Lavaguava submitted a new Showcase Item:
ACTUATOR
Read more about this showcase item here...
ACTUATOR
I saved up for ages to build an expensive project, this is the project I chose. The robot is of completely original design and is an ongoing project as is this page. Currently the robot has: a completed chassis with an Arduino MEGA in a protective case mounted, and the steppers with their control boards mounted on the flanged panels at the side. The chassis is made out of meccano as I do not have access to advanced plastic/metal fabrication facilities, 3d printer nor design software to send off for a 3d printed chassis, maybe next time though. The cassis has used up ALL my meccano except for a few small pieces, I would have liked to make the chassis parallel to the ground (currently it is tilted forwards slightly). Currently the robot is able to move so long as it stays tethered to my USB port, I hope to add a litium battery and Adafruit's mintyboost. The front wheels are independently controlled with a stepper motor for each, movement is slow due to the use of stepper motors.
The future functions planned are:
Line following: 2 phototransistors and LED's, the standard line following system
Capacitive switches: to cycle between dark line follow, light line follow and I may even implement a line detect and follow feature. 6 switches will be available (Adafruit 6 key capacitive touch sensor), the other 5 will have other functions
Ultrasonic distance sensor: 2 ultrasonic distance sensors will be placed at the front of the robot, 1 facing forwards for collision avoidance and 1 facing down for drop/ground clearance sensing
Read more about this showcase item here...