 Robotic arms |  Rovers |  Bipeds |  Flying robots |
|---|---|---|---|
 Two wheeled robots |  Professional robots |
Click on the image to see what it does.
This is a robot by lynxmotion. Although it looks like a car, it is a robot, since it does a specific task that satisfies the needs of a human. Such robots which move on land by wheels, are known as rovers. There are different types of robots, such as :-
Well this is basically a wrong concept. A robot can be any machine, no matter how it looks but it has to satisfy the needs of a human and it must do a task. Look at the picture below.
Almost many of us believe that a robot is a machine that has hands, legs, face, etc.. that can move and do a work. The picture below is an example.
How it looks
A robot is a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.
What is a robot?
Now you know what are the different robots which are used. The robot looks easy and simple but it is quite hard to make. In order to make a robot, you must know the basic items used for making it. This is really important, you must look and read each and every item below to know what it does so that you can use it by knowing what it does.
A robot body
A robots body can be either made with aluminium or plastic or cardboard. Acrylic plastic sheets are one of the best bodies for making a robot since they look a lot attractive and also neat. But if you can't get Acryllic, Cardboard or aluminium will also do. These are basically used as robot bases. Which means where all the parts are kept like a battery, motor, gear, sensors,etc. All these are kept on a platform which is the base. So therefore a base is very important. Other body parts can't be made, like you cant make a plasic hand by yourself, It is bought. But the base is a common thing in all robots.
 acrylicAcrylic plastic is a collection of plastic materials containing acrylic acid. These plastics are normally transparent and tough. These plastics are used to make bases for robots. They are cheap and easy to handle. |  cardboard sheetsCardboard is a generic term for a heavy-duty paper of various strengths, ranging from a simple arrangement of a single thick sheet of paper to complex configurations featuring multiple corrugated and uncorrugated layers. They are cheap, readily available and easy to cut and use. |  aluminium sheetAluminium is a popular metal used in sheet metal due to its flexibility, wide range of options, cost effectiveness, and other properties. It is water resistant and are used as bodies for many robots mainly heavy ones. |
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Battery (source)
How does a robot work?? From where does it get the power??
Your answer is here. A cell is a device used for generating current. A single AA Battery is said to be a cell. When a group of cells are connected together, they form a battery.(A cell is a device containing electrodes immersed in an electrolyte, used for generating current or for electrolysis.)
A battery has a negative terminal(-) and a positive terminal(+)
+ -
Let us take an example of a motor. Let us see how it works.
When the + terminal of the battery is connected to one clip of the motor and when the - terminal is connected to the other clip of the motor, the motor turns.
+ -
Wire
Here, when power is suplied to the motor, it turns.
A 9v clip is cliped to the battery so that it can be easily connected to any device like a motor, bulb,etc.
Here we learned about 9 volt batteries, similarily there are many such batteries like rechargable batteries, AA batteries, etc.
DC motor
DC motor or Direct Current motor is the most common tool used in robots. When power is supplied to the motor, that is when power from a battery '+' is connected to one of the metal clip of the motor and another power from a battery '-' is connected to the other metal clip, power enters the motor and the shaft begins to rotate. When the wheels of a car rotates, the car moves. This is because a motor is connected to the wheel. If you take a small tyre and connect it to the shaft of the motor and connect it to the battery, the wheel rotates. Motors size depends, The small DC motors are usually 4-5 cm. Motors are not only used to rotate wheels in a vehichle but it is also used in robots. You might have seen that a robots hand rotates, this rotation is with the help of a motor. Similarly, the rotating of a hand, leg, tyre, head all are done with the help of a motor. This is one of the most important tools of making a robot.
Metal clip
Wires
There are basically two different types of wires used in making robots, they are male-male jumper wires and female to female jumper wires. A jumper is a short wire used in electrical circuits.
Male to male- These jumper wires have pointed heads which can be connected to a device having a female head.
Female to female- These jumper wires have heads with a long hole which can be connected to a device having a male head.
CLUELESS TUTORIAL ( BASICS OF MAKING ROBOTS)
These were some basic components of robots. Well there are a lot more, You must study about them to know more about robots.
This is a book by Er.Tejinder Devgon. About the components of a robot.
Click to download
Now you know the basic, essential parts of a robot. The next step is to know where these parts are arranged, how to get them arranged and how each part is connected to one another.
DC motor & GEAR BOX
Gear. Familiar word isn't it? Well a gear box is a component which is usually attatched to a motor.
