Project Description

Our project was to build robots out of a kit of low cost building blocks that was five dollars per block.  The blocks would be joined together to create the whole functioning robot.  Each building block consisted of a motor and electronics that could have mechanical attachments and could easily be wired to adjacent blocks, and like this strong and complex mechanical structures of the robot could be built.  These blocks were then capable of rotating by any angles in either direction when controlled by the motors.  Desired patterns of complex movements of the robot, such as dance moves, could be easily programmed through the master controller that controls all the blocks by synchronizing each motor’s rotations.  These robots could also respond to external touch, such as an object hitting the robot’s hand, and they were programmed to react with certain motions when the touch sensors were triggered.  Although we, as teenagers, did not have any experience with programming languages, the program of the master controller was still easy enough to write using the tools that came with the kit by Enoch Center, and with a little help from the designers of the kit.  This kit can allow any robot, stationary or autonomous to be built without difficulties.  Our MJ-Bot (a.k.a Michael Jackson Robot) is a demonstration of a dancing robot that can be built with this kit.
 

Inspiration

What inspired us to do this project was our interest in engineering, and especially to make something that would do what we designed it to. The challenge of a robot that involves mechanical parts, electronics and software was also something that we want to understand how individual parts were designed to work together. The inspiration to build the MJ-Bot out of the kit was because Michael Jackson passed away recently and we wanted to dedicate it to him. We also thought it was just a fun project to do.
The building blocks that would make up the robot were designed by Enoch Center as a part of their Robotics Summer Camp, consisting of a low-cost DC gear motor that could turn about fifty revolutions per second, running on four 1.5V batteries.  All this could go strong and slow enough to be used for the robot’s actions.  The motor had control electronics that could be controlled by a Texas Instruments microprocessor, which was also the robot’s master controller.  The action of the robot is determined by a series of numbers that defines a “finite state machine,” which is accepted by the programming tool provided by Enoch Center. The mechanical structure of our robots was made using 2 mm thick expanded-PVC which is easily cut and bent into shapes.  Individual parts were then hot-glued together to form the complete robot.

Who will enjoy this the most?

This project was created as a basic introduction to engineering and in particular the fields of mechanics and programming. It is also a fun opportunity for creative design. It will help other kids or even adults interested in building robots for cheap, for whatever functions they can dream of.  I think people interested in engineering, science and especially intelligent machines, who are curious of how the basics of intricate things work, and who would enjoy inventing a creation like this somewhat from scratch, would enjoy this project very much.

The Project

This is a building block with the motor and the electronics that controls it and communicate with the master controller.

This is the MJ-Bot wheel units and master controller: