Meet Pinhead!

@troy start at the bottom... lol Or was that at top.

:) j

yeh, you can't start in the middle because you will be going two ways at once. heh!heh! You have to start on the top or bottom. go for it! It's gonna be a cool bot.

LOL

Mel

Yeah, I've got a lot of ideas for the middle but it requires a sturdy frame. So I looked at the bottom as you say and realized that I might as well make a crab, swerve or mecanum drive. I was going with mecanum first but the Vex wheels need more parts to adapt them from the servocity gear motor 6mm shaft to the 12mm hex on the mecanum wheel hub. They have these but I didn't want to mess with it just yet. So the plan is:

• Crab or swerve drive (like pictured on the post 198)
• Swivel waist to move 45 degrees to either side using bearing turntable and ABS sheets.
• "T" bar center support to mount the new gearbox servos at either side for the arms and the neck servos
• Revamp all the modified motors I made in the head on page 7 and replace with micro servos to make room for the support for the U-joint in the neck and the control rods and ball linkages that go down to the "T" bar in the body. Btw I think that a neck joint that pivots inside the head just below the ear looks the most natural. (Test it out on your head by putting your finger below your ear and nod up and down. It doesnt move much does it?)
• Option to make eyelids on individual servos to give the ability to wink. Do they make fast micro sized servos? hmm I guess I can figure a way using levers where a small movement on one side creates a large on the other. It will ultimately be dependent on space left. I was going to put a lift system in to make him grow taller by about 3 inches using a threaded rod and flanged nut like here but instead of a servo use a motor but I decided against that. The speed of the motor would have to be pretty high (due to the thread count being 20 per inch) to traverse the distance I want. At least 1 inch per sec. would mean 180 rpm with enough torque to raise it. So maybe its not all that fast but Ive thought there was too much noise from it. To keep the two halves from counter rotating it could be as simple as a solid rod telescoping inside a hollow tube set near the interior edge. Maybe someone else will try it on thiers. I've got another option that I like better than lifting. Its in the works but all has to wait until the bottom is done.

Updated with more info and links.

you could try the car antenae for a linear servo. If you know what I mean. It was so cool when Mr A. had his camera pop up from behind the counter.

That has got to be one of the coolest robots. I like the way you have all of the stuff we have, but you have eyeballs moving and the mouth moving. It will be great for doing emotional stuff. This is going to turn out GREAT!

Good Luck!

Thanks Mel. I did see his car antenna idea and that was pretty neat. I don't think it will lift a lot of weight though. Besides I've already moved away from lift to another option and it would prevent me from doing both.

It's good to see you back at this bot Troy.

@bret.talent, I know! Eventually I will make progress. blush

@aameralis, only 6oz? I would have thought it would be more. The thought about using it did cross my mind but I reasoned that it wouldn't have enough to lift the entire top portion. It is pretty cool though for your application with the camera.

I thought I might add what I expect to get from this steering type using only 2 drive wheels but all wheel steering. Since I plan for this to be manually driven on level ground I dont think the lack of precision will be a problem. I also plan for little scripts like doing a figure 8 or turn 180 while going forward and stop.

I forgot a few more. Side to side, pivot points in front and behind as well as pivot points at each corner. You get the idea.