Walkers made of paper clips and a motor are not just homemade toys, but also a whole arsenal technological methods and engineering thinking.

Making such a robot with your own hands is not only interesting, but it develops fine motor skills of the fingers, and for a child it will be a whole revelation - after all, a real walking robot is actually created from nothing!

To assemble a simple working robot from ordinary paper clips with your own hands, you will need a few simple and easily accessible materials. Firstly, these are the metal braces themselves, as well as a small set of tools. Of the tools you will need a soldering iron, solder, pliers, wire cutters, round nose pliers, as well as a small electric motor with a gearbox and a battery for it.

To begin with, you need to make a support frame from a long and thick paper clip, that is, bend it into a rectangle and securely solder its ends with solder. Parts and elements of the robot will be installed on this frame during the assembly process.

Next, you need to make loops on which the legs of the robot will be attached. They will need to be soldered to the rectangular frame using a soldering iron. The paper clips are then used to make small legs for a walking robot. In this case, it is first desirable to assemble complex front legs, and then all the rest.

After assembling the limbs of the robot, you need to start manufacturing crankshaft. The brace for it should be strong and absolutely even.

The crankshaft should be carefully made with pliers and round nose pliers. When the shaft is finished, it should be carefully put on the motor gear. After that, special connecting rods are made that will connect the legs of the robot to the crankshaft. Then the gear is soldered to the crankshaft.

Then a battery and a switch are installed on the robot frame. If everything is done correctly, the robot will start walking.

Here is a video tutorial on how to make a homemade walking robot from paper clips with your own hands, watch it if something is not clear to you from the article.

Very often on all kinds of forums or sites dedicated to robotics, you can find the following question: how to make a robot from improvised materials?
On such questions, it is immediately clear that the person who asks them is a beginner and knows little about robotics. But oddly enough, it is POSSIBLE to make a robot out of improvised materials ... you just need to be smart.

Introduction

I did not set out to write some kind of grandiose book or a comprehensive training course. I just wanted to answer some newbie questions. Actually, I will not waste time and immediately describe how you can make a simple robot that would respond to environment, or rather toured obstacles.

Training

I think you understand that certain parts are needed to create a robot. Namely:
1. 1. two motors, 1.5 volts each
2. 2. two SPDT switches
3. 3. two batteries
4. 4. one case for these batteries
5. 5. one plastic ball with a through hole
6. 6. three paper clips
7. 7. some wiring

Step 1

We have wires. We cut 13 wires of 6 cm each.


Now, at each wire, we remove 1 cm of insulation from both ends with pliers or a knife.


Step 2

Using a soldering iron, we attach two wires to the motors and three wires to the SPDT switches.


Step 3

Get a battery case. On the one hand, red and black wires depart from it. Therefore, solder another wire to the other side.


Now turn the battery holder upside down and use glue to glue the SPDT switches in the shape of the letter V.


Step 4 Next, we glue our two motors to the battery case so that they rotate forward.

Step 5

We take a large paper clip. Let's unfold it. We get one wire. We take a plastic or metal ball and drag it through the through hole " former paper clip". Now glue this design to the battery holder.


Step 6

The most difficult process. You need to properly solder and solder all the wiring. How to do this is shown in the figure.


Step 7

In order for our robot to react to the world around it and be able to go around obstacles, we will make antennas for it. We take two paper clips, unbend them.


Next, glue them to the SPDT switches (it's better to glue than solder - otherwise you can solder the switches through).


Step 8

To protect the axles of the motors from breakage, we will dress them in rubber. To do this, you can take the insulation from the wire and put it on the axis.


Step 9

Well? So you and I made the first simple robot that reacts to obstacles and goes around them. To make this robot go, insert batteries and vice versa. And to speed up the movement of the robot or slow it down, then glue the motors, as in the figure.

Conclusion

In this article, we examined the creation of the most elementary robot.
But you don't want to and won't stop there, right?

Walking robots are a class of robots that mimic the movement of animals or insects. Typically, robots use mechanical legs to move. Movement with the help of legs has millions of years of history. By contrast, the history of locomotion by wheel began between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago. Wheeled travel is quite efficient, but requires relatively flat roads. One need only look at an aerial photograph of a city or its suburbs to notice a network of intertwining roads.

Walking robots can move over rough terrain inaccessible to conventional wheeled vehicles. For a similar purpose, walking robots are usually created.

