DIY Mod an Omnibot 80's Robot with Voice, Camera, Servos, Bluetooth

*Check back for more updates on this build :)

So, have you heard of the Omnibot? Well! Any kid from the 80's will remember how amazing this robot was. For you young kids, this robot was released in the early 80's by Tomy. The robot was "programmable", in the sense that the actions were recorded to a casette tape. As you operated the robot over its remote control, the casette would record tones for each action. When the tape was played back, the tones would control the robot.

It also had a microphone and speaker in the remote and robot, so you could spy on your family. Man, I really wanted one as a kid! But now that I have made this robot even better, anyone would want one :)

So, I found this fully operational Omnibot on Ebay for $105 USD. Came with the tray and remote too! And, you know me! I couldn't wait to hack into this toy and make it come alive! The shell of this toy made an awesome home for my servos and the robot controller.

So here is what I did, and you can too. Hopefully this instructable will give you the ideas and confidence to begin hacking your own robots. If not, check out my other instructables and you'll certainly get an overdose of robot hacking!

The robot is currently using EZ-Builder and the EZ-SDK (available at http://www.ez-robot.com ). I have added voice recognition, camera recognition and autonomous exploring to the robot. The camera recognition detects faces, skin tone, motion and objects by color. The voice recognition allows remote control commands to be verbally spoken.

Goal
To make a robot pet! So currently I have this robot cruising around my house in autonomous mode. The personality I wrote for it does a bunch of different things, randomly. The robot will follow colors, follow motion, sit there and look around, bleep and make interesting noises, wander around on its own, or listen to voice commands. He never gets stuck with the new autonomous code and HC-SR04 Ultrasonic sensor.


What I Used:

• •1 x EZ-B Robot Controller http://www.ez-robot.com
• 1 x Servo for head http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=878
• 2 x Servos for arms http://www.hvwtech.com/products_view.asp?ProductID=878
• 1 x Omnibot shell
• 1 x Wireless Camera http://www.ebay.com
• 1 x EZ-Builder Software http://www.ez-robot.com/EZ-Builder/
• 2 x Bright Blue LEDs
• 2 x QR111D Edge Detectors
• 1 x micro servo for Ping Sensor
• 1 x HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Ping Sensor
• 1 x x Sparkfun TB6612FNG HBridge Motor Controller
•  

Source Codes

There are two ways to control your robot. If you use the EZ-Builder, then you will not need to write any code because it is a graphical interface for controlling the components. If you use the EZ-SDK, then you can customize every action in your .Net application. I released both projects for you to use :)

• EZ-Builder Project: http://www.ez-robot.com/Projects/Files/108/omnibot.ezb
• C# Source Code: http://www.ez-robot.com/Projects/Files/108/robot%20-%20omnibot%20src.zip

Tools:

• Dremel
• Hot Glue Gun
• Soldering Iron
• Plyers, Screwdriver
   

Video #5 demonstrates his observing ability by tracking motion, colors and shape edges. His AI observes and really gives the impression that he is enjoying the road trip... We drove 2 hours north to visit a friend, and he really enjoyed himself. Can you tell? :)

 

 

 

Video #4 demonstrates the enhanced motion tracking algorythm I just finished. In this video he is watching TV. There are some colors and shapes that he learns to like and will take snapshots of them. After a day of autonomous living, my drive is full of some funny photos!!
 

 Video #3 demonstrates the autonomous mode and how he navigates without getting stuck. This is one of the modes he can randomly choose. While in this mode, he also may follow colors (red green or blue)

 

In video #2, I disect the head and demonstrate the motion and color tracking.

 

This is video #1 where you may watch the assembly and modifications necessary to get Omnibot up and running :)

Step 1: Take Apart the Shell

Yes, sorry. You will need to take this cute little guy apart. And you'll also need to throw out a few things, like his brain!! EAK!
 

Comments

[Tomdf]

This is cool! I have to have one of these old robots laying around my parents house somewhere. Time to give it a new life!

[robotmaker]

DJ the links to the files dont work,can you fix them

[Qwertydub]

Do you know if the sparkfun ardumoto motor control board is suitable for this?
I would like to keep to arduino related controllers for this project if I can.
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9896

Also, what did you use for power? "official" replacement batteries are all in the 6V 4.5amp range but I think I would prefer to just use C or D batteries because they are easy to find. I'm thinking 5 should do the trick and get me in the range of both the original spec and what the arduino wants, around 7V?

