Boe-Bot substitute.

Velvet Leopard

Hewwo, all.· I unfortunetly don't have the money to buy the Boe-Bot kit.· I wish I did though.· But sinse I don't, I would like to know if there is a way I could make a sort of "make shift" Boe-Bot.· Is there a way to do this?· Thanks for your help.

Whelzorn

well, you could buy the components and then make a simple robot body out of thin sheet metal, I've found that any modified servo will work fine for the motors, and the "What is a microcontroller?" kit will present you with an easy to use BS2 and a great instruction booklet on how to use it, you should be able to (fairly simply) recreate anything the boe-bot can do, but you may need to put more work into making or finding the various sensors and/or parts provided with the boe-bot kit.

Velvet Leopard

Cool.· Where can I find a list of all the components of the Boe-Bot?

Whelzorn

I believe this image shows all the parts contained in a boe-bot: www.parallax.com/images/prod_jpg/28132.jpg

Velvet Leopard

Hey thanks for the pic, but it didn't really tell me things like resistor values and stuff like that.· How would I get a list like that??· As for a body, I could make that with a bit of work with my metal stock and tools.· Thanks anyways for the pic.

Whelzorn

well, the resistors that you should need are probably supplied with the "what is a microcontroller?" kit, they are all pretty standard, and it doesnt appear that the boe-bot uses anything else but that. Anyway, if you end up needing a specific value of resistor, you can pick it up really cheaply at your local radio-shack. I think the only resistors you should probably need are 470 ohm (for the LED's) and 220 ohm (to protect the microcontrollers pins [noparse][[/noparse]not necessary, but I do it for safety]). You won't even need the battery pack, the board with the kit I suggested has a convenient slot for a 9v battery, and automatically regulates the voltage to 5 volts for you, so all you should need is that kit, a body, 2 modified servos (and wheels, obviously), and a wheel for the back. Various sensors, if you want to make an exact boe bot, pick up some IR led's and IR phototransistors, both readily available at radioshack.

cabojoe

Easiest robot body to make: http://members.cox.net/cabojoe/joecdbot
Made out of extra parts, double sided tape, and 2 cd's.
Whelzorn, how do I make a link in here?

Whelzorn

lol link is [noparse][[/noparse] url ] www.link.com [noparse][[/noparse] /url ] (without spaces, obviously)

cabojoe

members.cox.net/cabojoe/joecdbot
Thanx bro

Randy Stadham

I you want a low cost stamp go to

http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/products/basicstamps/basic_stamps_oem.asp
The OEM modules are fully functional BASIC Stamp®

Also try
http://www.phanderson.com/stamp/bs2_homebrew.html.
Peter Anderson sells them.

Whelzorn

hmmm... that looks surprisingly good! I can never get cd's to look good as robot bases...

Whelzorn

I just suggested the "what is a microcontroller?" kit because it includes all the components, and is perfect for the boe-bot, in fact the board is almost identical, just a bit simplified.

cabojoe

I'll get all my bot pics together soon now that I know how to post....lol.

jakjr

For the componenets listing check out this www.parallax.com/html_pages/edu/curriculum/sic_robo.asp.

#1 if possible always buy from parallax over radioshack.

But in this case since you're on a budget you might want to do some shopping at radioshack to save on shipping cost.

I am pretty sure you should already have pretty much all the components needed, except the 4.7k resistors and the IR LED's/ receivers, and the servo's.

You can get the IR LED's/receivers, and the resistors from parallax or radioshack (if you need to save on shipping costs) sorry I dont have the Item #'s as I threw away the packages. For the servos you wont find them anywhere cheaper than parallax.

As for the chasis, you can buy a premade one parallax, buy sheet aluminum and cut one out, or you can be creative and use acrylic (or plexiglass, its the same thing to me), lowes sells it fairly cheap. For 10 bucks you can get a sheet of it big enough to make a couple chasis.

The only tricky thing with the acrylic is bending it/joining it which will be necessary for making a chasis. Ive personally never bent a peice of acrylic but ive seen it done. Bassically youll need some kind of heat source, this could be a soldering iron, a torch, a heat gun (NOT a hairdrier), a candle lighter, etc. You apply (indirect) heat to the acrylic and once hot (almost molten) you can bend it to the desired shape. NOTE- if you try this make sure you use gloves as to not burn yourself.

For cutting out the acrylic you can use a number of things, jigsaw, bandsaw, skillsaw, hacksaw, coping saw, a file, etc etc. I find a jigsaw to be pretty easy, just have the blade going at about medium speed and just take your time, but if you go too slow and the acrylic melts from the heat generated by friction between the blade/acrylic.

For drilling the acrylic I prefer taking a scrap peice of wood and clamping it down to it, then use a electric drill and at about medium-high speed go after it. NOTE-if you have the drill running to slowly it will end up cracking the acrylic. Also, dont use a drill press, ive tried it and 8 times out of 10 you'll crack the acrylic, I beleive it has too much torq and goes too slow.

One more thing, after you finish cutting, bending, drilling, what-have-you, take a peice of about 800 grit (wet/dry) sandpaper and wetsand all the edges of the acrylic so they have a nice smooth surface. If you want you can even use about 320 grit sandpaper and dry sand it (but it wont look as good).


Hope I helped and didnt just get you all confused.

Jon Williams

Velvet Leopard said...
Cool.· Where can I find a list of all the components of the Boe-Bot?

At http://www.parallax.com·of course! ·· As I frequently remind folks, all of the documentation that we publish is available as a free download (PDF format).· Download the BOE-Bot book.· That said, there is no substitute for a genuine Parallax BOE-Bot!

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

Jon Williams

cabojoe said...

Whelzorn, how do I make a link in here?

If you click on "Post Reply" (instead of using the "Quick Reply" field) you'll be presented an editing form with more capabilities.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas Office

cabojoe

Thanx Jon

Whelzorn

Jon Williams said...
As I frequently remind folks, all of the documentation that we publish is available as a free download (PDF format).

thanks, I actually diddnt know that... that will be very helpful.

Jon Williams said...
That said, there is no substitute for a genuine Parallax BOE-Bot! smilewinkgrin

aah yes, I love mine. This is the only kit I've ever had that I havent scavenged for parts. (even if I did modify it a little bit )

Chris Savage

We actually have 4 Boe-Bots at the shop that we display to raise interest in our area.· 2 of them are modified in that one has the crawler kit, and one has the tank tread kit.· They are listed at:

http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris/boebots.htm

Someday I want to get a toddler, and perhaps, if I win the Lotto, a Hex Crawler.·


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Chris Savage

Knight Designs
324 West Main Street
P.O. Box 97
Montour Falls, NY 14865
(607) 535-6777

Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
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