot with this, just use your imagination. ie. i'm building a robot that moves in my house, avoids things and such.

If you wonder why I mentioned about skills in welding; You may need that stuff when you are making stuff to your bot. in example, depending of servo model, you may need to modify & hack it.

If you need any help, or if you have questions; Use google or ask here.

I'm very sorry of lacking most pictures, but I found out that my camera's memory is broken, so goodbye pics :/

If you need more examples or anything just ask, I will write more

Pics:

http://www.lynxmotion.com/images/Pro...ll/oopic01.jpg MicroController
http://www.trossenrobotics.com/image...R-90000008.gif Servo
http://www.acroname.com/robotics/par...RIAL-CABLE.jpg Serial Cable
http://www.focusonprice.com/images/JD014.jpg 9V battery
http://www.gesensing.com/thermometri.../ZTP_135SR.jpg InfraRed sensor

More info:

Random vid:
YouTube - While everyone else is revising, I'm building robots

OOpic programmer's guide:
ooPIC Programming Guide Index

OOpic homepage:
OOPic Home Page

Your best friend:
Google

[duckduckgoose]

Where are the wheeling blades of death? The piston powered pick axes? Where the hell is the flamethrower?
This is no robot, this is a gaybot.

[Phoenixs]

Originally Posted by duckduckgoose

Where are the wheeling blades of death? The piston powered pick axes? Where the hell is the flamethrower?
This is no robot, this is a gaybot.

Sure! I will add that kind of equipment immediatily.

[ghostboy78]

This actually looks pretty sick, I might go and build one...

[Phoenixs]

Originally Posted by ghostboy78

This actually looks pretty sick, I might go and build one...

Yeah I recommend it. I've already enjoyed my project alot

Imo hardest part on project is to make design. Body, wheels etc. It's not that easy as it sounds.

Programming is made pretty easy by OOPic.

[kds]

I did this in my highschool Java class junior year, but never worked on it after that. this looks pretty fun

[zonemikel]

Nice, you should build your own from scratch using stuff like drill motors and such. You can also make a coilgun pretty easily and attach it to the top (set it off with a relay). Never heard of ooPic i use asm and pic-c, i pretty much use asm because of my love for it.

Good job though, i mess with this stuff alot, so if you post more stuff in this areana ill be interested.

[Phoenixs]

Sure. But currently I'm working with content management system in php and mysql.

Let's see if I add something when I finish that project :P

[CrazyGerbilEater]

im waiting to build mine until i have enough free time...and energy.

itll be a wood box nailed together with a lawnmower engine, and a compresser built in. im planning on a nail gun or two, and a napalm-grenade launcher(my plastic cup design with a air powered tube launcher). ill put a thin coating of metal on the outside. itll be a monster!! id put a chair in it, but i dont feel like committing suicide.

battlebots, those shows were awesome, i dont see them on anymore though.