BUILDING A ROBOT

Desired properties

The design,
The components:
Finished or working on:

• The microcontroller
• Navigation with optical mouse

Still to do:

• Locomotion
• Speaker
• Microphone
• Face & expression
• Infrared proximity
• Physical interaction
• Connection with PC/Phone

Applications
Suppliers

Pricelist

All pages

For now, my robot only has navigation and a microcontroller.

Welcome!

I am trying to build a cheap, interactive and mobile robot which uses a PC as brain and phone for sensors. And on this site, you can read everything about it.

If you are interested in the project:

I have thought about my ideal robot and wrote that down at the desired properties. From that, I've made a design that consists of several components. Each component is a little project of its own. When all components are finished, I want to use my robot for different applications. I have written a more elaborate explanation about how my project is set up. You can read it on my blog: "Robots bouwen is als eten koken" (dutch).

If you are interested in electronics or building robots:

You might want to look at the finished components: microcontroller, navigation and I have also written something about switches.

I am currently working on...

• I have connected an optical mouse to the Arduino. Read about it in navigation.connection.
• I have tried some experiments with navigation.

I still have to write about these experiments and my first software for navigation. Also, I want to write about optical mice in general. I still have some research and writing to do about using optical mice for navigation specifically.

After that I am going to write a software framework for communication (Robot & PC) and see if I can get the robot driving around.

I have recently changed:

• 27-05 Wrote about navigation and how to connect the mouse to an arduino.
• 25-05 Connected the mouse to the Arduino and experimented with navigation.

more history...

I need your help!

Do you know anything of electronics? Do you know where to get cheap or good electronic parts? Do you have cool ideas on what the robot should do in the end? Or would you change anything on the robots design to improve or change its functionality?

If so, please help and leave a response below.

Also, if you can help me with some specific things:

• Develop mobile applications that allow me to send sensor data and play sound files

(Symbian Cpp, JavaME, Python for S60) (see connection)

• Design a motor system (see locomotion).
• How to make a connection between the phone and robot

(both software and hardware) (see design,desired properties and connection)

• Help with the body/casing of the robot: plastic, screws, wood...?
• Help or tips with getting the right switches for physical interaction.

Please leave a comment

Feel free to give any comments to this site or project. You can e-mail me at

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