So then, why do we need a gear box? There are 2 basic reasons :-
1) because most of the wheels you get can't be directly connected to the motor as the size of the shaft of the motor is very small compared to the size of the hole in the wheel.
2) The wheels which we use are big and geavy, so the motor may not be able to turn it. By using a gear, you can turn the wheel easily. Turn it easily? Well all you need to know is that when the motor is connected to the gearbox, there is an increase in torque and decrease in speed.
Now the use of this basic gear is to attach the motor to a wheel. The shaft of the DC motor is connected to the gear and when the motor is turned on, the shaft of the motor begins to turn and so does the shaft of the gear. This shaft is connected to the wheel. So basically the wheel then turns.
Watch this video
to see why exactly we use a gearbox.
How parts are connected to a simple rover
For example, I'm gonna show you an easy connection.
9V BATTERY
MOTOR WITH GEAR BOX
WHEEL
WIRES
What you're seing above is the most easiest most basic kind of robot. So basically, the positive terminal of the battery is connected to the left pin of each of the motors and the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the right pin of each of the motors.
You're done! You'll see a car moving.
If you want to control your circuit, you can do so by connecting a switch in between.
SWITCH
ROVER USING DPDT SWITCHES
You can also control a robot using DPDT Switches.
These switches can help you move the robot front, back, left and right.
Now for making this, you need DPDT Switches. It's a simple robot, which you can make within a few minutes.
Just follow the connections in the diagram :-
1
2
3
4
5
6
DPDT SWITHCES
Now you can control your robot by moving the wheels clockwise to move front, anticlockwise to move back. You can make only the left motors move so the vehichle turns right, and right motors move to make it turn left.
When the left motors only move, and the right motors don't, the car turns left and vice versa.
The DPDT SWITCH
This switch has 3 pins --- 'O' 'I' & 'II' . According to the above connections, if we keep the switch on O the motor does not move. If we keep the switch in 'I' the motor moves forward and vice versa when kept in 'II'.
You see 2 DPDT switches above, the left one is to control the left motors and right one is to control the right motors.
WIRELESS ROVER!
RF TRANSMITTER
Okay, here's the next step and the final step. Controlling your rover wireless!.
Before we begin, You need to know about RF MODULES.
RF Module
An RF Module consists of an RF Transmitter and an RF Receiver.
The switch is connected to an encoder, which encodes the data. This encoder is connected to the RF Transmitter. The RF Transmitter transfers this data via radio frequencies (RF) to the RF receiver. The RF Receiver sends this data to the decoder. The decoder is then connected to the motors. Now the motors move. If you've understood, good. If you've not, have a look below.
First, the switch in turned on!
Data, that is (turn on) is transferred to the encoder (wired).
In the above diagram, the part that comes under the red background is a part of the remote. The remote which you see in wireless cars, robots, etc basically consist of these components.
The Part that is highlighted in Pink colour is present inside the car , robot or rover.
TRANSMITTER RECEIVER
RF RECEIVER
The RF Receiver receives the data and sends it to the decoder
ENCODER
The encoder is a device that receives this data and transfers this data into another form which is readable by the transmitter
You can get to buy the whole set (transmitter, switch encoder) in a single circuit board, which may look like this.
This RF Transmitter receives the data and sends it to the RF receiver via radio waves.
DECODER
The decoder receives this data and converts it into another form which can be read by the DC Motor.
MOTOR
The DC Motor finally receives the data and begins to run.
switches
Postitive terminal - to be
connected to battery
Negative terminal - to be
connected to battery
GND (ground)
+ve terminal
VCC -ve terminal
M1
M2
Connecting the wireless car
The connections....
M1
To be connected to the terminal of the 1st motor.
M2 is to be connected to the terminal of the 2nd motor.
GND (ground) +ve terminal .... This port has to be connected to the battery to power the receiver.
The '+' AND '-' present in the transmitter is also to be connected to the battery to power up the transmiiter
The Transmitter is your remote and the receiver is to be placed in your car/rover/robot.
GND VCC
M1 M2
ANT
M1 M2
ANT
GND VCC
RF RECEIVER
9v battery
ANT Stands for antenna. You can fix an antenna just like what you see in the radio. This helps the transmitter to detect the receiver easily. Given below is what it actually looks like.
The Joystick
+
-
RF TRANSMITTER
BUTTONS
Positive and negative terminals to be connected to the battery to power the transmitter.
This is what a transmitter looks like.
That's all folks!
Now you might be having some idea. You could say clue-ish. If you want to learn more and get to more advanced robots, visit our clue-ish tutorial. Click on home and select the type of tutorial you want.