SOCBOT - The Next Generation Vibrobot

 by biochemtronics
Contest WinnerFeatured
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In the beginning there were pagers. The fact that activated pagers danced their way off of desks and dressers was little more than an aggravation to most people. That changed when it happened in the presence of a maker. Soon after that eureka moment the vibrobot was born. As those early technological vibrating critters started to multiply they began taking on nearly every mechanical form imaginable. Their off balance, weighted motors hummed and shook sending these scooters off in random directions.

Then it happened. One morning a maker preparing to take on a new day glanced down at the toothbrush in his hand, and the bristlebot was conceived. Who could have known the technological stir something as simple as a sawed off toothbrush would make. No one could have predicted the great personal pleasure makers around the world would find in hacking, of all things, a toothbrush. The simple yet elegant design of the bristlebot instantly made it a favorite project for makers of all ages. It quickly became an icon so deeply rooted in maker culture that it could never be replaced or forgotten.

On the next branch of the vibrobot's evolutionary family tree we find the dipbot. Made with discarded integrated circuits, nearly all dipbots are born of, most appropriately, motherboards. These are the low riders of vibrobot culture. What they lack in height they make up for in leg count as most have at least 40. Most dipbots look like some sort of multi-legged bug that may byte.

With such wide ranging variation in its gene pool, the vibrobot family tree has naturally lent itself to continued innovative evolutionary adaptation. Influenced to a great degree by environment, vibrobots continue to spring forth from whatever salvaged stuff seems to be at hand. They can evolve from boxes of spare parts, the guts of electronic dark age gadgets (read the word pagers here), personal care items, old video game controllers, and discarded computers. All of these environmental factors lend themselves quite well to the task of expanding the vibrobot genotype.

That brings us to the focus of this Instructable - the Socbot. Born in the mind of this author when he first saw a dipbot, this is the next step in the evolution of vibratory micro robot design. This new kid on the block is a highly advanced vibrobot. Controlled by a salvaged television infrared remote control, this PICAXE brained next generation vibrobot stands ready to respond to your every directional command. No more random roaming. With the simple press of a button the socbot's unique wire wrap socket locomotion system kicks into gear sending this critter off in whatever direction you choose. Powered by alkaline watch batteries, the socbot features twin outboard vibrating pager motors. Although current limited by design, this microbot is powerful enough to scoot around on any smooth surface. While big on brains, it is still small enough to sit on a quarter. With so much technological heritage and power packed into such a small space, one has to wonder where the next step in the evolution of vibratory technology will take us.



Here is an excellent Vibrobots article written by Gareth Branwyn

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Step 1: THE PARTS

Soc Bot Schematic.bmp
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1 - PICAXE -08M
1 - 16 Pin Wire Wrap Socket
1 - 16 Pin DIP Socket
1 - 8 pin Dip Socket
2 - Vibrating Pager Motors
1 - TSOP4838 or similar 38KHz IR Receiver Module
2 - General Purpose 100V Signal Diodes
3 - L1154 Watch Batteries
1 - 4.7mfd Capacitor
2 - 82ohm 1/4 Watt Resistors
1 - 33K ohm 1/4 Watt Resistor

wire, thin metal shielding, super glue


1-40 of 99Next »
MrGentlemen says: Sep 8, 2012. 7:59 PM
Hi,

Can I usw this PIC?

http://www.reichelt.de/index.html?;ACTION=7;LA=3;OPEN=0;INDEX=0;FILENAME=A300%252FPIC12F510_16F506.pdf;SID=13UESpX38AAAIAADudKt09e25ea6cf68cd14cc34723fd698cb9cc
MrGentlemen in reply to MrGentlemenSep 13, 2012. 5:05 AM
oh, and another question:

can i programm a pic with an ISP from AVRs?
robot1398 says: Nov 21, 2011. 6:51 PM
can i use a picaxe 08m2
biochemtronics (author) in reply to robot1398Nov 22, 2011. 6:55 AM
Yes you can use the 08m2. It is backwards compatible with this 08m project and program.
robot1398 says: Nov 19, 2011. 9:52 PM
i just didnt understand this step how can u program a remote
biochemtronics (author) in reply to robot1398Nov 20, 2011. 8:09 AM
You will need to get a universal remote control and program it to workthe with a Sony television since tbeyou picaxe uses sony codes. Instructions on how to do this will come with whatever remote you decide to use.
robot1398 in reply to biochemtronicsNov 20, 2011. 6:40 PM
instead of a universal remote if i get a sony tv remote then will it work?
biochemtronics (author) in reply to robot1398Nov 20, 2011. 6:43 PM
It should work if you van find one.
robot1398 in reply to biochemtronicsNov 21, 2011. 6:45 PM
i have one i have a sony Tv SO I CAN USE IT
ilpug says: May 31, 2011. 1:21 PM
very nice. i have only one question: VIDEO?
vruiz3 in reply to ilpugAug 25, 2011. 7:49 PM
theres a video at the bottom above the comments skip to 1:30
vincent7520 says: Apr 26, 2011. 2:45 PM
Nice !

