INTRODUCTION
To the robotics experimenter, robot has a completely different meaning than what most
people think of when they hear the word. A robot is a special brew of motors, solenoids,
wires, and assorted electronic odds and ends, a marriage of mechanical and electronic gizmos.
Taken together, the parts make a half-living but wholly personable creature that can
vacuum the floor, serve drinks, protect the family against intruders and fire, entertain, educate,
and lots more. In fact, there’s almost no limit to what a well-designed robot can do.
In just about any science, it is the independent experimenter who first establishes the pioneering
ideas and technologies. At the turn of the last century, two bicycle mechanics
experimenting with strange kites were able to explain the basics of controlled flight. Robert
Goddard experimented with liquid-fuel rockets before World War II; his discoveries paved
the way for modern-day space flight. Alan Turning, tasked to create logic equipment to
decrypt coded radio transmissions during the Second World War also worked at designing
the basic architecture for the digital computer. In the 1950s a psychologist, Dr. W. Grey
Walter, created the first mobile robots as part of an experiment into the operation of nerves
as part of the decision processes in animals.
Robotics—like flight, rocketry, computers, and countless other technology-based
endeavors—started small. Today, robotics is well on its way to becoming a necessary part
of everyday life; not only are they used in automotive manufacturing, but they are exploring
the solar system and prototype robot servants are walking upright, just like humans, as they
learn to navigate and interact with our world.
What does this mean for the robotics experimenter? There is plenty of room for
growth, with a lot of discoveries yet to be made—perhaps more so than in any other high-tech
discipline.
I.1 Inside Robot Builder’s Bonanza
Robot Builder's Bonanza, Third Edition takes an educational but fun approach to designing
working robots. Its modular projects will provide the knowledge to take you from building
basic motorized platforms to giving the machine a brain—and teaching it to walk, move
about, sense what is going on around it, and obey commands.
If you are interested in mechanics, electronics, or robotics, you’ll find this book a treasure
chest of information and ideas on making thinking machines. The projects in Robot Builder’s Bonanza include all the necessary information on how to construct the essential
building blocks of a number of different personal robots. Suggested alternative approaches, parts lists, and sources of electronic and mechanical components are also provided where
appropriate.
There are quite a few excellent books that have been written on how to design and build
robots. But most have been aimed at making just one or two fairly sophisticated automatons,
and at a fairly high price. Because of the complexity of the robots detailed in these
other books, they require a fairly high level of expertise and pocket money on your part.
Robot Builder's Bonanza is different. Its modular "cookbook" approach offers a mountain
of practical, easy to follow, and inexpensive robot experiments and projects. Integrated
together, the various projects presented in the book, along with ones you come up with on
your own, can be combined to create several different types of highly intelligent and workable
robots of all shapes and sizes—rolling robots, walking robots, talking robots, you
name it.
I.2 About the Third Edition
This new edition features a new author, Myke Predko, who has revised the second edition
(published in 2001 and the original edition in 1987) from the perspective of an electrical
engineer. Myke brings his experience as an electrical engineer that has worked with a wide
variety of different computer systems as well as the development of low-level software
designed for hardware interfacing. Many of the circuits presented in the earlier editions
have been redesigned to both simplify them as well as make them more robust in robot
applications. In the previous edition of this book, a number of different computer controls
were presented while in this edition the projects have been consolidated on the Parallax
BASIC Stamp 2, which is an excellent tool for new roboticists. The examples can also
inspire the more experienced robot designers who already work with their favorite control
hardware. The book has also been updated with new material on such topics as commercially
available robots for the home as well as how to organize your own robot competitions.
In the more than three dozen chapters in this book you will learn about a sweeping variety
of technologies, all aimed at helping you learn robot design, construction, and application.
You’ll learn about:
- Robot-building fundamentals. How a robot is put together using commonly available parts such as plastic, wood, and aluminum.
- Locomotion engineering. How motors, gears, wheels, and legs are used to propel your
robot over the ground.
- Constructing robotic arms and hands. How to use mechanical linkages to grasp and
pick up objects.
- Sensor design. How sensors are used to detect objects, measure distance, and navigate
open space.
- Adding sound capabilities. Giving your robot creation the power of voice and sound
effects so that it can talk to you, and you can talk back.
- Remote control. How to operate and train your robot using wired and wireless remote
control.
- Computer control. How to use and program a computer or microcontroller for operating
a robot.
