Smartble - the Folding Robot

by kasper_d in Circuits > Raspberry Pi

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Smartble - the Folding Robot

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Smartble is a smart robot that folds clothes for you. Put a T-shirt on the platform and it will start folding your T-shirt.

You'll get to see a score of your washing process with a nice interface on the web.

Supplies

Materials:

Electronics:

  • Raspberry Pi 4
  • 6 Servomotors
  • Humidity sensor (DHT22)
  • Weight sensor(1kg) + HX711
  • Button
  • Power supply (5v)
  • 2 breadboard
  • cables

Bottom part & folding platform:

  • Plastic folding platform or make it your own
  • 6 wooden boards:
  • 1 wooden board of 69,3cm x 23,5cm
  • 2 wooden boards of 69,3cm x 7,7cm
  • 2 wooden boards of 19,5cm x 7,7cm
  • 6 wooden slats:
  • 2 wooden slats of 70cm
  • 2 wooden slats of 53,2cm
  • 1 wooden slat of 64,7cm
  • 1 wooden slat of 59cm (weight sensor)
  • 1 thin wooden board of 23cm x 11,5cm

Tools:

  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Saw
  • A lot of screws
  • Metal to connect the servo to the wood

The Folding Platform & Frame

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Materials:

  • I recycled a folding platform that I had at home. You can also buy one yourself online or make one yourself. You will need 4 plastic plates, 1 for the bottom and 3 that can fold.
  • 5 wooden slats
  • Screws
  • Metal to connect the servo to the wood

Steps:

1) Make your own folding platform or buy one.

2) Make a frame with the slats for the folding platform. Attach the 4 slats to each other to create a squared frame and add the one slat of 64,7cm long in de middle of the length of the frame (where your bottom folding plate comes).

3) Attache all 4 servos on the sides of the frame where the plastic folds. Attach 2 servos on the middle slat, also where the plastic folds. Make sure that all the servos twist in the correct direction.

The Bottom Part

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Materials:

  • Screws
  • 5 wooden boards:
  • 1 wooden board of 69,3cm x 23,5cm
  • 2 wooden boards of 69,3cm x 7,7cm
  • 2 wooden boards of 19,5cm x 7,7cm

Steps:

1) Attach the 2 wooden boards of 69,3cm x 7,7cm in length on the 1 wooden board of 69,3cm x 23,5cm.

2) Do the same for the other 2 wooden boards of 19,5cm x 7,7cm in the width.

Weight Sensor

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Materials:

  • The weight sensor
  • Some wood
  • 1 wooden slat of 59cm

Steps:

1) Make an increase with some wood(7,2cm height) to attach the bottom part of the weight sensor to the bottom of the box with the increase.

3) We will attach a slat on top of the weight sensor. Make sure, there is some space between the edges of the bottom part and the slat attached to the weight sensor.

Display, Rfid & Button

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Materials:

  • 1 thin wooden board of 23cm x 11,5cm
  • Display
  • RFID reader
  • Button
  • Small screws

Steps:

1) Make a hole of 7cm x 3cm for the display.

2) Make a round hole of 1cm wide for the button.

3) Attach the display to the bottom of de wooden board.

4) Attach the display and the button in their place.

5) Attach the top of the RFID reader to the bottom of the wooden plate next to the display.

6) Make sure all the cables are already connected en attach the wooden board to the bottom part.

Attach Frame to Weight Sensor

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Materials:

  • The frame (step 1)
  • The bottom part with the weight sensor (step 3)
  • The humidity sensor

Steps:

1) Attache the frame in the middle to the slat on the weight sensor. Use nuts and screws to attach them, so it's easier to take it off later on or when you move it.

2) Attach the humidity sensor in de middle of the middle slat. You have to make a hole of 1,7cm x 2,1cm in the folding platform were the humidity sensor comes.

Schematics

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Materials:

  • Raspberry Pi 4
  • 5x Servomotors
  • DHT22
  • Weight sensor(1kg) + HX711
  • Power supply (5v)
  • 2 breadboards
  • Button

Steps:

1) Connect all the components to the breadboards as described above (or view pdf).

Placement of Electronics in the Bottom Part

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Materials:

  • The bottom part (step 2)
  • The electronics (step 3)

Steps:

1) Attach the electronica to the bottom part and make a hole in the back of the bottom part for the cables.

2) Connect everything to the breadboards and the Raspberry Pi.

Programming

All the code is on Github: click here

Folding Platform & Bottom

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Materials:

  • The folding platform
  • The bottom part

Steps:

1) Place the folding platform on top of the bottom part.

2) Attach every piece you connected to the servomotors to the folding platform. I made it with old antennas and copper.