Generic Robotic Base with RSV2 Attached
by RobosapienV2_4mem8

(Keep up with my work on the Hacks and Mods Blog.)

Hi Guys, I (RobosapienV2-4mem8) thought I would put up some photos of a weekend project making a robotic base. This project would be a good exercise for members and others in constructing a simple robotic base. The base is constructed of alloy, the wheels from an R/C toy and casters which were lying around, some parts have to be made. Motors and motor drivers will vary depending on what you have or install. This is for the basic frame only. I have included the finished robotic base photo. The rest of the details on how to build it will follow underneath.

Since this article was started it has progressed into something much larger and therefore it is now NOT a weekend project, It started out as a simple robotic two wheeled base as you will see from the start of this blog, but has moved onto a bigger project.  So, the first 20 chapters in this saga are published here, but to keep up with the continuing saga, visit the Hacks and Mods blog.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 1: FRAME ASSEMBLY

First cut 2 pieces of 50mm x 25mm alloy U section 296 mm long and two pieces of 30 mm x 25 mm angle alloy 300 mm long. Next mark the centre of the of 50mm x 25mm u section both sides. The height from the bottom of the alloy will depend on the wheel diameter. Bore a 10 mm hole through both sides on both pieces of alloy, These will be the holes for the bearings. (This hole will depend on the bearing used) In this case they are f/b oilite bearings (you can use stepped ball bearings, These are the one's that have a stepped outer flange which you will need to rest against the alloy) these bearings will accept a 6mm shaft.

Next you will need to lighten the alloy sides, I masked with masking tape both sides and plotted out evenly spaced holes and allowing for a 12mm drill bit. Once marked you will need to hold the alloy in a machine vice and proceed to drill all the holes right through both sides. When that is done clean the holes edges with a modelling knife. Next mark the front and back angle, Place the 30mm x 25mm angle alloy [30mm facing up] at the front and back of the 50mm x 25mm alloy and mark the bottom edge, this is the starting mark and draw a line so that it will miss the 12mm holes, then cut with a hacksaw and clean up the edge with a file. Take no notice of the white cog on the end on the shaft as this was there to stop the shaft from falling off.
Next we have to bolt all the pieces together, take the angle alloy and place on top of the 50mm x 25mm alloy with the 30mm angle facing downwards clamp together and drill two holes in each corner using 5mm x 15mm bolts and secured with 5mm nylock nuts, now we have our basic frame.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 3: Wheel Assembly

These are the parts for the wheel assembly, Top 8mm load axles, f/b oilite bushes, 5mm s/s wheel axles, 8mm lock blocks to clamp 8mm shaft to the 4mm motor shaft, washer spacers. The 5mm s/s wheel shafts are tapped and threaded into the 8mm load axles. The load axles were made from 8mm s/s steel and are 60mm long, one end has a hole bored to 4mm and the other end is bored to 4.5mm and threaded.

The lock blocks and f/b bushes are from old printers that held the cartridge shaft to the DC motor. I used to wreck old printers and pc's for their parts, These were the days when pc's were the size of your average pc desk, lots of parts nuts and bolts etc.

Wheel with 5 mm s/s bolt tapped into the 8 mm shaft, note the slot in shaft for the clamp to tighten on to the 4 mm motor shaft.

Wheels used from an old R/C Jeep. Remove old axle and thread the hole with a 5 mm tap.

A closer look at the clamps to clamp 8 mm axle to 4 mm motor shaft.

Next insert the oilite f/b bearings these should be a press fit, they have a small notch to one side, once the holes are drilled file a small notch this will locate the bearing and stop it from rotating. Note the f/b bearings are from old printer cartridge units I collected these in the 80's. So unless you can source these I would suggest using flanged bearings.

Side view of finished wheel assembly. Good advertising!

Wheel assembly finished waiting for the motor to be mounted. (ignore the white cog, just there to hold axle in place).

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 3: Installing the Motors

Depending on what type of motors you use the holes or brackets will differ from what is shown here, The thing to watch is that you align the motors correctly with the shafts so as not to have any binding. In this case I have drilled 4 3 mm holes that correspond to the bolts on the motors.

