Remote Controlled Basket Ball Robot - HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS -

Here I will show you how to build a remote controlled basketball robot. That's right, no joke! I have built a similar ball for the HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS and now you can build your own.

Here's a list of supplies you'll need.

Petsmart:
7" Hamster Ball

Sports Shop:
Basketball

www.servocity.com:
High Torque Metal Gear Servo. I used the HS-645MG
Aluminum Servo Shaft Horn 250HS
(3) Aluminum Hubs 3463H
RZ12-90-128RPM Gear Motor
Servo Mounts
Gear Motor Mount
(2) 1/8 ID Bearings
1/ 4 ID Bearing

Any Hobby Shop:
2 channel radio and receiver set (More channels are fine)
Gyro
(8) Elite 1500 batteries
Cheap ESC (Electronic Speed Control)

Hardware Store:
3/ 4" Aluminum Flat Stock
3/ 4" Steel Flat Stock
Misc Nuts and Bolts
Double Stick Tape
Lead weights (Or steel)
Great Stuff Expanding Foam

Step 1: Sketch / Plans for the Ball

Here are rough drawn plans for the ball. It has a Gyro for stability control, a servo for steering and a gear drive motor for propulsion. This ball moves only because the weight at the bottom moves. So, the idea is to get as much weight as far below the centerline as possible. Led or steel weights are added to help.

Comments

[doshh]

Are those geared motors u mentioned for the ball brushed or brushless? tnx ^^

[imran_bhoot]

what does Gyro basically mean? Would you please lighten ma ignorance? :-/

[eulaliaaaa!]

It would be easier just to put a toy truck in the hamster ball and drive that around...

[dombeef]

What happens if it flips over?

[eulaliaaaa!]

True.

[dombeef]

Unless you put wheels also on the top, then it might work

[eulaliaaaa!]

Or you could get one of those cars with huge wheels that can do flips on walls and stuff.

[mightywombat]

About how much could I expect a project like this to cost? Not counting the multi-channel transmitter, I suppose, since that would drive the cost up considerably.

[toxicwolf]

I used your concept and made a tennis ball size version

[mightywombat]

I'm really curious to see your remote controlled tennis ball! I've been thinking that an RC soccer ball or something similar would be a great toy for my dog, but a tennis ball that I can bring back to myself if she decides she doesn't want to fetch it? That's effing brilliant!

[Tobor 2.0]

O my god I've been trying to do the same thing. How ever did you get it so small ( the robot i mean) you have to post an indestructible on it

[toxicwolf]

with built in camera

[prabbit22m]

Can we see some pictures or video?

[toxicwolf]

sorry but I don't have any pics and I sold it but ill make another and do an Instructable on it but it might take a while before I can make it though

[Vulcanator]

i wanna see this.

[toxicwolf]

5 weeks away from finishing just got to find the right type of board to control it

[dombeef]

It is longer that 5 weeks.
And this looks very cool!

[toxicwolf]

dude i totaly forgot been so busy with school and other projects i try to finish         i havent check this account in a long time

[JamesRPatrick]

Bogus.

[toxicwolf]

ive officially given up every time i worked on it something went wrong ;something went wrong my nephew broke it twice and my camera was at my friends when his house burned down

[Tobor 2.0]

Dang talk about bad luck.

[dombeef]

I think he is lying...

[JamesRPatrick]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S8OsJOP4Bw

[thelastonekills]

sorry, this is going to be stupid, but

could this be applied to a much larger sphere 2.5 m diameter
and what size motor would you need and how much would the counter weight have to weigh to get a good speed (min 20 kmh 30-40 kmh good)

and is there a formular for calculating the speed.
it would in theory need circumfrance, counter weight mass and lenght of the arm,
and motor strength i think?

[Tobor 2.0]

try making it small enough to fit in a tennis ball and post the instructions. if you already have and i missed it pleas say so.

[gradof6b]

When this spins is the whole internal thing, like the weight and stuff that's spinning or are they stationary as the ball spins?

[hintss]

stationary, weights move the ball because they're always down

[DehLeprechaun]

how much did it cost to make this?

[MACKattacksnipe]

were you fill up air did you put some kind of rechargeable power socket 

[ElvenChild]

 If I put this inside a soccer ball I could cheat I mean coach easier

[shadowyblade]

 More details on how it is made, please!  These instructions seemed somewhat vague.

[platinum97]

Hey I love ur idea. This would freak my friends and my parents out but I'm not that advanced and I don't have most of those things, so can iu help me make a simpler version of this just by using a dc motor and a smaller ball to put it in?

[bocaj812]

If this were an actual robot built using a micro-controller you could program the steering arm to be electronically forced to go back and stay in the center of the ball when not in steering action. I love the instrucwble though. I plan on building one myself.

[ben moody]

Actually thats not true i myself am building this robot from scratch using a micro controller for a school project. on this guys robot the arm has centered itself. the gyro is used to dampen the rocking motion not to centre the arm.

[necropolian]

very supercalifragilisticexpialidociously cool! can you play basketball with it whitout destroying the inner technologies? 5*

[prabbit22m]

First of all the ball won't bounce. Second, it would probably destroy the steering servo pretty quick. When taking this ball to the park I have to say it's VERY hard to walk with a ball in your hand and not bounce it. -Peter

[necropolian]

and if it could bounce without 'pushing up the daisies' it still would be useless because you can't control it when it touches the ground only fractions of a second. and on bumpy grounds it would be a pyrrhic victory if you were able to bounce it into a specific spot...

[bsamuels453]

it doesn't need to be on the ground in order to change the ball's trajectory, just wobbling the steering chassis back and forth would create a noticeably strange effect

[necropolian]

but still, it is much less controllable in midflight. the steering has more effect on solid ground. but it is still very cool.

[prabbit22m]

It was designed for use by the Harlem Globetrotters on a basketball court. Very flat, very even and very level. It would be physically impossible to build a small ball that was capable of much "off road" type driving. Not becasue of abuse on fragile equiopment. That could be remedied, but because of physics. The rotating mass inside has limits to how aggressive it can be. You can't just put in a bigger motor like in a car or plane. A bigger faster motor just makes the inner mass spin around, up side down, inside the ball. As far as bouncing. I've thought of making a ratcheting spring that pulls the mass down and then a trigger to release it. I doubt it would "jump" more than a cm off the ground and would add a LOT of weight and complication to the already delicate assembly. So, I hope to see someone do that some day but I'm going to leave that idea alone for now. Thanks for looking and the comments.