Wall-e Project - Push Toy Modified With an EZ-B

I took on Wall-e quite some time ago, i started with an Arduino but once i found the EZ-B there was no looking back

I picked Wall-e up for approx. $34.99( http://www.ShopSmart2.com )
I picked up an Ez-b kit for $169.00 USD( http://ez-robot.com )

The only thing this toy had was a circuit board to make noises like Wall-e. Everything else was manual for movements, including the arms, the neck and the tracks. No other electronics.

Step 1: The Brain - an Awesome EZ-B Module

Step 2: Voice Module - Extraction

I took out the voice module, then striped it down to just the two power wires, and then hooked it to the EZ-B for power, to one of the 5v outputs.

Step 3: Installing the EZ-B Module

After taking the toy apart and extracting the voice module you will see that you will have room to put the EZ-B module there.

On the bottom of the EZ-B i soldered the power wires because there is no room to put the power connector in there, if you want you can cut a hole in the side of Wall-e where the power jack ends up that way it is easy to power him up on the bench and not waist batteries when your testing.

I know on my picture it shows the battery pack direct to the board, but what i did do is put a switch inline, you will see where i mounted the switch.

Step 4: Vision Tracking Camera

The EZ-Robot Wireless Camera allows your robot to see the world and track colors, motion and human faces.

I took the camera and disassembled it so that I could fit it into one of the eye sockets on Wall-e, because this is the small version of Wall-e it was tight, but it fits fine.

You will have to modify the top piece for the back eye cover as i did below, then it fits nicely over the camera.

Step 5: The Drive System

I didn't do to much on the details of adding the Continues rotation servos to the drive system, you pretty much have to improvise with hot glue, screws and zap straps :)

As you can see the two servos are mounted to the bottom of Wall-e and attached to the wheels, very simple to do, actually.

I know that you see a sharp I/R sensor there but it has since been removed and the Sonar sensor that comes in your EZ-B kit is there now. You will see a pic of the Sonar above and how it is mounted.

The Vcc and Gnd are straight forward, the trigger is hooked to one digital input and the echo to another.

Make sure you write down which inputs are what, it makes it easier in the EZ-Builder to configure everything.

Step 6: Arms and Neck Tilt Servo's

Sorry I don't have to much about the arm and neck servos showing, but once again you will want to improvise. Carve out a spot for the arm servos and glue them into position, save with the neck servo.

With the arm servos expose them to the outside of Wall-e, do not try to use the little wheel thats on them now, the arm servos move more freely buy having them exposed and attaching the arm directly to the servo.

The Big Servo in between the two arm servos is simply attached to the head, this moves the head side to side.

You will see a small servo that i used for his head tilt. I made a small clip out of lite metal and attached it to the back of his head then to the servo as you can see. The servo is then glued to the side of his neck.

This adds great little mannerisms to Wall-es personality !

You will also see a small blue, purple and black wire inside his neck those are there from factory for the LEDS in his eyes. You will only have to use two of them to power up the one eye that is left intact. Those two wires for his blue eye can be hooked to one of the 3v outputs on the EZ-B.

Step 7: Distance Sensor on Front of Neck

I added a sharp i/r distance sensor on the front of Wall-e's neck too for extra detection, you may want to program his head to swing back and forth to detect objects better when he is traveling around. All programmable within the EZ-Builder software !

The Sharp IR distance sensor can be connected to and analog pin of the EZ-B Robot Controller. If the distance sensor is mounted on a servo, this control will sweep the sensor back and forth in a scanning motion to detect objects.

I will more than likely upgrade this to an ultrasonic distance sensor like the one i mounted on the bottom of Wall-e.