Perfect walking robots imitate the movements of insects, crustaceans, and sometimes humans. Bipedal robot designs are rare because they require complex engineering solutions. I plan to review the bipedal robot project in my next tentatively titled book. Pic-Robotics. In this chapter, we will build a six-legged walking robot.

Using the six-legged model, we can demonstrate the famous "tripod" gait, i.e., the three-legged gait that most creatures use. In the following drawings, a dark circle means that the foot is planted firmly on the ground and is supporting the creature's weight. A light circle means that the leg is up and in motion.

On fig. 11.1 shows our being in the "standing" position. All feet rest on the ground. From the position of "standing" our being decides to go forward. In order to take a step, it raises three of its legs (see light circles in Figure 11.2), resting its weight on the remaining three legs (dark circles). Note that the weight-supporting legs (solid circles) are arranged in a tripod (triangle) shape. Such a position is stable and our being cannot fall. The other three legs (light circles) can and do move forward. On fig. 11.3 shows the moment of movement of the raised legs. At this point, the creature's weight shifts from stationary to moving legs (see Figure 11.4). Note that the weight of the creature is still supported by the triangular arrangement of the supporting legs. Then the other three legs are rearranged in the same way, and the cycle repeats. This mode of transportation is called tripod gait, since the weight of the creature's body at each moment of time is supported by the triangular position of the supporting legs.

Rice. 11.1. Tripod gait. Starting position

Rice. 11.2. Tripod gait, first step forward

Rice. 11.3. Tripod gait, second movement, shifting the center of gravity

Rice. 11.4. Tripod gait, third movement

There are many models of small clockwork walking toys. Such toy "pedestrians" move their legs up and down and back and forth using cam mechanisms. Although such designs are quite capable of "walking" and some do it quite nimbly, our goal is to create a walking robot that does not use cam mechanisms to simulate walking.

We will build a robot that mimics a tripod gait. The robot described in this chapter requires three servos to move. There are other six-legged and four-legged models of walking robots that require greater degrees of freedom in their legs. Accordingly, the presence more degrees of freedom requires more control mechanisms for each of the legs. If servomotors are used for this purpose, then two, three or even four motors will be required for each leg.

The need for so many servomotors (drives) is dictated by the fact that at least two degrees of freedom are required. One for lowering and raising the leg, and the other for moving it back and forth.

The walking robot we are going to make is compromise solution by design and design and requires only three servomotors. However, even in this case, it provides locomotion with a tripod gait. Our design uses three lightweight HS300 servomotors (torque 1.3 kgf) and a 16F84-04 microcontroller.

Before we start constructing the robot, let's look at the finished robot shown in Fig. 11.5 and analyze how the robot moves. The tripod gait used in this design is not the only possible one.

Rice. 11.5. Six-legged walker ready to go

Two servomotors are fixed in front of the robot. Each of the servomotors controls the movement of the front and back legs from the corresponding side of the robot. The front leg is attached directly to the servo rotor and is able to swing back and forth. The back leg is connected to the front leg by means of a traction. The traction allows the back leg to follow the forward and backward motions of the front leg. The two central legs are controlled by a third servomotor. This servo rotates the central legs along the longitudinal axis by 20° to 30° clockwise and counterclockwise, which tilts the robot to the right or left.

Using information about the leg drive mechanism, we will now see how our robot will move. Let's look at fig. 11.6. We'll start from a resting position. Each circle marks the position of the leg. As in the previous case, the dark circles show the position of the supporting legs. Please note that in the resting position, the middle legs are not supporting. These legs are 3 mm shorter than the front and hind legs.

Rice. 11.6. Six-legged movement phases

In position A, the central legs turn clockwise at an angle of approximately 20° from the central position. This causes the robot to tilt to the right. In this position, the weight of the robot is supported by the right front and back legs and the left central leg. This is the standard "tripod" position that was described above. Since the left front and left hind legs are "in the air", they can be moved forward, as shown in figure 11.6, position B.

In position C, the central legs turn counterclockwise at an angle of approximately 20° from the central position. This causes the robot to tilt to the left. In this position, the weight of the robot is distributed between the left front and back legs and the right middle leg. Now the right front and hind legs are unloaded and can be moved forward as shown in pos. D fig. 11.6.

In position E, the central legs return to the middle position. In this position, the robot "stands" straight and rests only on the front and hind legs. In position F, the front and hind legs simultaneously move back, and the robot, respectively, moves forward. Then the cycle of movement is repeated.

