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Assembly and Programming of the Imperial Bot

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This article presents the Imperial Bot “RobRob”, whose design is based on the model of the DYOR shop with some minor adaptions, and its functions.

Design

The design of the robot is based on Darth Vader and the individual parts can be found on the website https://roboticafacil.es/. We decided to place the TCRT5000 Line following sensor higher than shown in the assembling tutorial by using an own construction. The purpose of this was to achieve more robust analog color values from the sensor. All parts can be glued or screwed and there was no need of soldering for us.

Here is a list of the different parts we used to build the robot:

  • Arduino Nano with the red Shield Arduino Nano I/O
  • 9V battery pack to substitute the power bank (not available at time of building the robot)
  • Ultrasound HC-SR04 (light grey)
  • Buzzer (black)
  • Servos SG90 (dark blue) for the robot’s arms
  • Servos FS90R (dark blue) for the wheels on the base
  • Bluetooth (light blue)
  • Line tracking module TCRT5000 (blue)
  • Caster wheel (white)
  • FS90R wheels (black)
  • LED Matrix (green)

Functions

Our robot has multiple functionalities which can be selected via our own app, which we created via MIT AppInventor. We programmed the robot in C++ using the Arduino IDE. We used a modular approach with a module for each functionality and a main sketch, which then gets uploaded to the robot. The app looks like this in normal mode (left) and dark mode (right):

The app allows our robot to drive in all directions with variable speed, controlled by the arrow buttons and the speed slider in the app. Furthermore, it can wave his hand and sword to either greet other robots or indicate to fight them.

 

In addition, RobRob is capable of expressing emotions via his 8×8 LED-Matrix. For example, it can express happiness, sadness, surprise, excitement or love. The various expressions can be selected using a list picker when pressing the smiley button in the app.

 

Using the TCRT5000 and sonar sensors, the robot is also able to follow a line, e.g. a given circuit, and to detect an obstacle in its path.

 

Last but not least, our Imperial Bot can play the Imperial March when the Darth Vader button is pressed which can be used as a sign of celebration.