E2-z2 My R2 Inspired Project.

I think it is cool the way you are using the bottles. It seems that they would make good lite arms. If more strength was needed, you could pass a quarter inch rod through there. Also, you could cover them with fiberglass or plastic. But, just like they are,they can be painted to look solid. I like your idea. Bravo!

;)

Thanks MovieMaker. I am considering running rods through them. I hope to get it together for a test run this weekend. I'll post an update.

I like your ideas. I think a 3rd leg/wheel would help the balance. I'm not confident the servo pivot point is going to give the legs enough support to stay straight and not want to cave inward or outward depending on weight. Years ago I built an R2 type robot I called J2-R2. I cheated the leg design by going for the effect of legs. I used little boxes attached to the bottom sides of the trash can for feet then used sheets of steel riveted to the feet and body to create the appearance of legs. I then used front and back caster wheels to balance it out. Not an accurate replica, but it was stable and easy to build. Attached is drawing showing how it looked. Just wanted to toss it out as an alternative.

Thanks Justin That's a great idea. I insist on figuring out having the body tilt. I'm in it for the experience and skill acquisition as much as I am for the finished project. I enjoy the learning and improving my engineering prowess just as much as I'll enjoy the robot itself when it's done.

I am going to add the 3rd leg. I'm still going to try and make it optional and retractable but until I design some big feet I'm going to have to add it soon and work on retracting it later.

Thanks again for the input guys.

It may not require a servo if you are going on the cheap. You could have the third leg with a castor. Or, just a castor on the bottom of the trashcan to keep the balance.

Oh, BTW, I wanted to ask you, where did you get the little tray that you are using on the shingaurd?

OK, you got it from Alan. But, where can a person get one if they needed one? The case piece, I mean.

:D

@MovieMaker, I imagine you could find one on ebay. If you're looking for one for the OG Droid 1 like I'm using then search for "motorola droid a855 case". That will weed out most of the others like the razr and x and other droid versions.

It's Nothing fancy just the back of the protective case. The Droid slides open to reveal the keypad so it's cases are a little different than other cases. Most cases snap together to hold them together, these clip onto the phone as opposed to the other half of the case so that's why it worked out for me. The top half is just a thin border that clips to the face of the phone. I'm just using the back.

Thanks for the 3rd leg suggestions. I was going to use a caster or something like that I've a few options laying around. I still want to design it to retract. Not sure exactly how yet but, I have a few ideas.

I ended up being busy as well as social this weekend so no work has been done on my project. I forgot I have evening plans tonight as well. I'm hoping to sneak some work in during the week. I'll post when I get more done.

I just wanted to post that I've put this project on pause. It will happen eventually. Maybe this Spring. "Why?", you ask. Well, in short poor design but, I know where my mistakes were made.

My biggest problem is that, the door I cut in the body is too big. When trying to work on the head rotation I found that the body no longer stays round under weight which just throws everything off. So I have a game plan, I've acquired some better materials for the legs I just need to buy a new garbage can body.

I wanted to have panel access to the insides instead of going in through the top so I may go with a couple small panels or just bite the bullet and go in through the top.

This project is one I definitely want to finish but I have a Roli ordered and have plans on using all of my available parts on it so I'll need new servos for E2 which equals needing more money. It's been a rough year for me as far as disposable income goes so E2 is being put into the CR tank until Spring at least.

It just depends on money, how busy Roli makes me, and one other secret (for now) project I'm very close to gaining access too. I basically have the access and permission I plan on using my V3 board to get that project running so I need my Roli first. Then once it's running I'll talk the owner into buying a V4 for it. It's not my robot so I'm not just going to donate my board. I'm sure I'll be asking for some help on this project in a few months. I will definitely be starting a projects thread and posting pics and vids of the secret project as soon as I get closer to making it a reality.

It's only a secret because I want to impress you folks with it. We've got a lot of new members on the forums and they've been posting these amazing projects right out of the gate. And well, I'm inspired. And jealous. I want this to be the "Look at this mostly finished project" thread to go along with all of these new guys amazing projects.

E2 will still be a "Watch me build my robot thread" so, when I get back to it, I'll start an E2D2 v2 thread in the projects forum. So guess we can let this tread die. Thanks for reading, I hope to make 2014 a very robotic year with Roli, E2 and my 3rd project. I'll be seeing all of you great people around the forums

One of the things about building is we don't report all the mistakes we make lol , if you ever cut a hole in a tube or box it looses it's rigidity. The way to fix that is to frame the door. You can use fiberglass or even in stamp plastic. Then you need a round stiff support in the body both above and below the door. Then it will stay rigid. I see you already have cardboard cutouts so you could apply resin to those and epoxy them in place as support rings. Just some suggestions , great job