{"id":1250,"date":"2019-09-20T10:16:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T15:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/?page_id=1250"},"modified":"2019-09-20T10:26:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T15:26:05","slug":"buford-highwater","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/robotics\/buford-highwater\/","title":{"rendered":"Buford Highwater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"\/index.php\/robotics\/\">Back to Robotics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>01\/2014 &#8211; Yeah, that is a silly name for a big bad \u201cRobot\u201d but for some reason it  just hit me while trying to piece him together and he\u2019s a tiny fellow  anyhow.  <br>Buford was really an afterthought when I finished Lilliputian.  <br>I had started the original Yahmez MicRObot challenge entry with the  concept of a dual ATTiny85 bot, one for brain, other for motors but gave  up and used a ProMini clone instead.  <br>After looking at the left over parts for a bit I thought surely I can throw something together with these.  <br>Besides I had yet to build any actual robot with one of the ATTiny85\u2019s I\u2019ve had for a while. <br><strong>Update 01\/04\/2014 &#8211; Added Schematic at the Bottom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Buford Highwater Micro Robot\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uyg5dRSV7Lg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2>Buford\u2019s Pants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"467\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_front_desc.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_front_desc.jpg 467w, https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_front_desc-280x300.jpg 280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 467px) 85vw, 467px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> Buford\u2019s pants are a 3d printed mount found on Thingiverse. I found the  part some time ago but never really had a good plan for it. The GM15  gear motors are actually too small for the mount and I didn\u2019t really  want to burn time modifying the part so I wrapped them up in some green  electrical tape. Once the pants were done I thought a 3.7v 240mah LiPo  battery might make a good \u201cbackbone\u201d so the hot glue gun came out and he  was now upright. <br> Buford is a pretty minimalist bot featuring the two GM15 gear head  motors mounted in the \u201cpants\u201d, the battery forming the backbone and some  small 3D printed \u201cthird legs\u201d to hold him up. The wheels are Lego gears  and the tires were from Lego as well I believe or maybe somewhere else.  For driving the motors a couple 2N2222 transistors were used which  allow only forward motion for each side. Seemed the only way to keep  things small enough for the platform and is very easy to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Buford\u2019s Head<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"489\" src=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_SideM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_SideM1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_SideM1-300x293.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With the 8 pin socket for the ATTiny85 in the middle I sketched out a\n layout to allow two LDR\u2019s for eyes, a couple transistors to drive the \nmotors, matched up the needed resistors for the LDRs and transistors and\n then mounted an IR sensors below for his mouth like feature. After \ndigging around for ATTiny85 IR code online and thinking about how Buford\n was going to be a mute with no sound output as there were no more I\/O \npins, I decided to change out the IR receiver and put a tiny speaker I \nhad salvaged from an old cell phone. The tiny square speaker mount fits \nnicely below the Tiny chip and although not loud, provides enough noise \nto make him a little more menacing\u2026 I mean annoying.\n<br>The back side of the board is a little messy, especially considering\n I took the time to draw up and layout the whole wiring scheme, followed\n it exactly and THEN realized I designed the LDR\u2019s with the resistors \ngoing to the input pins instead of to ground. \u201cFace palm\u201d time. That \nerror made me go back, cut up \/ out some of the wiring and get it right \nthe second try.\n<br>To spice up his head I added a couple green LEDs in parallel to his \ndrive motors on the back of the board which glow depending on how hard \nthat motor is being driven. Because the GM15\u2019s are pretty high geared \nand the wheels\/tires are pretty large he is way too fast for his own \ngood so the PWM rate is extremely low and hard to control but he does \nmove at least.\n<br>To get power to the board I thought about a few options but did not \nhave a tiny double throw on\/off switch that would allow charging the \nbattery in OFF mode so I just added a two pin header, extended it a bit \nto make it look like \u201chair\u201d and added a connector to the battery wires. \nKind of looks like a pony tail from the back.\n<br>I tried to make his board have some resemblance of a \u201cface\u201d with the\n two LDR\u2019s up top for eyes, the 8 pin CPU for a nose and the speaker for\n his mouth. No clue what the resistors are, warts maybe. The two \ntransistor kind of stick out there. I had thought about maybe some tiny \nhands but he looks good enough to me for now.