This was the first walking method I tried to reproduce and this system works. You can develop, refine, and construct other walking patterns that you can experiment with. I'll leave it up to you to work out how to walk backwards (reversing) and turn right and left. I will continue to improve this robot by adding sensors for the presence of walls and obstacles, as well as ways to move back and turn.

For the basis of the “body” of the robot, I took a sheet of aluminum with dimensions of 200x75x0.8 mm. The servomotors are attached to the front of the plate (see Figure 11.7). The layout of the holes for the servomotors must be copied from the drawing and transferred to the aluminum sheet. Such copying will ensure the accuracy of the position of the holes for mounting the servomotors. Four holes with a diameter of 4.3 mm are located slightly behind the center line and are designed to mount the center servo. These four holes are offset to the right. This must be done so that the flange of the central servomotor is exactly in the center of the "body". The two rear holes are designed for movable attachment of the hind legs.

Rice. 11.7. The base of the "body"

A center punch must be used to mark the centers of the holes for drilling. Otherwise, when drilling holes, the drill may “take away”. If you don't have a punch, you can use a sharp nail as a good substitute.

The legs of the robot are made of an aluminum strip 12 mm wide and 3 mm thick (see Fig. 11.8). Four holes are drilled in the front legs. Two holes are drilled in the hind legs: one for the movable mount and the other for the traction mount. Note that the hind legs are 6 mm shorter than the front. This is due to the fact that it is necessary to take into account the height of the servomotor flange, to which the front legs are attached, above the general level of the plate. Shortening the hind legs evens out the position of the platform.

Rice. 11.8. Front and rear leg design

After drilling required holes it is necessary to bend the aluminum strip to the desired shape. Clamp the strip in a vise from the side of the drilled holes at a distance of 70 mm. Press the plate and bend it at an angle of 90°. It is best to press the plate directly next to the vise jaws. This will flex the plate at a 90° angle without the risk of arching the “lower” part of the leg.

The central legs are made from a single piece of aluminum (see fig. 11.9). When attached to the robot, the central legs are 3 mm shorter than the front and rear legs. Thus, in the middle position, they do not touch the ground. These legs are for tilting the robot to the right and left. When the central servo is rotated, the legs tilt the robot at an angle of approximately ±20°.

Rice. 11.9. Medium legs

When manufacturing the central legs in an aluminum strip measuring 3x12x235 mm, first three central holes are drilled for the servomotor flange. Then the aluminum strip is fixed in a vise, and the jaws of the vise along the upper edge should fix the strip at a distance of 20 mm from the center of the strip. Clamp the strip with pliers at a distance of about 12 mm from the top edge of the vise. Keeping the clamp of the pliers, carefully twist the aluminum strip at a 90° angle. Perform the operation slowly enough, otherwise you can easily break the plate. Twist the plate on the other side in the same way.

Once the 90° twist is complete, bend the plate further 90° in two places, as we did for the front and hind legs.

The front servos are attached to the aluminum base with 3mm plastic screws and nuts. I chose plastic screws because they can be slightly bent to compensate for small mismatches in the positions of the holes drilled in the plate and the servo mounting holes.

The legs are attached to the plastic flange of the servomotor. For this I used 2mm screws and nuts. When attaching the flange to the servo shaft, make sure that each leg can swing back and forth the same angle from the mid-perpendicular position.

The link between the front and hind legs is made of a 3 mm threaded rod (see Fig. 11.10). In the original design, the length of the rod is 132 mm from center to center. The link is inserted into the holes on the front and back legs of the robot and can be secured with a few nuts.

Rice. 11.10. Detail drawing hinge and traction

The rear legs of the robot must be attached to the base before the arm can be installed. The rear leg attachment is made of a 9.5 mm threaded rivet and a mounting screw. Detail mount legs are shown in Fig. 11.10. Place plastic washers under the base to fill the space between the bottom of the base and the screw head. This design provides fastening of the leg to the base without its "hanging out". Plastic washers can be used to reduce friction. Do not use too many washers - this will lead to excessive pressure on the foot surface of the base. The leg should rotate freely enough at the joint. On fig. 11.11 and 11.12 are photographs of a partially assembled six-legged robot.

