The Versatile Arduino Robot

This is my first arduino robot, and I am quite happy with the outcome. What I came up with is a robot that with modifications can do just about anything in the realm of small arduino robots. The electronics are very simple. You only need an H bridge, and a simple setup for the sensor that you are using (in this case the QRD-1114 infrared reflective sensor). The chassis is also very simple. implementing the track and wheel set from Tamiya (this worked quite well with the homemade chassis), and is made from materials that are cheap, and easy to come by. If you follow this instructable, you should end up with a small robot that is capable of being configured to avoid obstacles, follow lines, and stay on a table top using the arduino microcontroller.

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Step 1: Materials

This robot can be configured in many different ways, so the materials you will need may vary. Here is a list of parts that I ended up using.

for the chassis:
-two pieces of peg board about 6cm by 13.5 cm
-assortment of scrap wood
-Tamiya track and wheel set (get from amazon)
-screws

for electronics:
-8x 2222A NPN transistors (you can avoid the use of transistors with the use of H bridge ICs such as the 298)
-8x 1k resistors
-perfboard
-wire
-QRD-1114 
-10k resistor 
-68ohm resistor 
-type M male power jack
-Tamiya twin motor and gear box

software:
-arduino uno (any other arduino board should work)

Comments

[solarstudent]

What do you use for a power supply? I have a similar robot powered by 9V, but the motors suck that thing dry in no time

[Higgs Boson]

These days I use a 9.6v 1200mAh RC car battery, but it is important to isolate the motor power from the logic power otherwise you could kill your arduino.

[DouglasG1]

They also sell rechargeable Lithium Backpacks for the Arduino uno and mega.
Here's the page for the uno's backpack I hope you like it.


http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2127566_-1

[Gelfling6]

As long as you're not drawing the power for the motors through the VDD pin of the arduino, (trust me, I already got flamed by people on arduino.com, and it was a accidental short (jumpers crossed) and the 9V wall-wart that ended-up frying the trace on the board).. you might want to make a molex to barrel adapter, and use a 7.2V RC battery.. Plenty of power.. Get the 9.6V RC repair kit, and the 7.2V battery from Radio Shack, as well as the type-M barrel connector. this will give you a way to connect the battery through the H-Bridge board, and add a jumper from it to the arduino. 7.2V will still power the +5V regulator on the arduino without problems..

[Higgs Boson]

Thanks will do.

[DouglasG1]

You should build a 9v power supply for your arduino, it would be easier than using wall power.

[Higgs Boson]

Yeah as a matter of fact I made one. One 9v battery didn't work, so I used triple and double A batteries to make a 9v supply. the batteries died really fast though, and at the time I did not have any more triple A batteries so I just used the adapter.