-June 20- Sept. 14 2023 Completed the design of the V7 model.

-Oct. 28 2023 Finished 3D printing 50% of the robot.

-Nov. 1 2023 All components are done printing and the electronics have been delivered.

-Nov. 22 2023 Installed the motors.

-Dec. 1 2023 Finished setting up the new processor ESP32-WROOM-32.

-Dec. 5 2023 Installed Li-Po batteries in to the robot and finished setting up charging.

-Dec. 6 2023 Working on a design for the gearboxes since the motors need to be reduced in RPM and increased in torque.  (MAY 3: This design will not be in the final version)

-Dec. 20 – Jan. 5 2023-2024  Tested and set up the electronics. This took a while since most of these new components I am not familiar with. There is also not a lot of information about them online.

Jan. 5 – Jan. 11 2024 I have been working on the artificial intelligence for the robot since march 2023. I ran into a problem when I started working on it, I couldn’t get the camera to work with the Arduino.  I am using an artificial intelligence powered vision sensor that can detect people, faces, objects and colors. So recently (Jan 10) I had some progress on this matter and I found what was causing the issue. I think I can make the robot autonomous this year.

-April 20 – May 3 2024  Version 7 is the last version of this robot that will be made. Next year’s focus is improving Version 7 ( fixing bugs, improving smoothness of operation).

All progress moving forward will include motors with internal gearboxes.

Design overview: V7

The entire robot is 3D printed the only part of the robot that is not 3D printed is the electronics. Unlike the previous versions this one doesn’t use any screws this is a huge improvement since it drives down the cost of the robot, also the tires are now 3D printed from TPU plastic. This also makes the robot cheaper. The robot is significantly taller (around 450cm)(previous versions were around ~230cm) meaning it can reach more places. Many problems found in the previous version are fixed with this one. This should be the most smoothly operating robot yet.

Robot v7   <–Click here to download the 3D model

 

Hardware overview: V7

This version is different from the previous ones, this time it will be using stronger servos, higher voltage and amperes motor driver (L298N now, previous version used L293D) the new driver will provide more power to the motors up to 12v per motor. The previous L293D only provided around 5.5v-6v per motor. The main motors are dc motors with internal gearboxes. This version will be using a new processor. Instead of Arduino Mega 2560 it will be using ESP32-WROOM-32 development board. ESP32-WROOM-32 is a low power dual core development board with integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, it’s also 4 times faster than Arduino and requires less power to work. For now the same two LI-Po batteries as the previous version combined voltage around 12.5v.

 

Speed, Torque, Weight: V7

 

Estimated actual values

Final motor angular velocity: ~340 RPM  (with friction on the ground, final RPM value (280rpm))

Final torque: ~2.25 Nm (two motors)

Final speed accounting for weight: 2.05 m/s (~280 RPM and 0.07m wheel radius)

Acceleration: 1.37 m/s

Estimated weight:  ~1.5 kg

 

Motor efficiency: ~82%

 

V7 stats:

Power: ~9000mAh, 12.5v, 2 Amps.

Motors: ~280 rotations per minute each. Top speed ~7.38km/h.

Processor: ESP32-WROOM-32 (integrated WI-FI and Bluetooth)

2 Servo motors: Lifting capacity ~500g. One of the servos responsible for lifting the arm is a new high torque servo.

Fully 3D printed design. No screws or tape. All components are 3D printed including wheels and tires. Only electronics are bought.

Weight:  ~1.3kg

Aluminum silicon wiring for better conductivity and higher heat resistance, up to ~250C.

 

Cost of V7 (2024):

$67.71

 

Other versions cost:

V6, Last year’s Steam fair version (2023) : $95.60

V3-4, (2021-2022): $250.29