How to Build a Robot - The BeetleBot

Step 19: Any questions?

I hope everythings work's perfectly for you, if no, ask your questions here!

I took a picture of a special page from the wonderful book Junkbots, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels by Dave Hrynkiw and Mark Tilden!

Mike Trzecieski wrote that back in 2001 at the Eastern Canadian Robot Games! I got my entire book signed by great roboticist! :D

I got Dave Hrynkiw, Grant McKee, Dave Simmons and his son Kyle Simmons, Scotty Dogma, Ori Barbut, Mike Trzecieski and Richard Weait the creator of the miniball... humm.. do you wonder what is a miniball? Do you want a instructable? :D LOLL

I am missing Mark Tilden signature!!!

Have a great day!

Jerome Demers
Quebec, Canada

Comments

[niljo]

Hi!! i made the beetle robot, bt it wnt wrk if i let go of the switch.. i have to keep it presd..and the funny thng is tat wen i press the spdt swittch on right side, the left motor rotates and vice versa... cud u pls help me wit dis...

[robomaniac]

hello

you are also there.

It is normal that when you press the right switch the left motor spin. That is compltely normal with the Beetle robot V1.

You told me that the robot does not move until you press the switch. This only mean that the third connection is not properly connected to the inside of the battery pack.


When you plug the battery both motors should spin forward. When you press the switch, the opposite motor should turn backward.

Make sure you have a good solder joint, a clean one with no flux or dirty thing on it.

[niljo]

hey thnks.. it really helped.. nw ts wrkng no prblm... thnks a lot jerome :)

[niljo]

these are sm pics of the beetlebot i made.. i even made the third connection.. it wud very helpful fr me if u assissted me wit dis.. and my email id is [e-mail]

[rnoorlind]

Thanks to this tutorial I got few burns :p from soldering iron and glue gun but I finished my robot. Although the wiring pic wasn't very helpful as with my robot I had one wire on every thinkable nob but the instructing pic had one wire about two wires. At that part things got messed up. So all was able to do was to sketch circuits until I understood it. But I thank you for making me think it through like that.
Thank you!

[101nemesis]

I've made the robot..but when i press the swtich..the opposite motor STOPS . It doesn't reverse its direction !
What could be the reason ??

[JoshuaZimmerman]

Probably you have it wired wrong. Recheck all your wires.

The same thing happened to me once. It's an wasy thing to do.

[101nemesis]

lol...i thought so too !! but i double checked..heck..i triple checked !! i even removed all the wiring n did it again !! No matter what i do...the motoe stops when i press the opposite switch !
I'm using a 3 cell battery holder rather than a 2 cell...could that be the mistake ?? Cause 2 cell battery holders are surprisingly hard to get in my area (dubai) !

[JoshuaZimmerman]

It could be that your motors are too high a voltage. It's not that your circuit is bad, your motor might not be getting enough power when in reverse mode.

[best_brothers]

hi(: ok I started and it looks so nice but it doesn't works, I dont know why, first when a plug the positive and negative (I have the third connection kind of permanent) and the motors start to run thats ok but when a clic the switches they do nothing and I put my finger to see if the change direction but it does not and finally after some seconds of having it plug in all the connections it starts to super heat, please Im making this as a science project and I really need help :) I would appreciate very much your help.
THANKS
PS: I will tray to post photos right away.

[sparkspooky]

BOTH ARE IN REVERSE PLEASE EMAIL ME AT [e-mail]

[sparkspooky]

PLZ HELP ME BOTH MOTORS ARE IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

[arjunbhat_9]

Hey Robomaniac,
nice and beautiful robot, i love it. And the one i made is great , and has been selected for a competition, and i am representing my school, with my robot.
But i dont understand one thing, if both antenas hit at the same time, what to do, please reply!

[robomaniac]

both motor reverse!

So that is it.

simple and efficient!

[avenged7x]

 i made the beetle bot but when it hits an obstacle it just stays there and doesnt reverse. i checked the switches and they work. cn u help me plz??