Rice. 11.11. Hexagon - bottom view. Front two servomotors

Rice. 11.12. Partially assembled hexapod with two front servos

Two L-brackets are required to mount the center servomotor (see Figure 11.13). Drill appropriate holes in the aluminum strips and bend them at a 90° angle to form staples. Attach the two L-brackets to the center servo with plastic screws and nuts (see Figure 11.14). Then attach the center servo assembly to the bottom of the base. Align the four holes on the base with the holes on the top of the L-brackets. Fasten the parts with plastic screws and nuts. On fig. 11.15 and 11.16 are photographs of the top and bottom views for a six-legged robot.

Rice. 11.13. Bracket of the central servomotor

Rice. 11.14. Central motor assembly with mounting brackets and middle legs

Rice. 11.15. Hexagon - bottom view with three servos

Rice. 11.16. Hexagon assembled. Structure ready for electronic control mounting

On fig. 11.17 shows a diagram for controlling servomotors using a PIC microcontroller. The servomotors and the microcontroller are powered by a 6 V battery. battery compartment 6V contains 4 AA elements. The microcontroller circuit is assembled on a small breadboard. The battery compartment and circuitry are attached to the top of the aluminum base. Figure 11.5 shows finished construction robot ready to move.

Rice. 11.17. circuit diagram six-legged robot control

The 16F84 microcontroller controls the operation of three servomotors. Availability a large number unused I/O buses and space for the program provides an opportunity to improve and modify the basic model of the robot.

‘Six-legged walking robot

‘Connections

'Left Servo Pin RB1

'Right Servo Pin RB2

‘Tilt Servo Pin RB0

'Move only forward

for B0 = 1 to 60

pulsout 0, 155 ‘Tilt clockwise, right side up

pulsout 1, 145 ‘Left feet in place

pulsout 2, 145 ‘Right feet move forward

for B0 = 1 to 60

pulsout 0, 190 ‘Tilt counterclockwise, left side up

pulsout 1, 200 ‘Left feet move forward

pulsout 2, 145 ‘Right legs stay forward

for B0 = 1 to 15

pulsout 1, 200 ‘Left feet keep forward

pulsout 2,145 ‘Right legs keep forward

for B0 = 1 to 60

pulsout 0, 172 ‘Middle position, no slope

pulsout 1, 145 ‘Move left legs back

pulsout 2, 200 ‘Move right legs back

Not all servos react the same way to the pulsout command. It is possible that to create a robot you will purchase servos, the characteristics of which will be slightly different from those that were used by me. In this case, note that the parameters of the pulsout command, which determines the position of the servo rotor, must be adjusted. In this case, you need to select the numerical values ​​of the pulsout parameters that would correspond to the type of servomotor that is used in your six-legged robot design.

This program on PICBASIC allows the robot to move only in the forward direction, however, with a slight change in the program, the designer can make the robot move backward and make turns to the right and left. Installing multiple sensors can inform the robot about the presence of obstacles.

Servo motors

Microcontrollers 16F84

aluminum strips

aluminum sheet

Bars and nuts with 3 mm thread

Plastic screws, nuts and washers

Parts can be ordered from:

Electronics lovers, people interested in robotics do not miss the opportunity to design a simple or complex robot on their own, enjoy the assembly process itself and the result.

There is not always time and desire to clean the house, but modern technology allow you to create cleaning robots. These include a vacuum cleaner robot that travels around the rooms for hours and collects dust.

Where to start if you want to create a robot with your own hands? Of course, the first robots should be easy to create. The robot, which will be discussed in today's article, will not take much time and does not require special skills.

Continuing the theme of creating robots with your own hands, I suggest trying to make a dancing robot from improvised means. To create a robot with your own hands you will need simple materials, which can be found in almost every home.

The variety of robots is not limited to the specific templates from which these robots are created. People always come up with original interesting ideas how to make a robot. Some create static robot sculptures, others create dynamic robot sculptures, which will be discussed in today's article.

Anyone, even a child, can make a robot with their own hands. The robot, which will be described below, is easy to create and does not require much time. I will try to give a description of the stages of creating a robot with my own hands.

Sometimes the ideas of creating a robot come quite unexpectedly. If you think about how to make a robot move from improvised means, the thought of batteries arises. But what if everything is much simpler and more accessible? Let's try to make a robot with our own hands using mobile phone as the main part. To create a vibro robot with your own hands, you will need the following materials.

Like from different materials make a robot at home without the right equipment? Similar questions increasingly began to appear on various blogs and forums dedicated to the manufacture of various do-it-yourself devices and robotics. Of course, making a modern, multifunctional robot is an almost impossible task at home. But it is quite possible to make a simple robot on a single driver chip and using several photocells. Today it is not difficult to find schemes with detailed description stages of manufacturing mini-robots that can respond to light sources and obstacles.

