Howard - A GuardBot
Background
I wanted to see in my apartment despite where ever I was whenever I wanted. Especially from work. So, back in 2015, I started to plan a robot for that purpose. The real design phase didn't start until in 2016.
I googled lots of English names. I wanted to find a name that sounds like a butler's or a servant's name. But I couldn't. Instead, I ended up a web page where was explained origins of English names. At some point, I found out that Home + Guard = Howard. So, I named it as Howard. At that point the decision was really easy.
Technical details
The robot consists of the following main parts:
- Aluminium chassis and axles
- Set of batteries
- Basic RC-radio receiver
- Various lengths of M3 screws and nuts
- The rest is just 3D printed
Some specifications:
- Size: 45cm x 24cm x 22cm
- 4 x 4
- Swinging front axle (not sure about the correct term)
- Servo controlled rear suspension with Watt's linkage
Rubber parts of the tires are made out of an old inner tube of a bicycle tire using so called cut-n-paste technic.
The software I used for creating the 3D models is called OpenSCAD and it can be downloaded from here for free. All the 3D models (except the name sign) can be downloaded from here for free as well. I had created earlier a mini jack stand as seen in the picture and in videos. It turned out to be really useful during this project.
Action
At this point it's only an RC. You can see it in action in the video below. (I'm sorry about the music, I composed it myself :D). There's also a making of video where you can see how I designed it and built it. And after few iteration rounds later built it again :)
As you might have noticed at this point I can't see into my apartment with that thing. So the story goes on...