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Buford\u2019s Brain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"411\" src=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_Front_M2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1253\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_Front_M2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_Front_M2-300x247.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s not much there to start with but he does have 8K of empty  space to fill so he can do a few things. He should be able to 1) Track  Light; i.e. sit still and rotate to face the brightest until he is  balance, 2) Hide from Light; same thing but avoid light, 3) Follow  Light; move towards the brightest light until close enough, 4) Run from  Light; turn away from the light and keep moving until dark enough. <br>I started to code up some options for selecting modes by covering up  the LDRs, you can pretty easily do three different settings by fully  covering up the 1) Left, 2) Right or 3) Both for three options. BUT then  I really thought about how easy it is to swap out the ATTiny85 and how  many of them I had here so I just changed variables and burned a chip  for each mode. I can then swap them out as desired. Not optimal solution  but quick and dirty way of making it happened. <br>So far Buford can track light and follow it in a kludgy but walking  like wobble which I actually kind of like and turn away and run away  from light. Nothing special for sure. There is still plenty of code  space left with the current code taking about 3K of the 8K available.  Unfortunately the speaker output is not very loud so trying to make much  sound isn\u2019t near as noticeable as I\u2019d hoped. Additionally I guess the  ATTiny85 doesn\u2019t support the Tone() function to play musical notes so  something else would have to be done to play any type of \u201cmusic\u201d, if you  can call it that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Parts List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\nTo summarize what makes up Buford here is the summary of the parts list:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>2 x GM15 motors\n<\/li><li>2 x Lego \u201cGears\u201d\n<\/li><li>2 x Rubber tires off something\n<\/li><li>1 x 3d Printed \u201cpants\u201d\n<\/li><li>3 x 3d Printed rear supports (only two needed but I tried a tripod setup that didn\u2019t work)\n<\/li><li>1 x 3.7v lipo battery\n<\/li><li>1 x 1\u201d circular perf board\n<\/li><li>1 x 8 pin ic socket\n<\/li><li>1 x ATTiny85 (or more if you want to program up various modes)\n<\/li><li>2 x 10k resistors for LDR\n<\/li><li>2 x LDR devices\n<\/li><li>2 x 2N2222 transistors\n<\/li><li>2 x 1K resistors for transistors\n<\/li><li>2 x bright green LEDs\n<\/li><li>1 x cell phone speaker\n<\/li><li>2x 2 pin 90 degree header pins\n<\/li><li>1x 2 position female pins and header\n<\/li><li>1x pull your hair out soldering session on the back to make it work\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Wow, ok, there are a lot more parts there than I thought but it\u2019s still pretty simple\n&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Closing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_Booking_Side.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_Booking_Side.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Buford_Booking_Side-300x203.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So there is Buford Highwater. Only took about 8 hours on and off \ntotal messing with ideas, code, etc to put it all together. I obviously \nreused code from my other bots for the base code, just stripped out all \nthe other libraries and music functions that were not needed.\n&nbsp;\n<br>So he\u2019s Buford, he\u2019s bad, and he\u2019s big\u2026 well, no, he\u2019s actually tiny\u2026 ATTiny too but he\u2019s still a menace.\n&nbsp;\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Stay out of trouble Buford!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update 01\/04\/2014 &#8211; Schematic<\/strong><br>Maxhires has asked about the schematic and driving the motors etc \nfrom the ATTiny85 so here&#8217;s how I did it. I&#8217;m sure there are btter ways \nout there but this does work. Notice I am driving the little speaker \ndirectly from a pin. I&#8217;ve done this for all my bots with sound without \nissues but remember these are tiny speakers so I would guess lower \ncurrent.\n<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BufordSchematic.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BufordSchematic.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/BufordSchematic-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/robotics\/\">Back to Robotics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back to Robotics 01\/2014 &#8211; Yeah, that is a silly name for a big bad \u201cRobot\u201d but for some reason it just hit me while trying to piece him together and he\u2019s a tiny fellow anyhow. Buford was really an afterthought when I finished Lilliputian. I had started the original Yahmez MicRObot challenge entry with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/robotics\/buford-highwater\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Buford Highwater&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"spay_email":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1250"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1270,"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1250\/revisions\/1270"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.protowrxs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}