The Uranus Rover

Do you need a robot companion to leave toilet paper all over your home and/or apartment? Of course you do! Look no further. The Uranus Rover boldly goes where no man has gone before, leaving a trail of bath tissue to mark his territory.

By Harrison Hildebrandt and Peng-An Chen

Electronics:

• 1 x Arduino Mega (or equivalent)
• 1 x GY-521 Inertial Measurement Unit
• 2 x HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Sensors
• 2 x SG90 180 hobby servo motors
• 2 x 28BYJ-48 stepper motors
• 2 x ULN2003 stepper motor drivers
• 1 x center positive barrel jack
• 1 x 9v power source
• 1 x ~30mm x 45mm breadboard
• Lots of jumper cables to connect the components

Hardware:

• Lots of M3 socket head cap screws of various lengths
• 8 x M2 socket head cap screws
• 6 x M3 x 6mm x 4mm ball bearings
• Staples or equivalent diameter wire

Tools:

• 3D printer
• M3 tap
• Hex keys for M2 and M3
• Soldering iron
• Screw driver

Print all of the 3D printed components from the STLs provided in the following quantities:

• 1 x chassis
• 2 x axels
• 4 x legs
• 2 x motor hubs
• 2 x bearing idler hub
• 2 x driven linkages
• 2 x driving linkages
• 2 x ultrasonic hangers
• 4 x bearing spacers
• 4 x toilet paper roll tube cogs

• Tap M2 holes in chassis and driving linkage
• Tap M3 holes in axels, motor hubs, and ultrasonic sensor hangers
• Glue stepper arm into driving linkage
• Place steppers in motor hubs and fasten
• Fasten legs to motor hubs
• Fasten legs to axels
• Press bearings into bearing journals on both axels and idler hubs and seal them in by slightly melting the plastic around their rims with the soldering iron
• Assembly linkages with a washer between the driving and driven linkages
• Attach driven linkage to outermost axel bearing and tighten firmly
• Put ultrasonic sensor into the hanger and insert staples to fasten
• Attach chassis to axel with long M3 and bearing spacer and tighten firmly
• Repeat steps for both sides

• Mount servos to chassis with screws provided
• Mount Arduino to chassis as shown
• Mount stepper drivers to chassis as shown
• Remove adhesive cover from the back of breadboard and adhere to chassis
• Insert IMU into breadboard
• Glue barrel jack to chassis

Wire the electronics according to the Fritzing diagram and pictures

Make sure the following libraries are installed in your Arduino IDE and upload the attached code to the board

AccelStepper

MultiStepper

Servo

Wire

Insert the toilet roll tube cogs into the toilet roll tube in the orientation shown. The attach them to the stepper shaft. Insert the bearing spacer and tighten with an M3 bolt.

Your little guy is ready to rove! Just attach to a power source (this version still needs to be powered by a cable power source or a battery with enough current).

Disclaimer: This was our first revision of The Uranus Rover. There are still many improvements to be made. Build this expecting to have to troubleshoot and make improvements of your own!