I like how you painted it ! … 
darthmaul.8 says: Sep 25, 2010. 6:31 AM
must use 1n4148 diodes, right??
Janiedella says: Aug 6, 2010. 9:28 AM
Still intimidated by the technology, but I LOVE your writing! Thanks!
Boppo3 says: Jul 31, 2010. 1:10 AM
how do you actually program a pic axe?? i know this instuctable said use a protoboard, but i just dont understand how.... can anyone make an instuctable on programming?
Rimwulf says: Jul 30, 2010. 9:20 AM
now if someone wrote a code for for a PC with infrared hookup to put out pre-written commands and options
hunter1125 says: Jun 8, 2010. 3:20 PM
very cool.
godofal says: Apr 19, 2010. 7:57 AM
wow, this is awesome :D

im thinking of making one with an attiny45 (since i dont have picaxe's or a programmer for them)
just got to figure out a way to make a piece of code that does the same as yours in C++ for an attiny45 :D
Fuzzer3legs says: Mar 19, 2010. 3:28 PM
 What Do I Do

MAIN: let dirs= %00010111
                 ^

Error: Unknown symbol - dirs
Fuzzer3legs in reply to Fuzzer3legsMar 19, 2010. 3:40 PM
 Never mind I was picaxe 08 instaid of picaxe 08m
Earths_hope says: Feb 17, 2010. 8:44 PM
5 stars! well done!
lucek says: Dec 21, 2009. 9:05 AM
can you imagine a water skimmer?
astrozombies138 says: Aug 12, 2008. 2:39 PM
is there anyway to make the picture bigger? the schematic file is a .tmp and I can't open it.
biochemtronics (author) in reply to astrozombies138Aug 12, 2008. 2:52 PM
Just under the schematic is a little block that has a file icon and Soc Bot Schematic.emf inside it. That is a meta file. If you click on that box a much larger, scalable, and easy to read schematic will appear.
crbyte in reply to biochemtronicsOct 13, 2009. 6:29 PM
I have linux and it looks like does not know how to open the file... any chance that you put a jpg or png or bmp or gif or ascii schematic?

thanks
astrozombies138 in reply to biochemtronicsAug 12, 2008. 4:58 PM
gah, I'm on a mac, maybe thats why I'm struggling with this. My computer does not know how to open the file, do I have to convert it to .EMF?
biochemtronics (author) in reply to astrozombies138Aug 12, 2008. 5:09 PM
I know nothing about a mac. Just private message me your email address and I will send you the file. I think it is jpg or bmp. Will a mac open either of those.
astrozombies138 in reply to biochemtronicsAug 12, 2008. 7:24 PM
both, thank you very much.
szechuan53 says: Sep 24, 2009. 3:35 PM
This is so cool... one of the first steps (other than those lame snap circuits) towards making electronics as easy as legos. :D
mattyh says: Sep 13, 2009. 3:36 PM
Whoa, awesome man! I thought those red things were led's and was expecting 1 motor and a on/off switch. I was impressed even then at first glance but holy crap: Picaxe brain & infrared controller!!!
mettaurlover says: Aug 25, 2009. 6:53 PM
i would have programmed for the directional buttons on the remote. would have been easie to navigate...unless you're using a remote where the arrow buttons are the volume/channel buttons?
fireman115 says: Aug 5, 2009. 8:41 PM
Did you enter the pocket sized contest? if you did im sad you didnt win.... If you didnt you should have, you would have won for sure
laki elektronac says: Jul 29, 2009. 12:34 PM
where did you get that song in the video?it's awesome!!!
b-rad101 says: Jul 27, 2009. 7:42 PM
just a thought, but do you think you could put the motors themselves on two separate bristles so you have a more advanced bristle bot? that way you can control each bristle separatly, giving it the direction left or right all the while prepelling it forward.
zoltzerino says: Jul 22, 2009. 1:07 PM
How did you get the name? Nice project, I'd love to make one but this is just too fiddly for me (only been doin electronics for a year).
Rapid_Hack says: Jul 9, 2009. 4:16 PM
very ingenious friends
Riojelon says: Apr 28, 2009. 3:54 AM
how can I program the picaxe? Can the bas file be read by a non-picaxe microcontroller?
Jupitane says: Apr 11, 2009. 7:28 PM
WOW that looks so cool! Mabye in a couple years after i learn about electronics ill build it! Great instructable! P.S. i like cotton candy!
raykholo says: Mar 21, 2009. 5:53 PM
would it be possible to program it for use with other remotes? for example, i would like to use a very small expresscard remote from my hp laptop instead of a big bulky one... would this be possible? thanks rak
biochemtronics (author) in reply to raykholoMar 21, 2009. 10:54 PM
No - that would not be possible. The PICAXE on reads Sony codes and I doubt seriously that your HP remote would use any of those codes. However, you can use another PICAXE as the transmitter. PICAXEs can send and receive SONY codes. You could make it really small too. All you would need is a battery pack, an IR LED, a couple of push buttons and a small case to hold it all. With watch batteries you could make the whole thing a lot less that one inch square.
1-40 of 99Next »
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