Ross' H015 Build

[r_saggio]

I started my Sentry Droid back in April of this year and had it ready for R2LA that was held a few weeks ago.  I wanted to have a build I could do with my daughter and figured a sentry droid out of foam board would be good.  If we mess up a piece, just make a new one. No harm, no foul. We worked on the body at my folk's place, as you can tell by the decor of the dinning room

[r_saggio]

After the body was built, I took it home to create the drive system. I reviewed all the pictures and did my research on holonomic drive systems and put together a "simple" system using an arduino, osepp motor controller shield and a HC06 bluetooth reciever. It got the platform to move, but the bluetooth arduino contoller app for my phone is limited to front, back, left, right, clockwise and counter clockwise. No mixing directions. I had a deadline, so it was good enough for now.

[r_saggio]

Now for the fun part. LEGOS!  I downloaded the file from this site that gives step by step instructions on the build, and by counting the LEGOs on each page, I developed a "parts list."  My daughter and I spent a Sunday putting it all together.  I ended up having to modify the periphery a little to get it to fit under the skirt just right.  Since I bought knock-off, multi colored LEGO bundles off of amazon, I painted the whole thing black.  For the corner balls, I found clear, plastic 3.25" diameter ornaments at Hobby Lobby.

[r_saggio]

For the LED's, I ran a separate arduino nano for the LED control.  For some reason, trying to run the LED's off the main arduino with the motor controller shiled just drain the power away from the motors and bluetooth reciever.  A separate system for the lighting is no different then what's in my R2-Q2. For the body, I didn't want it to look like foam board. So, I puttied and sanded the corners, put 2 coats of Rustoleum primer with filler, sanded that and then put a coat of white Plasti Dip Spray over the whole body before spraying the whole thing white. Other then the edges along the bottom, you can't tell what it was made of. Most of the people at R2LA thought I made it out of polystyrene sheet.

[r_saggio]

My sentry droid seemed to be a hit at R2LA.

[r_saggio]

Now, I've decided I need an upgrade to the drive system. I bought a RC controller and receiver, 4 Pololu 18v7 motor controller boards and downloaded the code from the forum. I bench assembled the system together based on the wire diagram, nothing worked. I checked each controller with the Pololu software and they are fine. I can run an individual motor directly from the RC receiver. Is there a more detailed description on setting the motor controllers and wire diagram? Do all the motor controllers need the input to be set to RC and not seriel/USB?

[savagecreature]

I don't know how I've missed this build, and I'm sorry for it.
This looks awesome! And thank you for sharing your progress with us. Mighty nice lookin' droid that I never would have guessed was foam core.
I'll poke kresty about the RC system. He might have some helpful information

[r_saggio]

I just put this thread up today. I've been meaning to do so earlier, but been really busy building both this droid and my R2-Q2 (the grey, black and white one from ANH) in time for R2LA. I plan to take more pictures of this droid while I do the drive upgrade.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

- Ross

[kresty]

Looking good, thanks for sharing!

[HoseNose]

Cool! Looks great!