P2 a.k.a. Piitu
Background
For sometime I had this idea to build a simple robot which only task was to avoid obstacles. I had tried the same thing already back in 2007. Back then I had built Akob. But I didn't quite succeed what I was after.
Akob failed because I used IR-LEDs as sensors. Therefore, I decided to use ultra sonic sensor with P2.
The design
It was very clear I did't want to buy any part for the robot. I wanted to use parts I already had in the shelf.
First, I created a 3D model of my vision. See Figure 1.
Then, I built the robot itself. Next, I wrote a short program for it. And many iterations later it was done.
The project
During the project one servo motor broke down. I'm not sure if it was already broken when I installed it.
Of course, when writing code there'll be several bugs and unwanted behavior. I had to fix all of them.
Technical details
The robot consists of parts listed below.
- Two driving motors
- An ultra sonic sensor
- A servo motor for the ultra sonic sensor
- A frame
- A battery box
- An on/off switch
- Electronics
And of course, it contains a short program running on its microcontroller.
End result
So far, I'm really happy with the end result. It really avoids obstacle in our house. Although, sometimes it might hit a wall and it will probably get stuck in some places in our house. But in overall, it avoid obstacles way better than Akob.
And what's most important thing in this project: I had fun time doing it.