CH1P-E 2.0 Claptrap Walking Robot

thingiverse

This Chip-E is a remix of CL4P-TP, also known as Claptrap from the video game Borderlands. This has given Chip-E an even more robotic appearance. Additionally, we have added arms to enable better dancing capabilities. With his new eye (Pi-Cam), he can see and capture images. Speaking of it, we have incorporated a Raspberry Pi Zero, which has significantly upgraded the hardware. As a result, the possibilities are almost endless. For instance, we replaced the small piezo speaker with a real speaker, connected over a lowpass filter to the GPIO Pin 18 of the Pi according to adafruits instructions: https://learn.adafruit.com/adding-basic-audio-ouput-to-raspberry-pi-zero. This allows ChipE to speak in a real language or play songs. The major problem we encountered with the Raspberry is that there aren't enough PWM pins, which are essential for the servos. We considered using the adafruit servo driver, but we didn't want to wait until it arrives, so we added an Arduino UNO, which communicates over I2C with the Pi and just does the PWM-Stuff for it. An Arduino Nano would be even better, because it's smaller, but we had the UNO already at home. Of course, the RobotGeek Geekduino is also usable. One idea was to program a web interface for the Robot on the Raspberry, so it’s possible to control CH1P-E over your smartphone. We wanted to use the original servos from RobotGeek, but they were hard to come by for us here in Austria, so we used MG995 servos, but we designed the body so that the Robotgeek servos are usable as well. We changed the shoes, feet and legs for the MG995 differently. The arms are moved by standard 9g servos. There are no ball bearings needed. The feet for the MG995 are screwed together with tapping screws. By using the RobotGeek kit, only the Raspberry Pi stuff (pi zero, pi camera, speaker components), the servo for the arms and the tapping screws must be bought separately. If you want to use the RobotGeek Servos print the part with the "_RobotGeek" ending, otherwise use the "_995" Parts. We tried to use as many snap fits and screw connections as possible. Only the camera holder for the picam, the speakercap and the antenna must be glued in. Currently, we are in the process of programming the Robot, but we don't have enough time to complete it right now. Features list: - Raspberry Pi as brain - Arduino as PWM Controller - real speaker - Pi camera - HD 44870 16x2 LCD - LED - moving Arms - Sweet dancing moves Optional Features: - IR receiver for remote control - Wi-Fi module for wireless connectivity - Servo motor for head movement See CH1P-E walking: https://youtu.be/0-S2gbGk48I See CH1P-E dancing: https://youtu.be/xD_imHESIJE