Any info would be appreciated!

[ms10]

where did you get those blue leds

[gstewart3]

Hi - Can you give a link to sources for the QR111D edge detector you used? Neither Google nor Bing can find it. Also, can you give a specific part number for the micro servo for Ping Sensor?

Thanks!

[Aaronius]

completely awe inspiring.

[jparsons2]

ps id like it if u instaled servoes for hands
;)

[jparsons2]

could u make me one of those
i dont care what he looks like

[ms10]

cooooooooooooool iliked it

[hooper521]

I love it have two of the Omnibots that my folks picked up for me when i was younger. now they can be fun again

[djsures]

Definetly get into hacking it! If you do, ask any questions my way and I'll surely help out. I have a few more additions to my omnibot that will be happening soon (one being a front display). It is pretty exciting to have a robot pet around.

Let me know when you start getting into modding yours. It will be neat to see what you come up with also :)

[dhooper]

i am finally getting a start. could you use a Arduino? would the code be the same?

[djsures]

CreatorRoboto is right. You "could" create this project in arduino, but it would require years of work. I created the EZ Robot project to include all of the robotic work for you. I do the hard work, and you do the creative work :) Seems to work well! - DJ

[creatorroboto]

It actually really depends. The code has to:

a. Be written in C (Arduino is programmed in C)

b. Be compatible with Arduino

I had this nightlight that I was trying to build...it was written in C++...I changed the pin outs from the At tiny13 to something in Arduino. Didn't work out great...I have a busted Arduino...I finally got it up and running again after 3 weeks.

[rbryer]

dude thats pretty cool what you did

do you know where i can find a remote for the omnibot 5402
ive been looking everywhere on the net

[omnispong]

Hey great guide,

I recently bought an omnibot on impulse off ebay but didn't read the add through. Bacicly I bought an omnibot with no remote or tray. I just wondered now that you have modded your onmibot would you be interested in selling your remote and tray?

[djsures]

Send me your address in a private message and i'll send you the remote. You can have it for free :) .. I'm still using the tray though

[brooklynbrownie]

So cool! I would have loved one of these. Just sent a vote your way!

[djsures]

Thank u! That's awesome :D There are some real wicked projects in the contest. I'm impressed with them all!

[SWV1787]

Awesome idea. are you going to make it fetch you beer and nachos when all is said and done? I wish I knew how to use microcontroles. There is a whole world of builds out there that I am still oblivious to.

[wilgubeast]

It looks a bit like the bot has already fetched a beer in the opening frame of the second video. Awesome project. Wish I'd had one of these when I was a kid.

[djsures]

Don't let that stop you from having one now :) ... The EZ-Robot project is geared toward easy robot building. All you need is the EZ-B, Servos and a Hot Glue Gun!

[shadeydave]

Thanks for developing the platform. I've been having a blast.

[djsures]

Whoa we're online at the same time! nice. Wait till u see the next release of the firmware and ez-builder. I have a some wicked features that'll knock ur socks off :)

[djsures]

thanx dude! i have it doing a lot more now. there is a custom application running that gives it more of an interactive personality. the goal was a robot pet. so it will be drivin around my house and doing its own thing. last night i left it on for about 4 hours and it was great. it got stuck a few times, so i have to work on the programming a bit more.

the microcontroller world is easy or hard. depends on the platform you chose. i use the ez-robot project so its obvoiusly really easy: www.ez-robot.com check it out :)

[omnibot]

Nice job :D

[rc26204]

It reminds me of that one robot from Battlebots. I think it's name was Dr. inferno Jr.

[firepup104]

Wher do you get the Omnibot?

[djsures]

I purchased the shell of the Tomy Omnibot off Ebay. The toy was from the 1980's, and I modified the internals to do my own things. You do not need to use an Omnibot specifically for your robot. You can use any Robot Toy and modify it. Look at my other instructables for ideas. Also, I have more videos and robots on www.ez-robot.com

[firepup104]

I cant find anything that big. Can you help?

[djsures]

you want to modify a toy robot shell into a robot? Check ebay:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=tomy+omnibot&_sacat=0&LH_Auction=1&_sop=15&_odkw=tom+omnibot&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313