James Bruton’s latest robotic climbs stairs

After ending his latest Binbot 9000, James Bruton seen a significant issue: the robotic can’t climb stairs. That is a matter when his house does, in reality, comprise stairs. Bruton has plans to construct a beverage supply robotic and didn’t need to make the identical mistake once more. So to check the idea, he developed this prototype stair-climbing robot.

This robotic climbs stairs utilizing an fascinating sequence of mechanisms. It has three wheeled sections, and the primary and third sections can raise up relative to the center part. The entrance two sections have differential drive motors, whereas the rear part solely has freewheeling omniwheels. A sliding lead weight on prime helps the robotic shift its middle of gravity, so it may well stability on whichever wheels it must at any given time. Lastly, the rear part slides ahead and backward on rails, so the robotic can transfer ahead because it strikes up every step.

All of that motion requires a number of motors and there are eight in whole: 4 for the drive wheels, two for the raise screws, one for the sliding weight, and one for the sliding rear part. An Arduino Mega 2560 board controls all of these motors. It receives instructions by an nRF24L01 radio transceiver module. As an alternative of utilizing his common distant as he normally does, Bruton created a customized controller only for this undertaking. It additionally incorporates an Arduino Mega and an nRF24L01 transceiver, and has 10 buttons and a directional joystick. The joystick lets Bruton transfer the robotic ahead, backward, left, and proper, whereas the buttons let him actuate the sliders and raise mechanisms.

As you may see within the video, this robotic can climb stairs. However additionally it is fairly sluggish and Bruton thinks it’s overly difficult. For these causes, he doesn’t plan to make use of the idea for his beverage supply robotic. However it’s nonetheless enjoyable to see the prototype in motion.