The motors used here are Como drill pile drive type with stackable gearboxes and voltage levels of 3,6,9,12, and 15v with these variable voltages and stackable gearbox's we have a great deal of different rpm's and torques.

Here I have disassembled one of the gearbox's to fit it to the holding bolts as with the other one in place I could not install in one piece.

Both motors now installed.

Notice the two clamping plates holding the 8mm shaft to the 4mm motor shaft.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 4: Fitting the Casters

These casters were lying around the basement so used these. First cut 2 pieces of 20mm x 25mm x 20mm DOUBLE angle alloy drill a hole in both pieces to accommodate the shaft of the caster, use two nuts and washers, use these as spacers to adjust the height of the caster when setting up. Now drill two more 5mm holes to attach the 20mm x 25mm x 20mm angle to the base plate. Once both are fitted turn base plate over on a flat surface and adjust the nuts and washers so that the base plate is firm on all four planes.

Both casters now installed and adjusted.

A closer look at the caster assembly.

Flat and level, Make sure that when slight pressure is applied to the casters both ends that there is friction on the main wheels and that they do not spin. They should grip the floor.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 5: Installing the Motor Controllers.

These are HB 25 controllers from Parallax, They can sink 25 amps and can be used to control DC motors they use 3 wires from the basic stamp to control the controller,+ 5v gnd and signal. There is a separate voltage to the controller 12v to power the motors.

Cut four pieces of 30mm x 25mm x 20mm wide alloy as holding brackets, I used four instead of two longer brackets as this gave me flexibility for installation. Once mounted on the controllers they are then mounted on the side of the base frame or in a convenient place.

Both controllers fitted.

A closer view of the controllers.

Notice the cooling fans under the controller.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 6: Installing Some of the Electronics

This is the subsumption board from Bluebell Design, Basically this off loads some of the hard work from the main BS2P-40 stamp to control the motors, IRPD sensors and bump sensors, It's a pre programmed pic chip which can operate 8 servo outputs and four A/D inputs.

Installing some cross bracing flat alloy 15 mm to support the electronic boards.

This is the final stage that I have reached so far. Shown here is the Parallax professional dev board with the BS2P-40 chip this is connected to the subsumtion board. The BS2P-40 has 32 I/O so far I have used only 4 leaving 28 I/O left. I intend to fit ping ultrasonic, PIR sensor, two digital voice recorders, camera, LCD display, pan/tilt for camera. This is where things slow down for me as I am NOT a programmer although I am learning pbasic. I have the code for the subsumption and bs2p to run this machine with motors, IRPD sensors and bump. What I need now is your help in integrating the pan/tilt , ping and PIR code into the subsumption code as I am not sure where to install this to make the motors correspond to what the ping, PIR and camera sees.
The base unit is going to have a Plexiglas circle covering the top of the base unit and the bump sensors in a quadrant style, Batteries will be placed underneath, two 6v gellcel and a 3000nmh pack for the electronics. These will be installed next. This weekend I hope to install the batteries and the Plexiglas disc. This will give more area to accommodate the electronics.

This whole project + motor controllers (Believe it or not) was constructed in a weekend except for the installation of the electronics.

Cost so far (EXCLUDING any electronics and motors), includes Plexiglas top for base. $75.00 NZ Most of this was in the Plexiglas
$38.00 as this consists of two discs 300mm diameter the second disc is cut into 4 semi circles and is attached around the alloy base under the top piece of Plexiglas.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 7: Making the Perspex Base.

From the last installment I have removed the electronics to make the Perspex base.
Tools you will need for this are: A wood router with a 12mm straight cutter and ball race at the end. access to a band saw or jigsaw and a drill press or cordless drill.

You will need 20 threaded brass standoff's with a thread length of 10 mm.

These are inserted around the alloy base with nuts and spring washers.

Standoffs have been placed all around the alloy base 12 in total, These are used for securing the Perspex base to the alloy frame and also can be used for fixing circuit boards or alloy framing for the next tier.

