A few years ago there was a regular magazine that built a robot up over a number of weeks/months. It actually built 2. The first being called Cybot, the second was called Tom. However we only got part way through Tom so were left with a part functioning robot. However, the chassis included 2 motors, gearboxes, rubber wheels, battery holders for 6 AAA batteries, rubber bumper and importantly a basic motor control board. The socket used to connect other boards was labeled up to identify each of the inputs plus power pins. After a quick test, shorting any of the 4 data pins to the 5v pin turned one of the motors either forwards or reverse.
After wiring up a quick cable and connecting it to an Arduino board I was then able to control the robot. As a further test I then used a Wii nunchuck to control the direction, either forward, reverse, rotate left or rotate right.
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| Tom robot chassis | Underneath | Motor control board |
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| Component side | Arduino ready for transplant | Arduino installed |
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| Input from Arduino | Motor control connector | All together |
This is a pretty quick hack together and there are a number of areas for improvement and further development:
- The Arduino is powered from the regulated 5V from the motor control board. It could have been powered by the 9V supply and fed into the external power socket.
- The back end is too light, it needs more weight to balance it more.
- Control via the Wii nunchuck is OK, but its tethered so you need to follow it around. It needs to be a wireless connection.
- The Arduino board isnt fastened down and has fallen out a couple of times.
- It doesn’t do much else. No sensors, yet, however the Tom robot did have a scanning ultrasonic sensor.
This was just a quick evening hacking this together. so look out for more developments.
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i’m learning my new arduino and I’ve got a tom. could you mind giving me the source code so i can edit it and use it for learning? i would be very grateful.