Hehehe... It sure will be!!

I have another surprise too

I'll be in MAJOR hack mood in a week or two. I have this huge list of things to do before then and plugging away on them. I'm clearing off a month or so and i'm going to spend everyday in the lab.

Can't wait to see your next hack!

Has anyone made any progress on their Robie Sr.'s? Mine just arrived yesterday and I've got to unbox, disassemble, clean, and test him to see what works and what doesn't so it can be reused and/or replaced.

I've got some ideas of my own, but wouldn't mind seeing some of the creative juices that have been flowing in the meantime.

PS - I'm also the proud new papa of a just acquired Ultimate Wall-E!

I mentioned in another post that someone could make creative use of capacitive touch sensors from ebay. I havent seen that tried before.
An Ultimate Wall-E?! Wow. the only thing is that it already does a great deal. I'd love to get one sometime.

I've started modifying my omnibot - gonna have one arm using servos for the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and an aluminum claw I got from sparkfun for 10.00. The other arm will just have a servo at the shoulder. I also have a portable DVD player that I think I'll add to the chest plate for the fun of it. Lots of leds and el wire to give some cool lights too. I'll post some pics soon - as soon as some of the paint dries. lol

Thanks, Glikclik Yeah, Ultimate Wall-E is not going to get an EZ-B treatment. He's too rare and nicely featured for me to tear him apart (sorry DJ!). But I'll probably attempt an EZ-B upgrade to a U-Command Wall-E after Robie Sr once my skills improve.

@bret.tallent: How are you attaching the servos to your Omnibot's shoulders? Just with the servo horn?

I actually am using a plastic epoxy and a couple of screws to attach the servo, then just using the servo horn to attach the arm to the servo. Not the strongest, but I am using an all metal gear servo and aluminum horn. It will suck if I ever need to replace the servo lol. But it should work for the size of the bot. What were you thinking?

Thanks, @bret.tallent. What I'd like to do is find some way to mount the arm so the servo isn't taking the brunt of the load... Something like a lazy susan bearing or a swivel pipe connector... and mount the servo inside of that between the two movement points. That way the arm+shoulder outer shell would turn and support the load and the servo is inside of that only providing the movement to that outer structure. Does that make any sense? *confused* Anyone ever see anything like that? I've been searching, but don't know what the hardware might be called or what might work.

That makes perfect sense to me, I was going to do a similar thing with the head. Use a 3" lazy susan bearing. 3" is the smallest I could find. But I never thought about using a swivel pipe connector. No ideas off the top of my head, but I'll think about it.

Thanks, bret.tallent, please do. Would love to hear what you come up with. I'll have to hit the two home improvement stores and look for things that might work well. I was also thinking of using plastic pipes that have a screw connection on the ends, but not so sure how freely that would turn compared to a swivel connector. Might a shop vac/vacuum or pool hose swivel connector work as well?

Yes, I discovered the same thing about the 3" lazy susan bearings being the smallest easily found. I am going to use one for my bot's neck too. Might I ask where you found your bearing? Is it square or round?

It's square and I found it on ebay for 4.00 free shipping. http://www.ebay.com/itm/120407553836?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Please let me know what else you find and I will do the same. I was looking at the omnibot shoulder again and thought if I drilled out the center of the shoulder that is in the body so I could see the entire shaft of the shoulder that comes through that housing I might be able to use a pvc cap on the arm shaft to sandwich the body between the two parts. Drill a hole in the center of that cap so the center shaft with the screw hole in it protrudes and connect your servo to that. Does that make sense? If not, I will try to make a diagram and upload it.

Thanks for the info. I'll let you know if I find anything, bret. Personally, I'd like to get something like a small round Rockler lazy susan bearing or maybe a TV stand low-profile swivel. I'll let you know if I find anything I like better.

Hmmm.... I think I get what you're saying about the shoulder/arm mount, but a diagram might help in this instance. A picture's worth a thousand words, you know!