Final Thoughts and
Additional Resources
Robotics can be expensive or it can be done on
a budget. I have seen robot bases made from balsa
wood, plastic pill bottles (solar bots), a mailbox, a
toaster, a wheel chair, and even from recycled toys
such as radio-controlled tanks and cars. Once you
have the base, adding the electronics is the next
step and varies based on your microcontroller
platform.
Examples of other robot platforms can be
found on the Savage Circuits main project site.
Complete details of the aluminum chassis in this
article can be found at the project page in the
Resources sidebar, as well as a link to the
discussion forum for the project. Challenge yourself
to make something out of recycled parts and don’t
be afraid to add accessories to your robot that are
recycled from other toys. One common accessory
to recycle from toys and add to robots is the Nerf®
missile launchers.
In a future article, I will be discussing optical
wheel encoders for robots. While I will be using
the Parallax Stingray robot platform as a base for
the experiments, these concepts can apply to any
wheeled or tracked robot and are an important
step to your robot knowing how far it travels,
moving in a straight line, and making consistent
calibrated turns. SV
Resources
——————————————————-
Project Page
www.savagecircuits.com/wheelbot/
Project Discussion
http://forums.savagecircuits.com/
index.php?topic= 38.0
Parts Resources
Parallax, Inc.
www.parallax.com
Robot Discussion Thread:
http://forums.parallax.com/forums/
default.aspx?f= 10&p=001&m=195044
RadioShack
www.radioshack.com
FIGURE 9.
Tom’s double-decker wooden robot chassis.
FIGURE 10.
Ken Gracey’s revised wooden platform.
SERVO 02.2010 71
