BOTtle
BOTtle is a robot like many others but with a particularity, the wheels are made of plastic bottles as you can see in this video --------------------------------->
------------------------------------------------ 2011.04.10 ------------------------------------------------
I didn’t feel so happy with the preview minimalistic chassis design so I felt the need to add some complexity to it. And because I am a 3D lover and because I have some spare time I decided to do what I never use to do: “think before act”. Oh, and the other thing that makes me want to do this is the fact that we have a CNC machine at Artica’s office. So althouth I love to build robots without thinking to much on how is it going to be, when there is a cutting machine evolved there is always the need of planning and design wich is a lot of fun as well!
This creature will be able to go in both directions, and for each direction it will have a diferent sensorial setup. On one front there will be an infra-red distance sensor mounted on a servo and two touch sensors to detect colisions. On the other front there will be a sonar distance sensor between two low-range infra-red sensors. This setup will need to use different programming methods for movement and for sensorial perception and will be fun to program.
The design is ready, now let the machine do its job.
------------------------------------------------ 2011.03.31 ------------------------------------------------
The components I will be using:
The servos are already attached to one another with double side-tape, I will show you how to attach the wheels to the servo horns
Start by adding wood self-tapping screws to the servo horn just a little in a way they won’t fall
Repeat this process 4 times
Open small holes in the exact place where the screws will be tight. I used a soldering iron.
Tight both screws to the wheels

Now I am placing the bumpers on the front of the bot on a PVC sheet (in this post you can see what I have done for a Sharp sensor)
And now the caster wheel, those screws tips are going to be cutted out
The screw tips are gone and added a bit of super glue because the PVC melted when cutting the screws
To attach the pvc base to the servos I am using double side rubber tape
And this is what I have done so far, more will be added soon (I hope)









@ Sun, 2011-04-10 09:52
Well done
Great idea with the wheels. Yeah, rubber band should give it more grip...
@ Sun, 2011-04-10 11:23
Yes we will see, the battery
@ Sun, 2011-04-10 06:25
Looks very clean. If you
Looks very clean. If you used old CD's for the base then it would be a very enviromently friendly robot.
@ Sun, 2011-04-10 11:18
Good idea, CD's can be
@ Sun, 2011-04-10 04:11
Very nice updated design!
Very nice updated design!
@ Thu, 2011-03-31 19:06
I like your idea too,great
I like your idea too,great ignitiative. I would also think of using plastic bottles on water as floaters and with a bit of modifications they might rotate too :P
@ Sun, 2011-04-10 11:28
Yeah definetly, and because
@ Thu, 2011-03-31 06:03
Battle-Bot? --NO, it's a BOTtle Bot...
What a cool and innovative idea, using plastic bottles to make wheels/tires.
Great job.
I can picture a similar type wheel being useful for planetary rovers, where every ounce of weight trimmed down can save millions in mission costs. They might not use bottles per se, but the same type of hard, yet resiliant plastic for light weight wheels, formed to the best shape for good traction.
On Earth, it would be another way to cut down costs of personal or house robots and bring cheap yet useful robots into everyone's lives.
@ Sun, 2011-04-10 11:29
Yeah and reduce plastic
@ Thu, 2011-03-31 04:02
That is ingenious
That is a sick Idea of using plastic bottles, there cheap, simple and easy to obtain. I will deffinetally try making them in the future.