I have been meaning to make a self balancing robot for awhile so the other day I decided to see what I could do with some stuff I had laying around. I also had not seen overly small ones made so far so the real goal was to make it as small as possible. Basically I ended up with a Arduino Mini Pro with some components literally soldered to it. I found the wheels and motor from one of those small IR vehicles, cut it in half, and soldered the old battery mount to the lower part of the arduino. For the balancing part I need to note that I did not have a gyro/accelerometer on hand which is why I decided to use the IR switch. I just placed an order at SparkFun for a Gyro, so it should be here in a week or two for me to update this little bot and really make it perform.
Video after the jump..
Its just a simple on or off that determines the direction of the robot. There is a potentiality on the IR switch that needs to be changed depending on the surface. Also because the motor is so tiny, I’m able to power it directly from the Arduino. If I make a two motor version I will most likely have to run a motor controller(which is also on the way).
Can you make one smaller?
Self Balancing Arduino
Here it is in action. Enjoy! Will have an update post when I add the new sensor.
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