TwoPotatoe is a customer-built balancing robot that in its latest form uses an Arduino Mega to receive commands from a custom-made controller via XBees and a Wixel to wirelessly send telemetry to a PC. The robot uses feedback from a MinIMU-9 v3 IMU module’s accelerometer and gyro to maintain its balance, and it uses the MinIMU’s compass to navigate. The drive system consists of two 37D mm metal gearmotors with encoders controlled by a VNH3SP30 motor driver carrier.

You can see videos and read more about how TwoPotatoe works in the how it works section of its site.

10 December 2014 update: The old video of Twopotatoe has been replaced with a newer one. TwoPotatoe has also undergone a few changes: Arduino Due instead of the Arduino Mega, new motor controllers, new personality, etc. For more information about the changes and to see some new pictures, check out TwoPotatoe’s website.

Abe Howell posted to our forum about a Kickstarter campaign for a robot he calls Apeiros. It is an open-source robot he designed as a teaching tool for STEM. Apeiros uses some of our parts and our laser cutting service in its construction. It is also designed to be upgraded with some of our sensors like the QTR-3 or QTR-8 reflectance sensor arrays or the Sharp GP2Y0D810Z0F Digital Distance Sensor. Some of the higher pledge rewards on the Kickstarter include these sensors. You can learn more about the robot on its Kickstarter page.

One of our customers made a hexapod that is controlled with a PlayStation controller. It uses our 18-channel Mini Maestro to command the servos and a MinIMU-9 v2 for stabilization. The hexapod’s movements are directed by a BeagleBone Black running Robot Operating System (ROS). The physical body of the hexapod is based on a Lynxmotion Phoenix design and was constructed by the customer. The project is well documented and more details can be found in the original post. However, the post is in Russian, so you might need to запустить страницу через переводчика.

Let’s Make Robots user rhughes posted about MiniTrack, his custom-built tracked robot that features the ability to drive on each of its three sides. It uses our 30T track set and an extra pair of our 42×19mm sprockets. The tracks are driven by a pair of medium power 150:1 micro metal gearmotors, which are controlled by a DRV8833 dual motor driver carrier. MiniTrack also uses two Sharp GP2Y0D805Z0F digital distance sensors for object avoidance:

You can find pictures of various stages of the assembly of this robot and learn what else was involved in making it inside rhughes’s post.

Forum user solderspot recently posted on our forum about some modifications he’s been making to his Zumo robot. First, he added our optical encoders for micro metal gearmotors to his robot, which required using motors with extended back shafts and cutting holes in the chassis to route the wires from the encoders.

This allows his Zumo to navigate by dead reckoning, using just the information from the encoders.

He also mounted a sonar sensor on a servo to his robot, which enables it to find its way around a room by following the walls.

A series of articles on solderspot’s blog, starting with this one, covers his experience building and programming his robot. It looks like solderspot has further plans for the Zumo, including more sophisticated autonomous navigation, so watch his blog if you want to keep up with the latest developments.

Forum user Hardsuit posted in this thread about the hub adapters he 3D printed for his robot, which is a roughly 1/4 scale RC Tachikoma from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime series. The adapters allow some of our universal mounting hubs to be used with VEX 4″ Mecanum wheels. You can find and download his STL file on Thingiverse.

The previous version of forum user Hardsuit’s Tachikoma.

The Tachikoma, which he has named Sapporo, also uses our Simple Motor Controller 18v15 and 29:1 Metal Gearmotor 37Dx52L mm. Some of the engineers here are GITS fans, and we are definitely looking forward to seeing it completed!

Do you want your project to vibrate annoyingly like a cell phone? Then our new vibration motor might be just what you are looking for. The vibration motor is intended for 3 V operation and is small (11.6 × 4.6 × 4.8 mm) and light (0.8 g), which means you do not need a lot of space in your project for it. The vibration motor includes the small rubber sleeve shown in the picture, which allows for easier mounting and slightly dampens any chattering that might occur against the surface it is mounted to.

For more information, see the Vibration motor 11.6 × 4.6 × 4.8 mm product page.

We also carry three shaftless vibration motors:

• 10 mm diameter x 3.4 mm height
• 10 mm diameter x 2.0 mm height
• 8 mm diameter x 3.4 mm height

Halloween is just around the corner, and people are looking to make fun costumes. I recently took a couple of calls from customers who were looking to make Katy Perry-inspired costume dresses with spinning peppermints, following the instructions found on this RPF forum thread. Parts from Pololu used to make the dress included an enclosed 3-AA battery holder with a switch and a Solarbotics GM3 224:1 Gear Motor. However, we suggest substituting our 200:1 Plastic Gearmotor, which has similar performance but no back shaft that needs to be removed.

If you have a cool costume that uses our products, please feel free to share them in the “Share your projects” section of our Forum.

Featured link: http://www.therpf.com/f24/katy-perry-peppermint-dress-completed-i-think-189238/

Lonnie Honeycutt made a nice tutorial on how to make a simple beginner robot that uses many parts that you can find on our website. The tutorial breaks down the construction of the robot into different parts and includes videos that help demonstrate how to build the robot. It also includes links to some of our products used in the robot, like the TB6612FNG Dual Motor Driver Carrier, Pololu Robot Chassis, and the Tamiya 70097 Twin-Motor Gearbox Kit. Check it out if you are looking for a project to get you started.

Here are links to three parts of the tutorial he has posted so far:

Part 1: Arduino robotics – motor control

Part 2: Arduino robotics – chassis, locomotion and power

Part 3: Arduino robotics – wiring, coding, and a test run

A customer sent us a link to this instructable that shows how to make an automated XY table that can be controlled through the internet. It is constructed from T-slotted aluminum extrusions and uses an Arduino and jrk 21v3 motor controllers to drive the axes using a pulley system.

You can interact with this XY table by going to TeleToyland, which has a browser based interface that allows you to draw an image and watch the XY table reproduce your image in a sandbox.

Featured link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Internet-Arduino-Controlled-T-Slot-XY-Table/