Tag Archives: robot

Teaching a Robotics Class

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I spend my Saturdays volunteering at a public library makerspace, the South San Francisco Public Library. I help people operate a few 3D printers, a CNC mill, vinyl cutter, etc. While preparing for my annual RoboGames entry, I thought it’d be cool to teach the library’s patrons about robotics.

I designed a robot kit, partly 3D printed, with electronics that has to be soldered, and running with an Arduino Nano. The three classes are for 3D CAD modelling, soldering, and programming.

The robots are designed to be cheap enough for the library to actually give away. All of my courseware is open source, hosted on GitHub. A lot of the tools and parts were donated by people I know in my professional circles.

Here’s a link to the class content: click here

This blog post is about what I observed, what I did right, what I did wrong.

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3D Printed Molds for Small Robot Wheels

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For my antweight combat robot DetCord, I wanted a wheel that could improve upon the Banebots wheels that I used before. I wanted something shock absorbing, which would extend the life of my gearboxes. The tires need to be soft and have high traction. The wheel does not have to be very strong because the robot has thick armour to protect the wheels.

I ended up with a cool way to make a wheel that’s cleaner than the more popular methods I see on the internet! Continue reading →

Shrapnelly – 1 lb Antweight Combat Robot

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This is my first ever combat robot! 454 grams (1 lb American Antweight class). It has a spinning drum weapon.Body is made of Garolite, with titanium skirts mounted on hinges (parts are cut on my Nomad 883 Pro, and some 3D printing). The drum weapon is CNC lathed aluminum with a brushless motor inside. The electronics is all custom built, utilizing the 802.15.4 radio integrated in the ATmega256RFR2.

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RoboGames 2015

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I went to spectate RoboGames 2015. If you didn’t go, WHY THE HELL NOT?!

I live literally a 10 minute walk away so I went both Saturday and Sunday. Since I walked in, I accidentally walked through the back entrance, so I snuck into the pits without a badge 😀 but I did still pay for a ticket after. I got some pictures in the pits, not stuff I see every day.

I put together a highlights video. Actually probably only missed Friday, and missed 4 matches from Saturday and Sunday, I have about 20 GB of video… I’m putting a few up just as teasers but you should really come check out RoboGames next time or buy their DVD when they release it.

The combat is the only event where I could get good video without raising my arms. There were a ton of other competitions, like minisumo, line following, humanoids, soccer, hockey, etc. It really reminds me of the Canadian National Robot Games back in 2007, which I entered as a highschool student. The Canadian competition has long since been cancelled but it’s amazing how alive the Silicon Valley competition is.

Continue reading for more videos and pictures

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