Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Cat Toy or RoboVac..Maybe I have the perfect tool to learn about Robotics!
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SuzyC:
A friend also gave me a completely anonymous standard size robot vac. Absolutely no ID on it or model number or even a Made in GNW sticker! A sticker clearly identifies the 18V charger power supply voltage and current and says 35-Watt power when in use.
I call this vac Moron, It had bad NIMH batteries which I replaced, and now I press the Auto button and it moves about the floor just like it should do when it is cleaning up everything, in an usual systematic semi-random way, but it doesn't turn on the cleaning brushes/roller brush or the Vac Fan.
I've taken it apart, and no ID inside at all. Has one large PCB with a no p/n 64-pin flat-pac pinout MCU 8MHz clock xtal, and all the electronics on it, all of the PCB has a clear conformal coating and all the connectors to the multitude of sensors, motors, etc. have been epoxy-like glued so they cannot be unconnected. All the sensors seem to be working correctly, it bumbles away around the room just like the real thing and knows when it has come upon a stairway!
It is a pretty sophisticated vacbot, no bumper switches, works with infrared sensors for almost everything except the dustbin inserted and wheel motors prolapse off-the-ground sensor both use microswitches. It even has an infrared sensor to detect if any large dirt particles have entered and change/interrupt the beam signal across the port to the dustbin.
Also has a remote-control IRF lens on the top, but I have n o remote!
Here is a chance to learn how to hack a bot!
But this would mean that I would have to start out with a MCU from scratch, not a problem for me, but it would take me a few weeks to just teach it to dance! And then I would have to learn how to use the infrared sensors to detect stairways and collisions.
Finally, I would have to develop an algorithm to clean the room.
Right now, I have rubbed tuna fish oil and catnip on the top of it and the cats love to watch it move and play with it!.
All in all, sounds like fun. I could build any kind of basic robot with this as a base, or just have fun learning how to design robots.
What to do next?? Leave it to the cats or hack it?
What would you do with something like this?
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