Inexpensive Powerful Router Based Robot

[Andrey Mikhalchuk] Has posted some great instructions on how to build an inexpensive router based robot. Starting with a Linksys WRT54GL, he takes us through the process of disassembling and modifying it to directly control servos.  He has put together a custom version of OpenWRT Linux that you can download from his site.  After testing to make sure everything is functional, he goes through a quick and dirty chassis build.  As you can see from the picture above, there are lot of household items thrown in there such as rubber bands and zip ties.  After adding a camera mounted on two servos for x y movement, he fine tunes it and lets it go.

This project looks fairly simple, cheap, and fun.  It may look familiar as it is very similar to our Wifi Robot post from August.

[thanks Matt]

10 thoughts on “Inexpensive Powerful Router Based Robot

  1. His site appears to be loading slow, so if anybody’s got a mirror that would be cool.

    Just looking at the pic above, I wonder what kind of traction the bot gets on tile floor. It looks like it has grooves cut that would grip carpet good with the cd wheels, but it seems like it still might have a hard time on hard floor.

  2. Use the Asus WL-500G instead:

    a) It runs the same OpenWRT Linux
    b) It has a parallel port on the back for easy motor control
    c) It has a USB socket on the back, and can run a webcam
    d) It has mini-PCI for the wireless card so you can swap something better in
    and
    e) It costs about the same.

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