It will turn out to be a very nimble and mobile robot that will hide in the dark, or move towards the light, or run away from the light, or move in search of light, depending on the way the microcircuit is connected to motors and photocells.

You can even make your smart robot follow only a light or dark line, or you can make a mini robot follow your hand - just add a few bright LEDs to its circuit!

In fact, even a beginner who is just starting to master this craft can make a simple robot with his own hands. In this article, we will consider the option homemade robot reacting to obstacles and avoiding them.

Let's get straight to the point. In order to make a home robot, we will need the following parts, which you can easily find at hand:

1. 2 batteries and a case for them;

2. Two motors (1.5 volts each);

3. 2 SPDT switches;

4. 3 paper clips;

4. Plastic ball with hole;

5. A small piece of solid wire.

Steps for making a home robot:

1. We cut a piece of wire into 13 pieces of six centimeters each and expose each on both sides by 1 cm.

With a soldering iron, we attach 3 wires to the SPDT switches, and 2 wires to the motors;

2. Now we take a case for batteries, on one side of which two multi-colored wires depart from it (most likely - black and red). We need to solder another wire to the other side of the case.

Now you need to unfold the battery case and glue both SPDT switches to the side with the soldered wire in the form latin letter V;

3. After that, motors must be glued on both sides of the body so that they rotate forward.

Then take a large paper clip and unbend it. We drag the unbent paper clip through the through hole of the plastic ball and straighten the ends of the paper clip parallel to each other. We glue the ends of the paper clip to our design;

4. How to make a home robot so that it can actually go around obstacles? It is important to solder everything installed wires as shown in the photo;

5. We make antennas from unbent paper clips and glue them to SPDT switches;

6. It remains to insert the batteries into the case and home robot will start moving, avoiding obstacles in its path.

Now you know how to make a home robot that can react to obstacles.

How can you make a robot with certain principles of behavior yourself? A whole class of such robots is created using BEAM technology, typical principles whose behaviors are based on the so-called "photoreception". Reacting to changes in light intensity, such a mini-robot moves slower or, conversely, faster (photokinesis).

For the manufacture of a robot whose movement is directed away from light or towards the light and is due to the phototaxis reaction, we need two photosensors. The phototaxis reaction will manifest itself as follows: if light hits one of the photosensors of the BEAM robot, then the corresponding electric motor turns on and the robot turns towards the light source.

And then the light hits the second sensor and then the second electric motor is turned on. Now the mini-robot starts moving towards the light source. If the light hits only one photosensor again, then the robot starts turning towards the light again and continues moving towards the source when the light illuminates both sensors. When no light hits any sensor, the mini robot stops.

How to make a robot that follows the hand? To do this, our mini-robot must be equipped not only with sensors, but also with LEDs. The LEDs will emit light and the robot will respond to the reflected light. If we place a palm in front of one of the sensors, then the mini-robot will turn in its direction.

If you remove your palm a little away from the corresponding sensor, then the robot will "obediently" follow the palm. In order for the reflected light to be clearly captured by the phototransistors, choose bright LEDs (more than 1000 mCd) of orange or red color for constructing the robot.

It's no secret that the number of investments in the field of robotics is increasing every year, many new generations of robots are being created, with the development of production technologies, new opportunities for creating and using robots appear, and talented self-taught masters continue to amaze the world with their new inventions in the field of robotics.

The built-in photosensors react to light and go to the source, and the sensors recognize an obstacle on the way and the robot changes direction. In order to make such a simple robot with your own hands, you do not need to have "seven spans in the forehead" and higher technical education. It is enough to purchase (and some parts can be found at hand) all the necessary parts to create a robot and gradually connect all the microcircuits, sensors, sensors, wires and motors.

Let's consider a robot variant from a vibration motor from a mobile phone, a flat battery, double sided tape and... a toothbrush. In order to start making this simple robot from improvised means, take your old, unnecessary mobile phone and remove the vibration motor from it. Then take the old toothbrush and cut off the head with a jigsaw.

On the upper part glue a piece of double-sided tape on the head of the toothbrush and a vibration motor on top. It remains only to provide the mini-robot with power by installing a flat battery next to the vibration motor. All! Our robot is ready - due to vibration, the robot will move forward on the bristles.

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