Introduction: BackPack Holder

This instructable will teach you how to make a backpack holder using Arduino and BlueFruit. This project will allow any lazy person, like me, to never have to carry their bag again. I mean look how sad the kid in the picture is. If only he didn't have to hold his backpack.

The size of my project is not to scale, because our laser cutter couldn't make anything larger, but the process would be the same for any size. My project can possibly fit a handbag or a sports bag at best, but if someone wanted to carry their backpack they would have to make the project larger.

Supplies

  • 2 DC motors
  • 1 Arduino UNO board
  • 1 Feather MO Bluefruit LE
  • 4 crocodile clips
  • 2 wheels
  • 2 9-volt batteries
  • 1 Motor Driver
  • 1 Support Wheel
  • L293D Motor Driver

Step 1: Making the Pieces of the BackPack Holder

  • Use makeabox.io to create a template for the box
  • Move the template onto affinity designer or light burn
  • Add a circle on 2 of the faces of the box, this will create some space for the wheels
  • Convert the file to an SVG
  • Upload the file on to the laser cutter
  • Put a 4mm thick, piece of MDF board into the laser cutter
  • Start the laser cutter and wait
  • Then open a new affinity designer or light burn file

  • Create 2 rectangles, with the same width and height, make sure that both of the pieces can fit into the box (a little bit of math).

  • Repeat the same processes above, and use the laser cutter to create these pieces.

Step 2: Making the Pieces of the BackPack Holder

  • First, connect the long side of the longest piece to the long side of the piece with a semi-circle in it.
  • Then attach the other semi-circle piece to the other long side of the longest piece.
  • After that attach the smaller pieces to the back and front of the longest piece.
  • Then you will have a box, similar to the one in the picture.
  • After that cut a small hole into the back of the box so that the wire connecting the Arduino can fit through.
  • Then use then hold the spare wheel to the surface of a rectangle created before, and mark the holes, that are used to fit a bolt through, with a pencil.
  • Drill through the holes marked above.

  • Attach the spare wheel to 1 of the rectangles with nuts and bolts.

  • Then attach both of the rectangles to the main box using hot glue

Step 3: Coding

The code for this project doesn’t have to be too advanced. All it has to be able to do is make 2 wheels spin. The only reason it could difficult is that the code has to use the adafruit.io library (as shown in the pictures above). There are different ways to do the same code.

Step 4: Wiring

The wiring is the difficult part. I can't really describe every step, so use the pictures as references. I used a combination of these wiring systems. The Feather MO Bluefruit LE works similarly to the Arduino board, so you only have to connect the wires to the pin number that you want to use. Either way, this part requires a bit of work.

Step 5: Well Done! It Is Complete!

At this point, you should've completed your project. If you want additional information on the usage of the Feather MO Bluefruit LE to go to this link: https://learn.adafruit.com/bluefruit-le-connect/pi...

Congrats!