LEVi Rover Raspberry Pi Modular Robot Platform

cults3d

Hello everyone, let me introduce myself. My name is Josh Starnes, and I'm an Application Development student at Western Governors University. I've taken the time to develop this first edition of the LEVi Rover Robot platform. The original purpose was to have a multi-use platform that can perform many tasks by adding on accessories to expand capability. The first accessory I started testing was for mowing the lawn, and it's an extremely satisfying experience seeing the fruits of hard work maintaining your beautiful turf. The options don't stop here; the purpose of this project is to put a vanilla unmodified platform out in the wild so that accessories can be cultivated for their intended task. It could be a floor scrubber, a pressure washer, or even a leaf vacuum. LEVi could play giant-sized robo soccer and SUMO matches against another LEVi! The options are endless, and I'd love to see this platform make its way into the educational classroom. I'll continue to update this project. Eventually, I'd like to make molds that I can use to pop out copies of the robot in resin until then, if you need one printed, it's possible, but it's not cheap because it requires a lot of filament; however, it could save thousands over buying even the most basic educational platforms of this size. I do ask that everyone who downloads and prints this project keep the name LEVi Rover and provide credit to me, the creator. This helps me keep track as Google indexes photos and project posts on the internet. This is ultimately a project for school. About The Model Tires: The tires are meant to be printed in plastic and then a mold made with silicone. Liquid rubber can be mixed with pigment or powdered carbon to give it a tough but flexible texture. You can, however, combine and print the tire and wheel together as one piece if you want a simpler approach. Tracks: The tracks cannot be printed and used in plastic; they are too rigid. You could print them in Ninja Flex, but I prefer to make a cast from a mold just like discussed with the Tires. I have a file loaded with the track stretched out into a big round circle. Unless your printer is very large, you'll want to slice this up into 4 pieces and reorient on your printer's bed. When it's printed, you'll need to glue together all the pieces and fill the cracks if there are any. Then, cast the large track ring in rubber. I'd make a mold box that gets within an inch of the track model so that you're not wasting a gallon of expensive rubber filling the large void in the center of the mold. You may need to underscale it maybe 1-5 percent to get some tension on the wheels. Try printing in the normal shape first to check sizing. Headlights and Tail Lights: These are basically place holders. You can print them and put some LEDs in them for good lighting, or you could leave the covers off and fill the area with epoxy to encapsulate any LEDs you put in there too. Head/Face: The face is colored black, but the long-run purpose is to print the face and then use vacuum molding to make a copy in acrylic or plexiglass. Then, you can tint that plastic with grey or black clothing dye and warm water. The Raspberry Pi and other electronics are supposed to be printed on DIN mount cards and mounted on the DIN rail rack on the inside of the body behind the head area. Movement: Head: uses two standard-sized servos Wheels: uses 6 x 120rpm worm gear 12v motors Credits: The DIN files are from another contributor, "imstrng," on Thingiverse. I included them in this post in case theirs is ever removed as they are incorporated into this project. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2610621