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Issue #200 March 2007
Inertial Rolling Robot
by Jeff Bingham & Lee Magnusson
Start | Electronics | Drive Motor | Servo Motor | Pressure Sensor | Software | DC Drive Motor Control | Servo Motor Control | Mechanical Components | Manufacturing | Assembly | Findings | Sources & PDF
FINDINGS
The rolling robot was an intriguing and difficult project to work on.
The mechanical design is novel and nontrivial. However, we found that
the resulting unique motion available with this robot was worth the effort.
With that being said, we learned a few things that might be helpful in
building a similar rolling robot.
The biggest difficulties were caused by the tight working area inside the rubber ball and not having powerful enough drive components. While assembling the robot inside a rubber ball through small openings is possible, debugging is nearly impossible. Thus, during the debugging process, use a hamster ball or some other clear sphere that allows easy access to the components.
It is also important to ensure that the components used match both the mechanical and electrical requirements. Initially, we burned out the drive motor because we were shipped a 6-V motor, instead of the 12-V motor that we expected. With a little patience and some elbow grease construction of the robot should go smoothly.
We hope that this article encourages you to build a similar robot. We had a lot of fun building ours, and the resulting product is a very interesting accomplishment. Just remember us when you take over the world with your rolling robot army.
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