My robot, Hormes

[NorviewsVeteran]

After being involved in the FRC since 2006, I finally got the wherewithal to make a bot of my very own. Having cut my teeth on robots that weighed more than I did, I didn't want something that you watch dance around on the coffee table, I wanted something that has to go outside to play.

I built my Christmas present this year, and its name is Hormes.


I went into some detail here: http://letsmakerobots.com/node/39667, but here's the rundown:
-over 50 lbs
-all steel frame
-10" tubed tires
-CIMple boxes with 1 CIM per side
-Talon motor controllers
-Arduino with USB host shield
-driven with an XBox controller

It's far from where I'd call it done. Since that picture was taken I've gotten a good strap to hold the battery in place, added temporary headlights (LED flashlights ziptied to the front corners) and added a strap to replace the zipties holding the control box down. The plan is to have all the electronics inside the red toolbox and have it on shock-damping mounts, mostly to keep the breakers from popping after quick drops, get a bigger battery, and have remotely switched headlights.

[Koko Ed]

An outdoor robotics competition would be a pretty cool thing to do.

[DonRotolo]

Very nice! Definitely able to do more than cruise over the grass. Now all you need is an automatic deer finder, and it'll chase them away if they try to eat the landscaping!

I do have a question: I read that you cut PVC spacers to mate the wheels with the sprockets. Did you cut one for each bolt, or one big one (say, 4" diameter) to accommodate all the bolts?

[NorviewsVeteran]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Very nice! Definitely able to do more than cruise over the grass. Now all you need is an automatic deer finder, and it'll chase them away if they try to eat the landscaping!

My uncle could have used that a week before Christmas, actually... Only the good trees die young. ...or something like that.

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

I do have a question: I read that you cut PVC spacers to mate the wheels with the sprockets. Did you cut one for each bolt, or one big one (say, 4" diameter) to accommodate all the bolts?

After racking my brain and searching our garage for spacers for each bolt and a way to reliably cut them to the same length, I found some 2" PVC. It fits inside the bolt pattern with very little wiggle room and, being PVC, is cheap and cuts easy in a power miter saw! Hooray square ends!

I also went back and grabbed the attached image from the sketchup model and added it to the LMR post.

[DonRotolo]

Yeah, awesome, nice drawing, explains it perfectly. I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I have a million projects that are always ahead of it. I even have the spacers cut - from aluminum tube - but the ends are raw, I need to square them off on the lathe. Cutting round stock on a chop saw is - er, dangerous. To me, at least.

Maybe in 2014.

Thanks for the inspiration.

[NorviewsVeteran]

And then it got featured on hackaday, so that's cool.