Project Briefing
BOB, standing for Basic Obstacle Bot, represents a personal project I embarked upon and successfully completed at the age of 16. This endeavor wasn’t just a demonstration of my technical abilities but also a testament to my passion for robotics and innovation. BOB is more than just a robot; he’s a sophisticated creation capable of scanning his surroundings and then autonomously navigating around the room. This functionality highlights foundational skills in robotics, including environmental sensing, pathfinding, and autonomous movement.
As a purely pet project, BOB was developed without any commercial motivation. The primary objective behind creating BOB was to explore and expand my capabilities in robotics, to understand the intricacies of mechanical design, sensor integration, and programming required to bring such a machine to life. This self-initiated project underscores not only my technical expertise at a young age but also my innate curiosity and dedication to pursuing personal growth and learning through hands-on experimentation in the fascinating world of robotics.
Technical Details
- BOB runs on an Arduino UNO 3 microprocessor board. The Arduino in turn is connected up to two SONAR sensors, three motors and an LED status light.
- The bottom front two motors were used to steer BOB, and push him forward, backwards, left and / or right. The third motor was a 180 degree servo motor, and was used to pivot the top SONOR sensor.
- The top sensor was used to detect potential obstacles that BOB may encounter. In the event of an obstacle detection, BOB would pivot his top sensor to gain an insight of the layout of the area. Using that data, he would take the clearest path forward. If no path forward was available, BOB would rotate 180 degrees and head back.
- The bottom sensor was used to detect sudden drops that might damage him. In the event of a drop detection, BOB would rotate 180 degrees and head away from the potential danger.
- The chassis was handmade by myself, using spare bits of plywood I found in my parent’s garage.
- BOB has two power sources; both of which consist of one 9 vault battery.
- One power source powers the two ‘wheel’ motors, while the other power source powers the Arduino board, the sensors and the ‘pivot’ sensor.
