Robot Crab (Beach Cleaning)

The purpose of this project is the development of a service robot that will be used for cleaning outdoor environments, more precisely coastal places like the beaches. One of the key elements in the development of this project was the design of a manipulator intended to grasp the solid waste and place it in a disposal bin.

The robot chassis will be taked from a commercial robot toy. This toy has 6 legs and can move forward, backward, turn right, turn left and is radio controlled. An adaptation will be performed, using the mechanism of the robot for strolling and some basic level of intelligence will be added using a microcontroller, sensors, motors and a camera.

A 3D model of the original toy is done using a design software (Autodesk Inventor) and the extra mechanisms are added in the design process. The blueprints of the mechanisms were adquired from the software also and then manufactured

Here is explained the robot architecture for the control. The electronics for strolling are reused from the robot toy and is connected together with the PIC and the added electronics.

The used materials and components are:
- commercial robot toy

- acrylic and steel

- Microcontroller (PIC16F877A)

- CMUcam3

- Contact switches

- Servomotors (11.67 kg-cm, and 3.02 kg-cm)

The robot arm was manufactured using acrylic and the gripper was maded recycling the original pincer of the robot toy. A steel counterbalance was added to the arm in order to make easier for the servomotor the up-down movements.

Now the robot is connected, programmed and assembled, it is time to perform some test in a real environment, in this case using sand. The test can be seen in the video I attached. If you liked this proyect, do not forget to watch my videos and subscribe and/or giving a like. Most of the videos have subtitles in english. Enjoy robotics !