Next you will need two pieces of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) 400 mm sq. Next draw a line from the diagonal to find the centre of both pieces of MDF. Using a compass draw a 300 mm circle on both pieces of mdf, Band saw just proud of the line and using a disc sander or by hand sand the edge's till smooth. This is now your template for the router. Cut two pieces of Perspex 400 mm sq, drill a hole in the centre of both the mdf and the Perspex, larger hole in the Perspex for a screw as we want to place the mdf on top of the Perspex and screw them together. When cutting out the Perspex make sure that you cut it larger than the MDF by 2 mm.

Next using the pattern as a guide router out the Perspex and you should end up with a neat disc like this.

Next place the Perspex on top of the alloy base and centre it so that the alloy edges just touch the outside of the Perspex, Now locate the 12 brass standoff's under the Perspex and mark where to drill the holes to screw the Perspex down.

Next using the other piece of MDF mark out the 300 mm sq alloy so that the four points touch the radiused edge, Draw a line around the base and mark out where the wheels are and allow clearance around the wheels. Next cut the MDF as shown in the picture so you have four patterns. Cut the Perspex 2 mm larger than the patterns, Using small G clamps line up and cramp them together, Using the router again router out all four pieces of Perspex.

You should now have four pieces of Perspex like this.

Using masking tape cover the edges and mark out 12 evenly spaced sections..

Using the other four Perspex pieces cramp them underneath the top Perspex and drill 3 mm holes right through

You will need 32 10 mm threaded standoff's and 32 small bolts with the same thread.

The bolts on the right need to have the heads cut off leaving a thread length of 12 mm, Insert two standoff's on each side of the thread leaving 4 mm of thread showing in the centre.

Now insert all the standoff's in the top Perspex so they hang down, Turn over the bot and locate the four other Perspex plates and bolt up.

You should end up with it looking like this. In between the Perspex this is where the bump sensors will be housed.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 8: Installing the Batteries

These are the alloy holding straps for the batteries 20 mm x 1.5 mm these will vary in length depending on what batteries you use, Notice the score marks indicating the battery width and height, These are also for bending purposes.

This is how they should look when finished.

Installation of alloy battery holders from underneath and top views.

Two gel cell batteries are used here: 1 X 12v 3.4ah for the motors and a 12v 1.3ah for the electronics, It is always a good idea to keep the two power sources separate to avoid interference from the motors.

Batteries now in place.

Note: The batteries have had there spade terminals bent straight up, Four holes are bored in the Perspex so that the terminals come through the top of the Perspex.
A central hole has also been bored to allow the motor and motor controller wires to come through.

A 12 way terminal block has been fitted here to take the motor wires, also not shown will be the fuse area.

Note: This project is now into it's second weekend.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

These two photo's show the Parallax Professional development board and the Bluebell subsumption board along with the main wiring.

I had some spare time so have fabricated the main switch bank for the platform.

This is the underside of the switch bank from left which consists of a switch and green led for the electronics, far right switch and green led to the left for the motor controller and the black jack socket and red led for the charger.

Red led on and charging jack indicating the charging of the batteries

Top view showing the main wiring switch panel and fuses.

Another top view showing main wiring. The two main switches are rated at 5amps DPDT, 3 Chrome bezel leds 1 charging jack, 3 560ohm resisters for the leds 12v and 1 IN4001 diode inline on the negative side for the charging jack, this is to stop the 12v feed back from the batteries to the red led.

I have not decided yet as to the type of bump or IR sensors I will use, so today I reinstalled some of the electronics and wiring as shown in the above pics. The Parallax Professional development board here with the white board) has been mounted on a sheet of Perspex which has been mounted on the brass standoff's. The front board is the subsumption board from Bluebell design here I will decide during the week as to the bump sensors, that is eight micro switches or five IR detectors around the base.

Proposed bump sensor: Sharp IR Modulator IS 471F These have a range of 2-3 inches depending on a resistor value
here
Type in [ IS 471F ] in the find box.

OR

Description: GP2D12 Analog distance sensor
This sensor takes a continuous distance reading and reports the distance as an analog voltage with a distance range of 10 cm (~4") to 80 cm (~30"). The interface is 3-wire with power, ground and the output voltage and requires a JST 3-pin connector.
here

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 10: Installing the IR Detectors

Just installed the front IR detector, This IR detector will be different from the other five as this came with the subsumption board. Two IR leds and Phillips IR receiver.

