Csillz8
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:39 am
Location: Utah

R2-D2's Head Turn

Sat Feb 23, 2013 6:07 am

Greetings!
I am a high school art and design teacher building a life-sized, R2-D2 robot with some of my upper classmen. I've been reading up on Arduino and Raspi, but because I do not have experience with programming, I'm not sure what to do. Essentially, I'm trying to find a way to make our R2's head turn. The head is attached to a lazy Susan. I plan to run an axle down from a bracket in his head, through the lazy Susan to a motor housed in his drum body. I'd like his head to turn in varying degrees/intervals/patterns, for varying periods of time with periods of rest between. I'd also like his head to return to center-forward after each head turn. It would be great if we could get the R2-D2 sound effects to coincide with the head turning too. I'd like him to be able to play my iPod through speakers mounted from the inside of his body, connect to a wireless webcam mounted behind his large center eye, and I'd like the red and light blue lights in his head to run (I was thinking LEDs). He will be moving via remote control RC cars in his feet once I get these other issues figured out. In any case, I don't know how to do this, so if any of you can offer any insight on any of these issues, I would be very grateful!
BEEP-BOOP!
Sincerely,
Csillz8

HamiMiami
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:55 am

Re: R2-D2's Head Turn

Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:57 am

Everything you need to know is here: http://AstroMech.Net

-rst-
Posts: 1316
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:12 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: R2-D2's Head Turn

Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:33 pm

Some RC cars with webcams etc presented on this very sub-forum too. I remember someone contemplating on rotating a tv-stand here as well. I wonder if rotating the 'lazy susan' would be best implemented by having motor(s)+wheels at the perimeter of the upper plate...
http://raspberrycompote.blogspot.com/ - Low-level graphics and 'Coding Gold Dust'

Csillz8
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:39 am
Location: Utah

Re: R2-D2's Head Turn

Fri Mar 01, 2013 12:22 am

HamiMiami wrote:Everything you need to know is here: http://AstroMech.Net
That site does have a wealth of knowledge that will be useful as we build R2. I appreciate the suggestion! Thank you!

Csillz8
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:39 am
Location: Utah

Re: R2-D2's Head Turn

Fri Mar 01, 2013 12:26 am

-rst- wrote:Some RC cars with webcams etc presented on this very sub-forum too. I remember someone contemplating on rotating a tv-stand here as well. I wonder if rotating the 'lazy susan' would be best implemented by having motor(s)+wheels at the perimeter of the upper plate...
I appreciate the suggestion. We now have the domed head attached and does spin, but now I have to find someone to write a program/code to get the 12V DC motor to spin the head like R2. I have no experience doing that, so I'm trying to find someone that is willing to help with that. He sure looks cool though! I'm going to try and get some pics on here. Thank you!

-rst-
Posts: 1316
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:12 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Re: R2-D2's Head Turn

Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:40 pm

There's quite a lot of discussion about servos and other motors here on this forum...
http://raspberrycompote.blogspot.com/ - Low-level graphics and 'Coding Gold Dust'

MarkTerrazzino
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:57 am

Re: R2-D2's Head Turn

Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:15 am

why not go to a site called element 14 they might beable to help with the programming.

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