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ROBOTS — HOW WE’VE BUILT
THEM OVER THE YEARS
by Tom Carroll
I’ve written recently about how
robots have changed over the years
from a historical perspective, but not
how we’ve actually constructed them.
Let’s face it, robot stores were certainly
not around 40 years ago, and even
today, there are only a tiny fraction of
the stores we’d like to see for our
robot experimenting as compared with
computers. There are hundreds of
thousands of computer stores and
companies around the world but only
a few actual robot stores, and less than
a hundred robot companies that deal
with robots for the experimenter. Most
of those companies here in the US and
Canada advertise in the pages of SERVO.
As I mentioned in my previous
column, we keep hearing about the
arrival of the ‘robotics age,’ but many
seem to find that it really is not here,
but just around the corner. Military
robots, insect-like walking and
humanoid robot kits, and even floor-sweeping Roombas now seem a bit
blasé. Some experimenters are already
hanging up their soldering irons to
wait for the next killer app to come
along in another field.
We want working robots right
out of the box or an easy-to-assemble
kit. The creativeness of electronics
enthusiasts seems to be history. It’s a
shame that some are changing their
interests to other areas of science.
Though the economy has taken a dip,
robotics truly is making amazing
strides. A great example is Sony’s
once-shelved Aibo that is slated to
make a comeback this year.
Magazines such as SERVO, Nuts &
78 SERVO 08.2008
Volts, and the like, still have great
schematics and circuit board layouts,
but the pages of most popular
magazines that used to feature
build-it-yourself articles no longer have
construction articles for mechanical
projects. Building a desk or garden
shed from scratch is frequently
featured in many magazines, but not
how to build a garden tractor or other
mechanical projects. Certainly there
are crafty people still around such as
the stars of Myth Busters, but they
are a minority it seems these days.
Possibly the slow economy and
resulting tightened budgets will
resurrect the creative bent in us so
that home-built robots will once again
become popular.
Building Robots
in the ‘50s
We take for granted all the
motors, sensors, high power density
batteries, and microcontrollers
that are contained within today’s
experimental robots. The model
airplane servo that so many builders
use as the base of their robot designs
was still in the future 60 years ago. In
those days — besides a lucky find at a
war surplus store — it was hard for a
robot experimenter to find good parts.
Some of the best sources for robot
parts were old appliances such as
washing machines, food mixers, electric
fans, refrigerators, record players, and
115 VAC power tools. Cars had fans,
windshield wiper motors, and various
wiring harnesses. Bicycles had neat
chains, bearings, gears, and even
hardened steel spokes. Boats and boat
motors had some great parts for
robots. Hardware stores had hinges,
door and cabinet hardware, plumbing
items, shafts, and threaded rod stock.
Some of the very best parts came
from jukeboxes and pinball machines.
Anything with parts that could be
moved usually had something that was
useful to robot builders. Growing up
in a small town (Mount Olive, NC), my
robot parts sources were empty coffee
cans and heating duct sections for
robot shells, plywood structures, and
various weird things from junkyards. I
also had access to jukebox parts and
other surplus things my brother got in
the big city of Raleigh. When I later
moved to Long Beach, CA near Los
Angeles, I was in robot builder’s heaven.
Notice that I did not mention any
sort of electronics. Of course, there
were no computers and therefore, no
printers, hard drives, and other similar
itmes. Certainly there were no
microcontrollers or ready-built motor
drivers available to experimenters.
Office machines usually consisted of
typewriters, mimeograph machines,
and various types of adding machines,
and had little usable parts for robots.
Entertainment electronics back then
were radios, TVs, movie projectors,
phonographs, and associated
amplifiers and speakers for these
items. Most electronic products were
hand-wired from point-to-point and
large capacitors, transformers, and
other components could be removed
for projects. The robot experimenter
