How to Create a Simple Robot
Robots are intrinsically fascinating. Kids know it, and more and more adults are catching on. Building a simple robot is easier than you might think. There are several companies that sell basic robot platforms, and you can design your own robot once you learn the basics of sensors, programming, effectors and training. The simplest robots to build are robotic vehicles.
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Instructions
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Install the sensors on the robot. Sensors are the inputs that tell the robot what the world looks like. You will need two sensors to make a simple robot: an infrared sensor to keep it from running into walls and a motion sensor to tell the robot when someone is approaching. You can purchase both sensors from the same place you purchased the robot kit--some kits even come with these sensors.
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Write the program that tells the robot what to do with the information from the sensors. This is different for every robot kit but basically consists of putting the CD that came with your robot into your PC and then following the on screen instructions. You'll then download the instructions to the robot via a USB connection. You will be writing instructions like "turn away for approaching movements."
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Add an LED (usually comes with the robot) effector that blinks when the robot reacts to something. This makes the robot seem more lifelike. The behavior of the LED will be specified in your program.
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Test out the robot until you are satisfied with the behavior. For example, turning a robot vehicle usually involves locking one wheel for a fixed amount of time (specified in your program) while the other wheel continues to turn. It will probably take some experimentation to get the timing perfect.
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Tips & Warnings
A good idea for the basic structure of your robot's program will be a loop that repeats endlessly (you can always stop the robot by picking it up and hitting the kill switch). Inside the loop is a set of rules like: If A then do B. The program will endlessly check for all possible conditions and act only when it is appropriate.
If you are going to operate your robot on a table top (probably a bad idea) you should be on your feet and ready to catch it until your program is completely debugged. Also it is a good idea to keep a close eye on your pets when testing out robots as pets will sometimes attack robots.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit The yellow cross-country vehicle in the winter on a snow floor. image by Yuri Bizgaimer from Fotolia.com
