Looking ahead

 A little more 3D printing and the basic layout for the head is complete Need to workout how how to find the forward position. Running out of pins on the Arduino!

Paint job

 Looking good after a first coat of primer, still more sanding and some filling to do.

New motor

 New motor arrived today, although much smaller than the original the gearbox really helps.  Made up a quick adapter plate from some scrap aluminium.  Seems much better, will now replace the rear sensor from a micro switch to an optical sensor.  This should help as the micro switch was not being reliably triggered. 

RC2014 inside

 The RC2014 has now moved it to it’s new home.  Much work now need to be done on tidying the wires to motor control boards and the Arduino.

Fist steps

 Hero Jr has taken his first steps.  He is not so keen on a deep pile carpet, but fine on the kitchen tile floor. This is due to the steering steeper motor.  He needs something with more torque to turn the wheel on carpet.  I have ordered a 71:1 stepper and gearbox it’s quite a small motor but I’m hopeful this will work.  Next steps are to fit a cutoff switch and look at fitting the RC2014 inside.  I need to tidy up the wiring to the Ardunio as I think this will be kept to handle the control of the lower motors.  I looking at using the remaining pins to interface with a RC2014 I/O board.

Movement Tests

 The basic frame is now finished and ready for some testing.  Using a Arduino Micro Pro to test the motors will provide a quick and easy platform for creating some test code.  The stepper motor for the wheel turning is just temporary until a better motor and gearbox can be found.  Using two L298N driver boards for control of the two motors.  I may leave the Micro Pro in as an interface to the motors from the RC2014?  The next step is to creat some stop switching so the wheel knows it’s location.

Wheel assembly

 Finished the wheel assembly today.  The axels are on adjustable mounts so that Hero can be levelled, once the rear motor has been finished.  I did a quick test to see how it drives, and it’s all looking great! (So far, famous last words)

Stepper works

 Stepper testing completed.  Looks like it should be fine

Inside structure

 I have most of the inside structure worked out now.  The four uprights will be supported at the top by some removable clamps.  This will allow me to slide on additional supports for the CPU module and anything else that needs adding. These clamps are yet to be designed as I want to assembly the central part of the robot first.  All the motor parts have been assembled and I have used some parts salvaged from an old printer, this includes a couple of brass bushes.  Next steps are to test a stepper motor I have from the same printer to see if it has the required toque to steer the drive wheel.  I have dug out an arduino mega for quickly creating some code on.

Slowly coming together

 A day of careful planning and it all starting to look good.  Can’t wait for this one to take its first steps

Building the body

 With all the fixing parts now printed assembly can start.  I will need to sand parts to the correct angles to fit the side panel and glue these in place.  All the weight will be on the internal metal frame, so I hope the glue will be strong enough!

Getting ahead

 Wow that took some time, but I have finally finished printing all the large parts.  The head has been glued together with just the panels to add.  The top ones will be removable to allow some flexibility with what I decide to use them for.