These are the parts used to house the detector, Three black Lego connectors and six short pegs. The IR leds fit perfectly into the centre hole and the connector fits perfectly between the two Perspex sheets, two holes are drilled in each sheet so that the Lego peg is a snug fit (We do not want a loose fit here) Slide the connector between the sheets of Perspex then fit the Lego pegs from top and bottom, once fitted this will give you a swivel point so that you can adjust the led angle.

Using another connector I have super glued the Phillips receiver to the central hole and bent the pins 90 degrees, Attached to this is a servo lead.

Finished assembly of IR leds and IR receiver. The other five GP2D12 Analog distance sensors will also fit in between the Perspex sheets at evenly spaced distances. I am waiting for these from the states as these are half the price than in New Zealand.

More to come on installing the GP2D12 Analog distance sensors When they arrive.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 11: Installing the Micro Switch Bump Sensors

Micro switches and bolts.

Components for the micro bump sensors, micro switches, This is for the front, left and right sensors. Only 1 set shown. Lego plates, axles, collets photo's should describe what you need. You will need this times four for front, back and sides.

Insert short axles into part shown.

Place piece onto the triangler plate with collet.

Place triangler plate on top.

Insert longer axle into the tip of the triangler piece.

Now at the bottom where the small axle is holding the IR reciever remove the small axle and replace it with the longer one.

Place the whole assembly on top of the long axle, Making sure it can freely move from left to right. [This is important that it does]

Next step is to fabricate the alloy bumper, This is constructed out of 25mm x 1.5mm alloy strip, By hand bend the alloy so that it conforms to the perspex base shape and round off the ends with a file. Next remove the lego piece [ now this is an importantnext step]
very carefully add one drop of super glue to each short axle that joins the two triangler plates this will lock the whole assembly together. next place the lego unit onto the alloy and make sure it is centre, Drill a 4mm hole and countersink it from the front, We do this because we do not want anything to catch the screw head when the bot in moving. Once this has been bolted up slip it back on to the base and check that it is level, Whe satisfied remove again and super glue the lego part that is touching the alloy, Once done replace back on the axle.

You should end up with something like this, The inside of the alloy should just be touching the micro switch levers which will push out the bumper and you should have no slop in the bumper.

This is the finished item, You now have to make another three for the back and sides making sure that you only have a snall gap between the four alloy bumpers. The reason I have chosen to have micro switch bump sensors as well as the IR distance sensors is for security, If the IR detectors fail the bump will take over also the bump sensors are lower and will sense lower objects.

Micro switches now in place.

Bumpers in place.

PLEASE NOTE: I have made a modification the the underside of the bumpers, This includes eight small lego shock absorbers [Two on each alloy bumper] This was done to take the load of the micro switch levers, It also stiffens up the bumpers.

These are the lego Technic parts needed for the bumper cusion.

Assemble the parts as shown.

Next drill a hole in the perspex and place a lego axle peg in hole, This will be the anchor for the shock absorber cusion. Befor you drill the hole that anchors the shock absorber make sure that you have compressed the shock absorber 1/3 of the way in before you drill the hole [ This is important] as when the bumper moves in and out both ends the absorber must be able to compress and expand.

Shock absorber in position, Drill a 3mm hole in the alloy bumper and fix the Technic part to the bumper.

Both shock absorbers now in place, Repeat this for all four sides. This produces a nice rigid but flexible bumper.

Underside showing the lego shock absorbers.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 12: Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors

My GP2D12 analogue distance sensors arrived today, So will be fitting these at the weekend.

These will be mounted on alloy brackets between the two perspex discs 45 degrees to the alloy bumpers.

Cut 4 alloy bracketts to the shape above and mount them on the GD2P12 sensors.

The 4 sensors mounted around the top of the perspex base.

Close up of mounted sensor.

Wiring now connected to the sensors and held in place by plastic wire retainers self tapped to the perspex.

