Retro/Robot/Software/Hardware Things.
Another evening of ‘I Made A Thing’-ing, and I’m happy with the results.
I’ve used a ‘ProtoShield‘ to help tidy up the wiring. I’d recommend anyone to check them out, especially if your soldering skills are a bit rusty.
These slot straight onto the top of your Arduino, but can easily be removed if you need the Arduino later on for other projects – Without you needing to remove all your wires! Very handy.
I’ve popped the lid back on to the top of the box and used my breakout board as a ‘go between’ from the servos and Arduino. It all looks a bit messy at the moment, but this is only temporary.
I’ve been looking for a better ‘finger’ for my useless box. A Halloween-style finger would be great, but trying to find one of a suitable size was proving ‘tricky’.
So, after raiding my kids’ toy boxes I found the perfect thing – A Nerf dart! It’s small and light, and fits over my Lego finger ‘skeleton’ easily.
Bosh.
So I’ve got a rudimentary ‘box’ built, and I know how to control the servos with an Arduino.
I figured the next step is to work on the ‘finger’. The design evolved through trial and error, with a goal to Keep Things Simple. There’s some cool and very clever implementations a Google search away, but I worked my own design out using Brains.
The photo here shows my initial design – A basic ‘C’ shape constructed (again) from Lego. The 90 degree joints are fairly strong, but I suspect in the long term I’ll be reinforcing them somehow. Superglue is always an option…
When it came to the box I was in two minds – Either I make it in wood, or Lego. (Give me a few months and ‘plastic’ would be an option – But I’m waiting until I buy a 3D printer…)
Wood has a certain charm, but Lego is much easier to work with and adds a nice ‘retro’ feel.
The design is simple, as you can see…
For now I’m leaving a hole in one side, allowing easy access without having to go through the top. I don’t know how tall the walls need to be (I’ve got to fit a couple of servos, a ‘finger’, and an Arduino in there yet!), so it’s all a bit ‘prototype’.
Good enough for now though!
So this is it – My first Arduino project! After months of see YouTube videos and Twitter updates from people working on their own Arduino projects, I finally bit the bullet and bought my own ‘starter kit’ from Amazon.
I didn’t just want to make an LED flash on and off (One of the usual Arduino beginner projects) – I wanted to Make Stuff Move. Curtesy of a dad with a few spare radio control servos, and a bit of Googling, I felt ready to start making my Useless Box.
Coding is no problem – That’s what I do professionally – And as a child of the 80’s I’ve still got a LOT of Lego kicking about, there’s not much holding me back.
If you haven’t seen a ‘Useless Box’ before, go and check them out on YouTube. Simply put, you have a hinged box with a switch on it. You flick the switch, the box opens, and a ‘finger’ turns it off again.
That’s it.
Believe me – It’s more fun than it sounds.
