"Puff " - The Magic Fire (Breathing-Fighting) Dragon.

By Gareth
@ Wed, 2009-04-08 20:16

• Actuators / output devices: 1:224 Gear Motor
• Control method: Autonomus
• CPU: Arduino Duemilanova
• Power source: 2x 3.7V Li-ion 1800mAh
• Programming language: C
• Sensors / input devices: 2 LDRs for Tracking flames

"Puff " - The Magic Fire (Breathing-Fighting) Dragon.

UPDATE:- New Skin fitted - Plus RED LED Eyes, New Photos & Fire Video 2 added.

Puff is able to Put out Fires - He Scans his Head to find the Flames - he orientates towards the Flame - and Blows it out.

If he fails to blow out the Fire within 2 sweeps then the "PANIC" mode switches in and he backs away to save himself from frying his "Chips".

Puff is able to Breath Out Fire, however this happens only when you annoy him (Angry Mode).

Puff is an Arduino based tracked autonomus Robotic Vehicle with "Cliff" and "Obstacle" detection.

The Project is still in early Development so i made a "ToDo" list - feel welcome to suggest ToDos.

ToDo :-

(2) Mount the Batteries. Battery fitted nicely inside the top half of Puff Body

(3) Film the "Show Video" - Yes there will be smoke (i only have segments at momment)

( "Puff"  now has Red LED eyes to warn when he is about to fire the Flamming Breath - i installed this as a saftey feature after having a little miss-hap whilst loading the pyro tube "*+"ç*%*% it was live and fired blowing the glass tube out of its mounting  ekkk big bang and big cloud of smoke  :-)

 Basic Setup

Custom Dragon Cut and Paste Skin.

Arduino Processor Plus Motor Shield.

2 Motors 224:1 (Track drive)

1 Servo (Head scanning)

1 Motor with Propellor fan

2 Light sensitive Probes

1 Pyro-Tube (Puffs Fire Breath)

Here you can see one of the black-red tipped sensors resting on Puffs whisker.

These are 3cm long tubes with a LDR placed at the bottom of the tube.

The tubes are heat shrink tubes, so this enabled me to shrink the LDRs tight to the tube.

You need to completly mask any light from hitting the back of the LDRs or you will get serious measurment errors (the back of the LDRs are also Light sensitive).

 The Fan is for "Blowing out Fire" and just clips the underside of his chin - in the Video you can hear it shaving his chin hair.

The Glass Tube from his mouth is part of the Pyro System as he "Breaths out Fire".

 Underside:-

 Set up of the 2 Gear motors

Ratio 224:1.

Here you also can see some neat, funtional  PolyMorph axle extensions.

"PolyMorph - Rules"

 Safety Feature No.1

 Newly Installed are the Bright Red "Angry Mode" LEDs.

These are a pre-warning that "Puff " is about to Fire his Pyro-Tube and send out a Flame that will do more than Burn your Toast.

At the moment he gets angry when you expose one of his sensors to bright light.

When the Red LEDs are off it also means that the Pyro-tube can be reloaded.

Safety Feature No.2

At the top of the picture is a battery used to fire the Pyro-Tube.

In line with the supply is a Reed-Switch - when a magnet is placed next to it - it switches on and Arms the Pyro-Tube ready for action (my magnet is glued to the underside of the Altoid Mint).

So i know when the Mint is in my pocket the system is safe.

To the left of the Picture you can see a relay that then fires the Pyro-Tube.

The LM340TS 7805 voltage regulator used for powering the motors (does not need heat sink as it runs very cool).

Head removed to show Scanning  Servo arrangement

Puff can turn his head 60-120 degree.

Any More and his head falls off.

Here you can see the positioning of the Sharp IR Sensor.

It does Two things 

(1) Cliff Detection - its angled downwards to focus on the floor 100mm away.

So when it sees a "Cliff" or "Drop off" the sharp gives a max. reading.

(2) Obstacle detection - amazingly by chance this arrangement above also works in the forward direction to detect objects - Phew .

 Puffs Dragon Breath Tests.

The Effect comes from a simple well known Magicians trick - totaly safe and easily controlled.

Puffs Outlook looks "Bright" so he has to Wear "Shades"

For those of you interested in how the Head/Body/Tail is made.

 Cutout can be obtained from Canon.

Its basically a Dragon printed onto Thick Photographic paper.

Then the Long_Long_Long Paperwork - cut-paste-cut-paste etcect.

The inside is therefore hollow so you can hide all the wires and motors etc......