Anaximander

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  Anaximander's photoshoot

Inspiration

Named after the famous Greek philosopher and cartographer Anaximander, we set out to develop a robot who would be able to map out rooms autonomously. We decided to try to build this device after watching our friend play a video game that contained a similar device and we wanted to see if we would be able to emulate it.

What it does

As of right now it is unable to map out rooms, but it does have rudimentary navigation skills. It is able to attempt to avoid running into walls while it drives along by itself.

How we built it

We used a Raspberry Pi to program its navigational program along with an ultrasonic sensor that is able to detect Anaximander's distance from a wall. We also used a motor controller to control the two independent motors that are on each side of our robot. For wheels, we used old roller blade wheels that we found lying around. Finally we used the laser cutter to cut out a piece of wood that became the chassis for Anaximander.

Challenges we ran into

We struggled with building a power supply for our motors. We did not have battery holders or a premade battery pack so we had to make our own. We found that either the batteries would not touch each others terminals or the wires that would go the motors would not stay on the terminals. We went through a variety of different ways of making battery packs including using exclusively electrical tape, soldering, and a combination of electrical tape and soldering. Eventually we found that using copper to connect the terminals while using electrical tape and hair ties to keep them in place worked the best. We also struggled with a lack of jumpers to keep our wires in place, requiring us to think of creative ways to keep them in place.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of actually being able to create a workable robot. Neither of us have attempted a project of this scale that didn't include predefined instructions. We were able to make an actual robot by ourselves and we did so despite having to improvise many of the parts.

What we learned

Both of us learned more about how Python works, how to wire circuits, and how to work together to accomplish a goal. We also learned that what we think might be the simplest parts may not be so simple after all.

What's next for Anaximander

We plan on continuing our development of Anaximander by upgrading its components and introducing the mapping function. We also are considering turning him into and RC or wirelessly enabled device, allowing us to control it while it still maintains its autonomous functions.

Built With

• python
• raspberry-pi