Most important, you will gain new insights into problem solving and looking at devices,
parts, and materials from a different perspective. No longer will you look at an old CD-player
or toy as just junk, but as the potential starting point or parts source for your own creations.
Robot Builder's Bonanza is divided into seven main parts. Each section covers a major
component of the common personal or hobby (as opposed to commercial or industrial)
robot. The sections are as follows:
1. Robot Basics. What you need to get started; setting up shop; how and where to buy
robot parts
2. Robot Platform Construction. Robots made of plastic, wood, and metal; working with
common metal stock; converting toys into robots or using other mechanical odds and
ends to create robots.
3. Computers and Electronic Control. An explanation of computer operation; introduction
to programming; interfacing computers and controllers to electronic devices.
4. Power, Motors, and Locomotion. Using batteries; powering the robot; working with
DC, stepper, and servo motors; gear trains; walking robot systems; special robot locomotion
systems.
5. Practical Robotics Projects. Over a half-dozen step-by-step projects for building wheels
and legged robot platforms; arm systems; gripper design.
6. Sensors and Navigation. Speech synthesis and recognition; sound detection; robot
eyes; smoke, flame, and heat detection; collision detection and avoidance; ultrasonic
and infrared ranging; infrared beacon systems; track guidance navigation.
7. Putting It All Together. Discussion on the techniques for integrating different parts
together into a single robot; finding and efficiently fixing the problems you encounter
along the way; putting on a robot competition.
Many chapters present one or more projects that you can duplicate for your own robot
creations. Whenever practical, the components were designed as discrete building blocks,
so that you can combine the blocks in just about any configuration you desire. The robot
you create will be uniquely yours and yours alone.
The Robot Builder’s Bonanza is not so much a textbook on how to build robots but a
treasure map. The trails and paths provided between these covers lead you on your way to
building one or more complete and fully functional robots. You decide how you want your
robots to appear and what you want your robots to do.
Robot Builder's Bonanza doesn't contain a lot of hard-to-decipher formulas, unrealistic
assumptions about your level of electronic or mechanical expertise, or complex designs that
only a seasoned professional can tackle. This book was written so that just about anyone
can enjoy the thrill and excitement of building a robot. Most of the projects can be duplicated
without expensive lab equipment, precision tools, or specialized materials, and at a
cost that won’t wear the numbers off your credit cards.
If you have some experience in electronics, mechanics, or robot building in general, you
can skip around and read only those chapters that provide the information you’re looking
for. Like the robot designs presented, the chapters are very much stand-alone modules. This
allows you to pick and choose, using your time to its best advantage.
However, if you're new to robot building, and the varied disciplines that go into it, you
should take a more pedestrian approach and read as much of the book as possible. In this
way, you’ll get a thorough understanding of how robots tick. When you finish the book,
you’ll know the kind of robot(s) you’ll want to make, and how you’ll make them.
I.6 Conventions Used in This Book
Mechanical drawings, schematics, and other diagrams have been created using standard
conventions and should not look significantly different from other graphics found in different
sources. The basic symbols used in the diagrams will be explained as you read through
the book.
If there continue to be symbols or components that are confusing to you, please look at
the different reference material listed in the appendices.
Integrated circuits are referenced by their part number. Remember that the part number
and the operation of the part can vary when different technologies are used. This means
that when you are given a TTL chip of a specific technology (i.e., LS) do not assume that
other chips with the same part number, but different technology, can be used.
Details on the specific parts used in the circuits are provided in the parts list tables that
accompany the schematic. Refer to the parts list for information on resistor and capacitor
type, tolerance, and wattage or voltage rating.
In all full-circuit schematics, the parts are referenced by component type and number.
- IC means an integrated circuit (IC). Some integrated circuits will be referenced by their
part number or function if this simplifies the explanation of the circuit and there are
many different substitute parts available.
- R means a resistor or potentiometer (variable resistor). All resistors are 1/4 W, 5% tolerance,
unless otherwise specified.
- C means a capacitor. Capacitors can be of any type unless specified.
- D means a diode, a zener diode, and, sometimes a light-sensitive photodiode.
- Q means a transistor and, sometimes, a light-sensitive phototransistor.
- LED means a light-emitting diode (most any visible LED will do unless the parts list
specifically calls for an infrared or other special-purpose LED).
- XTAL means a crystal or ceramic resonator.
- Finally, S or SW means a switch; RL means a relay; SPKR, a speaker; TR, a transducer
(usually ultrasonic); and MIC, a microphone.
Enough talk. Turn the page and open your map. The treasure awaits you.