HelloWorldBot

This was to be a robot that could type "Hello World" on a keyboard.

I realized that I had not typed "Hello World" on the screen using NQC and I figured this was the way to do it.

The project never got finished but someday it might.

Here's a video of the bot initializing, it's as far as I got with it.

I built a rail for the thing to move on. It has an arm with two joints and a light sensor in the back for position tracking. The two joints are equipped with two touch sensors that tell the bot it has folded the joint to it's max. I used these during initialization and I figured I could use timing to move the joint in the right amount as soon as I knew it were where I wanted it to be.

This is the position tracking system. I figured the bot should count the black and gray 1x2 plates as it moved down. The white 2x2 is to tell the robot it's at the beginning of the rail. During initialization it stops at this point.

This is a close up on the drive train. The yellow hubs are there to support the bot against the side of the rail.

This is one of the joint's If you look close next to the medium pulley you can spot one of the touch sensors.

Here is the other joint as well as the motor used to drive the bot side ways. The large z40 gear is positioned directly above the rail.

Joint number two again, this time shot from the other side.

LeggieBot

This was supposed to be some sort of robot that could raise or lower itself as it drove around.

I'm really not sure if this would have worked or not. Probably not as I design it. I think the stress on the axles would have been to great in the extended mode.

Top view of the chasis with the legs raised.

Close up. The dark gray gears have a rund hole in them and can slip on the cross axle.

Legs extended.

One pair of legs partly extended.

One of the legs.

This is how drive of the wheel works.

Another shot of the leg.

WheelieBot

This was supposed to be an all new propulsion system for the RCX. It really does not use the RCX other then for a weight and for power. The program used make one thing: turn on two motors. That's it.

This project proved to be very poor performance. The drive system just spins on it's rubber belts and I was to lazy to rebuild it. I can't say I had a high sucess rate back then. But who gives a [strong word] anyway?

I might get back to this design and make it work some day, I like the idea. I saw somebody else did this some time after I did it though. But so? If my creations has to be unique I might as well quit. I build for the fun of it ,)

This wheel could move a little bit, not long but it could still move. Also I had to help it start by turning the wheel backwards so that the counterweight got up higher then the motor power could provide.

As you can see, I made the wheel pretty big. The main flaws are: It's not round. The counterweight is to close to the center and the belt drive has to little friction to make it work.

No, it didn't fall over, I placed it like this to take the picture ,)

Each wheel has six spokes connected to the medium pulley wheels in the center.

Since I hung the RCX under the construction I could not reach the buttons on it, hence these arms. Worked splendid for a change ,)

This is how the counterweight/propulsion system looks like. Like I said, two motors and belt drive.

Here is a close up of one of the drive trains. You can also see the belt drive that I blame for this model not working.

Top view of the weight. As you can see the drive axle is divided into two halves. I actually thought I could be able to drive the two different halves individually to provide it with steering. I was so naive :)

Another photo of the belt drive. I used but one belt first on each side and I had even more problems with the design. So when I was up for a toilet visit in the middle of the night it struck me I could use two belts on each side, so I redesigned it, also in the middle of the night. To no avail. I think it's because of this I tore the model apart. I had sooo much patience a year ago :)

Close up on the pulley/spoke set up and also the last picture.