[rafa....atrad]

 first of all thnx very much for the instructions were really helpfull:P i know my guetion its gonna be a bit silly...but im student of 4th grade and i construct this robot for my science fair but i want to add wheels to make it look better but i dont know how to add them in order to work witk the motors....plzz help me!!

[bubsbrain]

ok im not sure if it was already said but i wired my beetle to what i thought was the correct way to do so... but i now find out that both motors are spinning in the same direction the left side is correct but the right is spinning the same way (making it do donuts) so i then thought "why dont i just change the polarity wires... and it did nothing... im lost and confused and putting this together for my final project in one of my electronic classes.. so i could really use the help for quickest way to contact me please email to [e-mail] thank you

[antienoob]

i have one big problem with the one i built, and that is that it does not move unless you push the button. so it just sits there until you push the buton then itl move until u let go. now mine is the exact as yours but it doesnt use the same battery holder instead it usses a double + and double - conection, which means the batteries go in the same way as each other. so if you could help me that would be great. TY.

[robomaniac]

Hello, When you need to press the switch to see action, the problem is the third connection, the connection that connects both battery together. the problem is probably the double + and double - connection. I really don't understand what you mean. IT could be good, I am just confused. Check it closely and have fun! Jerome

[fundash]

 he means what he said, both batteries go the same direction...

try looking at the holders connections VERY CLOSELY!
see if you can find a part where + and - meetup.

[teguhdj]

new inspiration for me,


very nice,




thanks..

[aditya100]

Is there any other that can be used instead of the SPDT switch??? am not able to find one (maybe two)!!!

[rodriyrex]

Hi! I have a problem, when I turne the switch on, nothing happens, only if I press the SPDT's, can you help me?

[derbert]

(removed by author or community request)

[robomaniac]

ok, let see the logic if you said you wired everything right, it should work perfectly! since it does not work, you did not wired everything right! so the problem is in the wiring! TADA!

[robomaniac]

oh ya, I am suppose to answer that question. Are you sure both motor where working before making the robot? are your motor in series? Maybe one of the switch is not working right so the motor is not activated. Check the connections, mister that wired everything right! :P haha bye Jerome

[derbert]

i'm positive (no pun intended) both motors work, though one seems to be lazy. how would i know if they're in series? and when i was soldering, the NC terminal melted its way out of the case. i've pushed it back in to the original position, but could that be my problem? chrs mister that evrythng wired right. :P

[derbert]

I've wired the third connection to my 'lazy' motor and neither motor works unless I press the switch.

[jpeg]

Merci Jerome! Ça fait un interessant cadeau de noel ;)

[psp3601]

Il translate... Thank you Jerome! You made me a intresting gift for christmas

[robomaniac]

Wow I never say that comment. lol Thanks/Merci!

[rkbalaji11289]

i could not understand the step 17 and how does it turns when it come across an obstacle??

[psp3601]

thats when the 2 way switch comes in..when the robot smacks into a wall the antenna triggers the switch and one of the motors stop!its that simple

[robomaniac]

loll it does not STOP it reverse! haha Solarpowered robot use the trick of stoping the opposite motor, NOT the beetle robot. When the robot hits a obstacles it will simply reverse the opposite motor until it is free.

[psp3601]

wierd when i made it it stops lol

[coolrobot]

weird,when i press the left switch,the right motor stops and the left motor keeps on going...

[coolrobot]

are the 2 batteries connected together?I tried building this robot and it didn't work. P.-S. I did not use a AA battery holder,just a small box in which I had put some metal parts or the end of the battery. I did the 3th connection, :D

[robomaniac]

both battery are connected together. The third connection is the wire that is connected to the wire that connects both battery together.

[coolrobot]

thank you!i finished it and it was supposed to work well.it had too much weight and not enough power to trigger the switch when it hit the wall.now i took a AA battery holder from an old toy and im gonna make this project again

[coolrobot]

eriko,i found like 12 SPDT switches in a car with alot of buttons,not RC that my brother has (he's 2 yrs old) and that didn't work.most of the buttons were green,:) the buttons would pust the SPDT switches