Cardboard Robot With Wheels: A BBC micro:bit STEM project

9 Apr 2018

Introduction

All we know that the BBC micro: bit is a board strongly oriented to the education, as well as the programming methodology based on Blocks, something similar to the Scratch language is particularly adaptable to teach programming, microcontrollers, and robotics to children, teaching STEM in schools etc. But the potential of this board is far beyond a small game. Recently I had the opportunity to develop some micro:bit based projects preparing a series of workshop that - hopefully - will start by the end of this month.

So, I started exploring more in depth the possibilities of the micro:bit. As a matter of fact we should consider that there is a minimum age that has sense t learn programming but there is not a maximum The children start with simple programs, connecting apples and bananas; then they are involved and start thinking about something more complex, the exploration of the world of electronic and programming goes so far...

This project is the first one that - compared to what we are used to seeing based on the micro:bit - can be considered a bit more advanced. By the way, I have also thought how much it was difficult, the same project, if developed with an Arduino board, just to mention the most popular: BBC micro:bit demonstrated its incredible power and completeness. In my opinion, this is the fir micro controller board of a new generation, based on a totally different concept than the previous generation of microcontrollers for maker.

Last but not least, I should say that I have enjoyed a lot making this project, developing the software and playing with it

The material choice: a must

The idea beside the Cardboard robot with wheels lays over two concepts:

Using as much as possible recycling material where cardboard is king
Create projects that - under an adult supervision - are easy to make seeing in-depth how things work

One of the reasons I love the approach offered by products like the Inventor's Kit by Kitronik against the "assemble in five minutes" projects is that the first ones leave full space to the creativity.

Non-electronic Components

Cardboard from a recycled package box
Some paper clips
Cable ties
Rubber bands

Tools

A soldering iron
A hot glue gun
Scissors
Cutter
Ruler
Ballpoint pen
Adhesive tape

3D Printed components

It is possible to reach almost the same result without using a 3D printer, but the rotating parts and some small mechanics it was worth to make them better.

The images below shows the components used for this project:

{gallery} 3d Printed Components
Front free wheels
3D printing the driving wheels
3D printed driving wheels and motors support
The robot on wheels 3D printed components

{gallery} 3d Printed Components

Front free wheels

3D printing the driving wheels

3D printed driving wheels and motors support

The robot on wheels 3D printed components

The electronic parts

The micro:bit has been inserted into the card edge micro:bit support (from Kitronik) as many pins should be used to drive the motor controller

Motors

Motion is provided by two micro geared DC motors by Kitronic. As the motors need 5-6 V to run it was necessary to build a 9V battery pack and two separate power lines for the motors and the micro:bit

Motor Controller

I have used a cheap motor controller from GearBest working well at low voltage (min 5V). This controller is very easy to connect and no soldering is needed. This driver can control a single stepper motor or two independent DC motors.

Battery Pack

The super-cheap solution iI found has been a 0,50 Euro battery holder (bought at a local store) with 6xAA 1,5 V 1000 mA rechargeable batteries. I have also soldered the wires with a power switch. Note that from the power switch the power line has been doubled: a couple of wires go to the motor controller to power the motors and the controller itself and the second couple power a DC/DC step-down to power the micro:bit

DC/DC Converter

As shown in the side image, the DC/DC converter has been regulated to 3.0V power-out and soldered to the micro:bit power connector. This converter based on LM2596 can be bought on Amazon for about 7 Euro (4 pieces)

1-2-3 ... Building the Cardboard Robot on Wheels

The building process does not require more than one hour or less.

Step 1. Prepare the Wheels

The two freewheels (left in the first rendering below), I have decided to make them a bit smaller than the driving wheels and put them in front where there is less weight are built with three 3D printer pieces.

The right rendered above image shows how to assemble the front freewheel. The support block will be hot glued to the base of the chassis and the axis should be hot glued inside the block, leaving the wheel free to rotate.

The motors are glued on the "U" support and the wheels are glued to the motor axis. As the micromotors are geared, the direct traction is sufficient to move the entire system. The image below shows the motor wheels assembled.

Then motors are tested (and the wheels well centred to the axis(

Step 2. Make the Chassis and assemble the wheels

The images below illustrate the sequence of making the cardboard chassis with the four wheels blocks hot glued (again!) to the bottom

{gallery} Assembling the Chassis and the wheels
The cardboard base of the chassis
The finished chassis. Note the triangular supports to keep in place the vertical part.
Detail of the glued supports
The freewheels glued to the front bottom of the chassis. Be careful to align both blocks, the wheels should be parallel!
The front wheels from the top
The motor wheels glued to the back of the chassis. Due to the smaller diameter of the freewheels, motors have been fixed on the top side. This solution also avoid damage to the motors while the vehicle is moving
Two cable ties will keep in place the battery pack. As this is the heavies components it is fixed the nearest possible to the moving wheels.