This is a close up of the sensor with a 47uf Tantulum capacitor connected across the + and - terminals to give a better stable reading from the sensor. This MOD was from Harry at Blue Bell Design. Thanks Harry.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 13: Fabricating the Frame

Cut 12mm x 3mm alloy to these shapes or similar.

Alloy mounted on perspex base plate.

Two digital voice recorders mounted on top of alloy frame, These will be used for status of the PIR, ultrasonic, green laser and LDR [Light dependant resistor] readings.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

These flexi glow rods are used in pc mods for lighting up the inside of the case. I have used two here each side of the underside of the alloy channel to throw light onto the ground.

Cut four pieces of 5mm perspex as shown, These are inserted on the inside of the u channel alloy frame and super glued in place. These will support the flexi glow rods with velcro.

Finished item with both flexi glow [Blue] tubes in place, Also connected to this setup is a sonic sound unit that flashes the tubes to the beat of music, And connected to the flexi tube driver are three green laser lights that are mounted on top of the base unit.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 15. Watch the Video.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

PART 16. Mounting RSV2 on Base.

Shoulder spring:

Use a pair of long nose pliers to unattach the spring.

Removing rear body shell.

You need to apply some masking tape to hold the arms in place till later.

Also add tape here as well [rear]

Switch and speaker removed from back body shell.

Shoulder shell showing shoulder spring.

Back panel that holds the speaker removed from back body shell.

A closer look at the main switch, Modified when I did the LED camera hack.

Under belly shells removed.

Both under body shells.

Removing the knee joints.

Knee joint and leg shells with pins.

Arm shells removed with sleeve.

Once you have removed the arms from the shoulder motor you need to find a self tapper that fits snugly into the hole in the motor shaft with a wide washer, this mod will support the arms without the main body shells.

Main arm section and motor.

A nice mod here is to apply a piece of heatshrink to the shaft, as when you put back it is sloppy and needs to be more rigid, so heatshrink works perfect.

Arm inserted after applying heat shrink tubing.

Feet shells removed along with front/back bump sensor plates.

Side leg shell removed and wiring from sensors and battery area.

Legs removed from hip motors.

This is a tricky area as it is difficult to remove the back side and foot shell without cutting or desoldering any wires, so as I was not going to reassemble RSV2 back with his shells I opted to cut these four shells so as to slide the wires out.

Foot shells removed.

Foot motors.

Foot motors and sensors removed.

Feet removed, wires were cut here to remove.

Dissected ready for new mods.

Foot motors removed.

Foot motors and supports.

You will need to fabricate some alloy brackets for the mountings which will atatch to RSV2's legs and mount to my robotic base. The alloy is 150mm long 20mm x 12mm x 2mm and is 90 degrees, but you will have to bend the angle from 90 degrees to suit the angle of the splayed out legs so that the alloy sits flat on a flat surface.

Alloy brackets mounted on RSV2's legs.

A closer look at the mounting.

Mounted on base.

Speaker has been moved to the front lower torso.

RSV2's switch has also been extended to the lower section of my robotic base for ease of use.

Another front view.

Side view.

This is all to date, I have a fair bit of work to do with the wiring, will post more when time permits. I will be using robodance 3 to script it and tie some functions to my robotic base.

I hope this info has helped any of you interested in building a Robotic platform.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

Part 17 Modified RSV2 Sensors

Circuit board to accommodate the voltage regulators or 12v dc to dc 9v - 3v converters to run RSV2.

Male and female plug headers for carrying power and sensor signals, The foot sensors stay the same, just longer leads.

Circuit board installed with plugs in place.

These mercury tilt switches have been replaced from the original ball bearing type found on RSV2 as these are more responsive .

Wiring complete, showing original foot sensors and the new mercury tilt switches.

Close up of the completed wiring.

Old RSV2 foot sensor circuit boards now discarded.

Sensor wiring completed,just have to decide where to put the sensors as I will be using the two foot motors to drive another device and the sensors will decide what the motors do.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

Part 18 Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight

Two mini servo's 3kgs each torque

35mw green laser, This has been cut down in length,Very tricky.

The two servos mounted together with double sided tape.

Shape a piece of hardwood to the profile seen at left of laser, The laser will slide through the hole.

