The VertiBOT is a self balancing robot project taken on for the purpose of exploring how the sensors work in conjunction with some PID algorithms.
[Miguel] didn’t roll any extras into the build. But you have to admit that makes it look interesting. There’s almost nothing to it and yet, as you can see in the clip after the break, he accomplished everything he set out to.
The body and wheels are 3D printed, with black bands for tires to help give it some traction. Note the connection in the center of the body which allowed him to make a longer part by printing in two stages. On the electronic side of things he’s using an Arduino Nano. A level converter lets it communicate with the 6 DOF IMU board which is used to detect movement. Three potentiometers provide a way for him to tweak the PID loop without having to bother with reflashing any code. And of course there’s an option to control it remotely thanks to a Bluetooth module also in the mix.
Are you sure the wheels are 3D printed? They look exactly like Pololu wheels.
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1434
The wheels aren’t 3D printed. The body is. Not sure why they said the wheels were.
If you do want to 3D print the wheels I whipped up a quick design based off of the Pololu wheels used in this project. You can find it on thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:88413
Only the body (where the motors and electronics are mounted) is 3D printed. It’s made as 2 pieces so the length can be adjusted to experiment with different pendulum sizes. The rest of the robot is made of available parts and modules. Neat!
that looks awesome! I’d like to design a nice 3D printed case for it for some ‘pimpin’
in the USSR, a very simple technology was used, instead of position sensors and a processor, a suspended load and contacts were used that closed depending on the slope. The model was poorly stable, but very easy to make at home.