Meet Charlie

[darkback2]

This is charlie, a PC based Quad Mech Warrior/artist


I started working on her last sunday when I took a trip to the recycling center and picked up four pounds of aluminum at a dollar a pound.

I was originally planning on making a three legged mech for mechwars, but scrapped the idea when I realized there was no way I was going to be able to make a viable pc based tripod. My wife and I are currently building a mother in law for her mom to move into, and I spent a huge amount on a motorcycle and hexapod this summer. I priced SES brackets for the tripod and it was going to be a few hundred dollars. without servos.

I really enjoyed reading the article on making robot brackets by Matt Bauer in robot magazine. I do not have a CNC, but figured "it can't be that hard. So I made the trip to the recycling center on the island and started drawing pictures of what I hoped were flattened brackets using my cad software.

A sleepless week later I present you with Charlie. I had hoped to hold off posting pictures until I had some video to share, but I smoked my SSC-32 somehow ( think I shorted it against an aluminum panel.) So I'll have to wait until at least next friday.

I've been collecting servos for a while at a few dollars a piece from Ebay. They were about $2.50 a piece. So 12 would be $30 not including shipping. The head gripper neck and gun servos are all leftovers from vivian's arm. I sprung for a big ticket item...a USB RC interface. That was $39 bringing my total up to just under $75.

I hope to enter this robot in:
Mech wars
Art bots (painting)
Art bots Kinetic
The Shooting Gallarie

Here are the pics:





The leg design was "borrowed" from the crustcrawler hexapod HDATS. I made the brackets slightly shorter to fit the robot a bit better. I also rounded out the ends so that the shin rotates around the mounting point. That let me design the shins differently.

I cut the brackets out using a dremel a drill and a jig saw. I softened the edges using an angle grinder.






This face was inspired by IC Hexapod by Matt Denton.


I'm going to have to make a new computer mount at some point. The one here is from my hexapod. A part of me feels bad about taking lexi apart for this, but another part of me, the artist in me, just can't justify working with something that someone else designed, and anyone could buy off the shelf. I tried to justify working with a kit robot by saying that anything I might design would look about the same, but in reality that hasn't turned out to be true...at least I don't think so.

I am growing by leaps and bounds making this thing. I'm planning on writing a chapter in the book about the process. I'll try to post it soon.

Here is some video of charlie
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqtf6CIUY8M"]YOUTUBE Charlie Live Fire Test[/ame]

Added Rockets!



DB

[Tyberius]

Wow man, that thing is fricken awesome. And the fact that it's all hand built makes it that much better.

Can't wait to see it with an airsoft weapon mounted!

[darkback2]

I did cheat a little bit. There are four SES brackets and a lynxmotion gripper.

Also, I'm torn because I have an Airsoft gun that I hacked for mechwars. $12 at walmart, but its really crappy looking and I don't want to "junkify" my junkbot...but I also don't think I can spring for a better looking gun and stay under $100.

DB

[4mem8]

Hey DB, That is so cool man, Congrats on using cheap Alloy for the brackets. What type of servos did you get?. Great effort.

[darkback2]

The servos are tower pro mg995s they don't use standard sized hornes so you have to modify SES brackets if your going to use them. Given that I made the brackets for this one myself I didn't have that problem. The servos are pretty strong, but not very accurate. I wouldn't used them on a humanoid or walker, which is one of the reasons I went with a quad. It also allowed me to use the crustcrawler levered leg design.

Oh...Thanks for the kind words everyone.

DB

[4mem8]

Just wondered what type you purchased of E-bay, I had two of those tower 995's i also purchased of Trademe NZ similar to e-bay, and they were crap servos, but as you say good enough for the purpose in hand.

[revoltage]

Wow good looking robot. Great work DB, really impressive!!!

[darkback2]

I read an article somewhere where a person used the electronics from more expensive servos to control Tower 995's. They ended up with a pretty good servo for not much money. As in yank the electronics from a plastic gear servo and put it in a 995. Not sure how that would work out, but seams like a good idea.

Also, this is a junkbot. If I had say 12 hitech 5990TG's laying around I may make the swap, but given the budget limits I'll just have to make do.

Db

DB

[darkback2]

Wow good looking robot. Great work DB, really impressive!!!

Thanks revoltage. Can't wait to see picks of the lawnmower your making. You can see how I used just 4 inches of T slot aluminum in the 9th picture from the top. Also in the picture featuring the hexapod next to the quad. I attached the hump to it.

DB

[wireframewolf]

I love this robot! It's a walker, it's made mostly from scratch, it's got a gripper, it looks good, and it's PC based! Kudos to you.

Just out of curiosity, what is that tiny computer mounted on the back of your robot, and what is it running?