Survivor Bot 08M (Tank Based Robot)
I give you "Survivor Bot 08M"... if your wondering about the name, well my sister (a full grown adult) picked the robot up and thew it across the room, smashing it on hard tiles. So you could say its had a bit of a rough development / early life :)
This robot is as simple as they come, you don't even really need to know much about electronics at all - no special circuits, everything is connected to the picaxe starter kit/board... These are the components that you need:
- 1 x PICAXE 08M Starter Kit
- 1 x SRF05 Ultrasonic Range Finder (can only be connected to an ADC pinout on Picaxe 08m)
- 2 x Continuous Rotation Servo Motors
- 1 x Standard Servo Motor
- 1 x Tamiya Tank Tred and Wheel Set
- Jumper pins, wires, prototype board, wood and screws
- Some patience :)
Ideally the servo's should be powered by their own power source, however I didn't have the components lying around the house to make one. I also manage to stop the continuous rotation servo's by telling the pins to go low (e.g. low 2,4). This means that the head can turn and get accurate distance measurements. After that I set the pins high (e.g. high 2,4).
Most of my time was spent constucting the robot base, design, cutting, drilling, modifying the tank wheels, mounting of the servo's etc. The original design used a PBT plastic case/enclosure, however these plastic boxes are not "straight" they are all slightly trapezoid (why aren't boxes square anymore!?!?!?).
I was originally inspired to do something similar by Mr. Russell "Oddbot" - respect!
http://letsmakerobots.com/node/4120 - This is his robot based on the picaxe 08m
Mounting of the Tamiya tank wheels to the servo horn:
Mounting of the SRF05 Ultrasonic Sensor (perfectly measured and drilled - dont even need to bolt it in!!!)

Just another general picture of the robot - this shows the use of jumper pins to connect up everything
I'll post some more information on the robot soon including additional pictures and the program source code.
P.S. I'm not the best when it comes to electronics and circuitry - in high school I completed a level 3 & 4 certificate in basic electronics (about 15 years ago), so apologies for being a little rusty and if I mess up on any questions!!!



@ Wed, 2010-03-10 09:58
Thanks for the acknoledgement
I think this is a very neat little bot. Even if your electronics is a little rusty your woodwork is very clean.
Despite / perhaps because of it's small size the 08M is a fun little chip. Ignoblegnome's "Blind Lemon" is another great example.
I don't think I'm mature enough for you to call me Mr :P
Then again I don't think your sister is mature enough to be called "a full grown adult" :(
@ Wed, 2010-03-10 13:22
Thanks for the inspiration :)
Hey thanks for the comments!!! Especially about my sister - rofl :)
My woodwork is fairly good, it would have been soooooo much easier to get everything lasercut - and saved me a bucket load of time and probably money (I went out and bought a table saw and drill press)
I checked out Ignoblegnome's "Blind Lemon" - its amazing what he managed to squeeze out of it - plus i did see your VERY useful circuit design for motion control of DC motors!!!!!
The next version of my bot will hopefully be solar powered / self charging - there are these excellent 2v, 200ma solar cellls that I bought from Dick Smith Online - I still have one ADC in/out spare that I could use for an LDR, however it might be a little tricky to get the bot to find out the best light source with only 1 ldr sensor - plus there will be program space limitations :(
@ Wed, 2010-03-10 22:49
Alrighty, so you make me
@ Wed, 2010-03-10 02:19
Very nice use of a 08m to
@ Wed, 2010-03-10 13:28
Thanks!! - I checked out your scanner tank and voodobot too!!
I checked out your robots, especailly the scanner tank and voodobot - I think that you have given me an excellent excuse for going down to the local toy /hobby shop, buying an RC something or other and butchering it!!!! lol!!!!
@ Wed, 2010-03-10 22:43
Just to be clear, I will
Just to be clear, I will finish them eventuallly. :) Work and the issues I ran into with the hbridge that I attempted to build hindered me.
As far as what to buy, I recommend a tank as they will be easier to control. The one I got is pretty cool and was fairly cheap too!!
I look forward to seeing more of your projects!!
@ Tue, 2010-03-09 19:27
Good job! :D And nice base -