LEVi Rover Raspberry Pi Modular Robot Platform

grabcad

Hello everyone, let me introduce myself. My name is Josh Starnes and I am a student at Western Governors University, pursuing my degree in Application Development. After putting in a considerable amount of time and effort, I have developed the first edition of the LEVi Rover Robot platform. The initial goal was to create a versatile platform that could perform multiple tasks by adding on accessories to expand its capabilities. My first accessory was designed for mowing the lawn, an incredibly satisfying experience when you see the fruits of your labor paying off as you maintain your beautiful turf. The options do not stop here; the purpose of this project is to release a vanilla, unmodified platform into the wild, allowing others to develop accessories tailored to specific tasks. This could include a floor scrubber, a pressure washer, or even a leaf vacuum. LEVi could also participate in giant-sized robo soccer and SUMO matches against another LEVi! The possibilities are endless, and I would love to see this platform become an educational tool. I will continue to update this project, with the ultimate goal of creating molds that can be used to produce copies of the robot in resin. Until then, if you need a printed copy, this is possible, although it may not be cheap due to the high cost of filament. However, it could potentially save thousands over purchasing an educational platform of similar size. I do request that everyone who downloads and prints this project keeps the name LEVi Rover and provides credit to me as the creator. This helps me track the project's progress, as Google indexes photos and posts on the internet. This is ultimately a school project. ABOUT THE MODEL Tires- The tires are meant to be printed in plastic and then molded with silicone. Liquid rubber can be mixed with pigment or powdered carbon to give it a tough but flexible texture. However, you can also print the tire and wheel together as one piece for 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 making a cast from a mold, similar to the tires. I have a file loaded with the track stretched out into a large circle. Unless your printer is very large, you will want to slice this up into 4 pieces and reorient it on your printer's bed. When printed, you will need to glue together all the pieces and fill any cracks that may be present. Then, cast the large track ring in rubber. I recommend making a mold box that gets within an inch of the track model to avoid wasting expensive rubber filling the large void in the center. Headlights and Tail Lights- These are essentially placeholders. You can print them and add LEDs for good lighting, or 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 my long-term goal is to print the face and then use vacuum molding to create a copy in acrylic or plexiglass. Then, I can tint that plastic with grey or black clothing dye and warm water. The Raspberry Pi and other electronics are intended to be printed on DIN mount cards and mounted on the DIN rail rack inside 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 were generously provided by another contributor, "imstrng," on Thingiverse. I included them in this post as a backup in case theirs is ever removed, as they are incorporated into this project. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2610621