{gallery} Assembling the Chassis and the wheels

The cardboard base of the chassis

The finished chassis. Note the triangular supports to keep in place the vertical part.

Detail of the glued supports

The freewheels glued to the front bottom of the chassis. Be careful to align both blocks, the wheels should be parallel!

The front wheels from the top

The motor wheels glued to the back of the chassis. Due to the smaller diameter of the freewheels, motors have been fixed on the top side. This solution also avoid damage to the motors while the vehicle is moving

Two cable ties will keep in place the battery pack. As this is the heavies components it is fixed the nearest possible to the moving wheels.

Step 3. Adding the Electronics

The last step is gluing, gluing and gluing the electronic parts we have wired together before.


Glue a cardboard support to the back of the micro:bit connector
Then glue all to the front side of the vehicle. The support leaves space to the back of the board and make easy to disassemble the connector edge if needed.
Then, glue to the back of the front side the motor controller and the DC/DC converter to the bottom of the chassis
The battery pack kept in place with a paper-clip and a rubber band

Glue a cardboard support to the back of the micro:bit connector

Then glue all to the front side of the vehicle. The support leaves space to the back of the board and make easy to disassemble the connector edge if needed.

Then, glue to the back of the front side the motor controller and the DC/DC converter to the bottom of the chassis

The battery pack kept in place with a paper-clip and a rubber band

The Software

The software has been developed with Blocks and the full project is published freely available on the micro:bit Let's Code website.

Alternatively, this is the Java version of the source:

control.onEvent(EventBusSource.MES_DPAD_CONTROLLER_ID, EventBusValue.MICROBIT_EVT_ANY, () => {if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_A_DOWN) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.SmallSquare).showImage(0)
  } else if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_A_UP) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.Square).showImage(0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P13, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P14, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P15, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P16, 0)
  } else if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_B_DOWN) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.SmallSquare).showImage(0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P13, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P14, 1)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P15, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P16, 1)
  } else if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_B_UP) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.Square).showImage(0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P13, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P14, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P15, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P16, 0)
  } else if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_C_DOWN) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.Triangle).showImage(0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P13, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P14, 1)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P15, 1)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P16, 0)
  } else if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_C_UP) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.Square).showImage(0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P13, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P14, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P15, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P16, 0)
  } else if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_D_DOWN) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.Triangle).showImage(0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P13, 1)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P14, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P15, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P16, 1)
  } else if (control.eventValue() == EventBusValue.MES_DPAD_BUTTON_D_UP) {
images.iconImage(IconNames.Square).showImage(0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P13, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P14, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P15, 0)
pins.digitalWritePin(DigitalPin.P16, 0)
  }
})
bluetooth.onBluetoothConnected(() => {
basic.showLeds(`
  # # . # #
  # # . # #
  . . # . .
  # . . . #
  . # # # .
  `)
})
bluetooth.onBluetoothDisconnected(() => {
basic.showLeds(`
  # # . # #
  # # . # #
  . . # . .
  . # # # .
  # . . . #
  `)
})
images.iconImage(IconNames.Target).showImage(0)
basic.pause(1000)

Notable aspects

The entire application - Blocks allows this easily! - is event-driven. Adding the Kitronik library as explained in their site https://www.kitronik.co.uk/blog/adding-bluetooth-remote-control-move-mini/

The library associated a series of Bluetooth events to any kind of instruction you want to add. This made possible to control via Bluetooth the vehicle with the open source application for Android. The events behavior are explained in the Kitronik library, full source and documentation available on GitHub: https://github.com/KitronikLtd/pxt-kitronik-servo-lite

The controller - whose ready-to-use version is available on the Android market for free - is well documented on the Bitty Software site.

Running the Robot

After flashing the micro:bit hex file created from the source described above we are finally ready to see the Cardboard Robot With Wheels running for a real RoadTest

Enjoy this project!

Top Comments

Parents

shabaz over 6 years ago

Hi Enrico,

Fantastic project! The detail is really awesome, and very cool how you made the motor attachment, so that if the blue piece needed re-sizing, it would not need the entire wheel re-printed. The micro:bit makes the robot look futuristic with its LED array : )
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shabaz over 6 years ago

Hi Enrico,

Fantastic project! The detail is really awesome, and very cool how you made the motor attachment, so that if the blue piece needed re-sizing, it would not need the entire wheel re-printed. The micro:bit makes the robot look futuristic with its LED array : )
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Children

balearicdynamics over 6 years ago in reply to shabaz

Thank you Shabaz,

The idea of the blue piece ... Is a great idea to recycle the motor etc. etc. ... That's true but the reality is quite different
In fact, these two motors are recycled from the project TLE94112 Interactive Testing Platform I have done past year. The star was inserted with the hot solder (as suggested by shabaz for another project in 2016, remember ? LoL) and was so well put in place that seem impossible to remove. So I have adapted the concept. Then you found a good reason I will apply in the future.

Enrico
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