Laser has been mounted through hole in hardwood and the whole assembly has been mounted on one of the servo discs.

WiFi camera with bracket taken off.

Here is a trap for young players, I wanted to remove the bulky plug and use a flexible wire so the camera could traverse it's axis easily [But]The power socket that is at the end of the camera has a circuit built into the plastic housing [Not quite sure what it does] I suspect it might be a type of amplifier, It has a transistor,capacitor and a resistor.So I had to retain this in the wiring loom.

The whole assembly together mounted on a cd for stability to test.

Side view.

Opposite side view.

Front view.

Top view.

Two front/side views.

Make a alloy bracket from 30 x 90 x 3mm to support the two servos.

Mounted on shoulder with double sided tape.

Close up side view.

Side view.

Here is a teaser using a red 200mw laser below

Red laser in V2's right hand.

Red and green laser beams.

Green 35mw and red 200mw lasers.

Parallel lasers in action.

Be very very careful! These lasers are NOT toys and will blind you in the blink of an eye. Wear safety laser goggles at all times, not just sunglasses..

Watch a video of my laser in action...

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

Part 19 Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser

Ok, I have bread boarded the 12v to 9v,6v and 3v using 3 LM 350T variable voltage regulators, This is a bit of an overkill as LM 317's would do. Here are a few pics of the layout and a full how to will be posted when I have checked out RSV2's circuits before I decide on the exact layout of the P/S.

This was a single setup for 9v.

This setup is getting closer to the final stage, First LM 350T showing 9V output for RSV2's driver board and motor network.

Second LM 350T showing 6v output for RSV2's brain.

Third LM 350T showing 3v for green shoulder laser.

A closer look at the P/S, Note the blue led on the left, This is for the 12v input indicator and the green leds are for the output indicators. Aslo so note here in this setup that I have 5k pots to find out what the fixed value resistor to use, The reason I use a fixed resistor in the final design is I do not want the pot to move and cause a higher voltage on the RSV2's circuit, so a fixed resistor will prevent this, even though I could use hot melt glue on the pot. Once I am satisfied with the design I will do the final P/S on perf board.

Well here we go, I have changed the design to 6 LM 350 voltage regs each consisting of a circuit similar to the above one. In the pics above you will notice I originally had 9v and 6v for the driver board and brain of v2 but since have changed this to six separate circuits consisting of 2 x 4.5v, 2 x 3v, 1 x 3v and 1 x 6v. The extra 3v and 6v are for my 35mw green laser and 200mw red laser. The 2 4.5v and 2 x 3v supplies represent the same system using the batteries in V2 as each leg in V2 has a set of wires 4.5v and 3v in each leg, so it was a matter of using the same wires to my P/S.

6 LM 350T voltage regs

6 regs soldered to board.

Power led and plus (+) leads to regs.

4.5v first stage soldered.

3v second stage soldered

A closer look at the two stages.

Third stage 3v and 6v laser supply for 35mw green and 200mw red lasers.

Underside of board.

Final lay out of power supply system with the two laser output sockets.

Underside showing the power wires to plug outputs.

Finally powered up, all systems go. I may have to include heat sinks on all the regs, otherwise they may get hot when V2 is using all of his motors particularly when under load.

[[page]]

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Frame Assembly
2. Wheel Assembly
3. Installing the Motors
4. Fitting the Casters
5. Installing the Motor Controllers
6. Installing Some of the Electronics
7. Making the Perspex Base
8. Installing the Batteries
9. Installing the Electronic Brains
10. Installing the IR Detectors
11. Installing Micro Switch Bump Sensors
12. Installing the Distance Sensors
13. Fabricating Frame
14. Installing Flexi Glow Rods
15. Watch the Video
16. Mounting RSV2 on Base
17. Modified RSV2 Sensors
18. Shoulder Laser Cannon and WIFI Camera Sight
19. Fabricating 12v to 9v, 6v and 3v for the Laser
20. Connecting Power Supply to the Unit
21. The Saga Continues...

Part 20 Connecting Power Supply to the Unit

Power supply now fitted to RSV2 base and powered up.

Close up of power supply.