4WD robot rebuild

thingiverse

Few months ago my path crossed with this 4WD robot from Keyestudio, and let me tell you, there are literally tons of clones available online. I wasn't satisfied with the look of this funny thing and some features were missing, so I decided to give him a little rebuild - or rather a big one. So here's my work in progress. TLDR: 1. Rear bumper / cover: done. 2. Holder for 10000mAh powerbank: done. Next step: Front bumper with integrated ultrasonic sensors. That's the next item on my list. Last step: Power motors directly with a step-up converter/booster for better performance. And finally, last but not least, wireless charging with auto-homing. ------------------------------------------------------------ Step 1 rear bumper: It was pretty simple to design and print. No need for explanation there. Step 2 powerbank bracket: It's not the most beautiful piece, but it's sufficient for prototyping purposes. I decided to use a common noname powerbank that can charge 5V appliances for simplicity and convenience. Be careful though - I encountered some hick-ups along the way. The motor driver used in this particular robot (L298N) isn't very efficient, so there's a big voltage drop-out on output. With a 5V power supply, you can expect around 3.3V to reach the motors. One of my future todos is powering the motor through a step-up converter - it might just do the trick for those 9V used motors that should take 6V input.