What Every Maker Needs - A Small Mobile Robot .. or .. a 3D Range Sensor

26 Nov 2021

Hopefully this is the correct place for Secret Santas.

I may be biased but I think everyone should have their own small mobile robot - just for fun. Farnell provide a decent kit chassis suitable for this.

https://uk.farnell.com/dfrobot/rob0003/pirate-4wd-mobile-platform-arduino/dp/3769921?st=4wd

This one has 4WD, several platform areas and holders for sensors - all good things for a mobile robot

But! a mobile robot without sensors isn't much use, so maybe I should suggest a sensor as a Secret Santa gift. Such as this one:

https://uk.farnell.com/stmicroelectronics/vl53l5cx-satel/breakout-board-multizone-ranging/dp/3772972?ICID=I-RP-STM7REC-0

An optical 3D distance sensor operating pretty much in real time. Is it a tool? Is it a gift? I think it is both.

And the price? £34.69 for the chassis and £16.14 for the sensor (a bargain), making £50.83 which when you convert to dollars must be well less than $50. And if it isn't then I suggest the optical 3D sensor as it looks kind of fun, interesting and challenging.

Dubbie

dubbie over 3 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

I had to look up what a Berg motion case was, now I know. Sadly, I do not think I will be able to stretch to one, plus it would have to be pretty large to get all my robots in. I am just thinking I would get a large glass vase/container and just stuff them all in that.

Dubbie
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beacon_dave over 3 years ago in reply to dubbie

How about a robotic warehouse project in order to store your collection of robots ?

Front-end it with an up-cycled Berg motion case to automatically cycle through the vast collection.
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dubbie over 3 years ago in reply to ntewinkel

An alternative view is that I spend too much time on the internet and/or making small mobile robots!

Dubbie
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ntewinkel over 3 years ago

You know all the cool toys!!
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dubbie over 3 years ago in reply to fmilburn

I would have agreed with you until quite recently. I seem to have run out of shelf space for robots and I am actively NOT buying robots (unless they are really interesting and nice, obviously). I might need more shelves, or possibly, a bigger house. Still, if Santa brings a robot, or two, I won't say no.

Dubbie
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