Duck-E (Chip-E Duck Remix!)

thingiverse

This is a Chip-E remix, but created entirely from scratch using components I had on hand in just three days. It utilizes the Chip-E biped concept and much of its design, but it uses smaller Corona 929MG 9 gram servos and an Arduino Pro Mini. The robot is approximately 70% the size of the real Chip-E. I designed the duck body in MeshMixer and all mechanical components in Fusion 360. To connect the duck to the mechanical parts, I created a negative form of the body cavity including screw holes in Fusion 360. I then exported that body as an STL file, which I imported into MeshMixer and subtracted it from the duck body. The body was split into main body, head, and beak to reduce support requirements and allow me to print an orange beak. The beak and head parts were glued onto the main body using acetone. I also acetone smoothed the body, but the results were not great. The eyes were painted on with acrylic paint. I designed the mechanical components entirely in Fusion 360 by measuring the servos I had on hand using a digital caliper. I used standard mounting screws that came with the servos and standard servo horns and wheels to connect to the feet and legs. The electronics are built from an Arduino Pro Mini clone mounted on perfboard. There is no fancy circuitry; just breakouts for the servos, along with one current limiting resistor for the buzzer. I intended the duck to be powered by a small 2-cell LiPo battery, but I didn't have one on hand and couldn't get one quickly. So instead, I added a 5mm power jack on the bottom plate and power it with a 5v wall plug for now. A small battery should fit on top of the circuit board.