[Rick], an Adafruit learning system contributor, is ecstatic by the implications of STEM’s reach into K-12 education. He was inspired to design Red Rover, a affordable robot that can be easily replicated by any individual with access to a 3-D printer.
This charming autonomous rover is based on the adafruit Trinket microcontroller, but will also rove under the power of an Arduino micro. It really is quite simple—the Trinket drives two continuous rotation micro servos and pretty much any flavor of rangefinder you like. [Rick] checked it with Parallax PING))), Maxbotix, and Grove sensors, and they all worked just fine.
What’s genuinely awesome about Red Rover are the track treads. [Rick] initially experimented with flexible filament. While he had good results, it was not a economical solution. What you see in the picture and the short video after the break are actually rubber bracelets from Oriental Trading.
The plastic part count comes in at seven, all of which can be printed together at once. [Rick]’s gallery includes both small and large chassis and three different servo mounts. The Red Rover guide builds on other adafruit guides for Trinket general use, servo modification, and Trinket-specific servo control.
Update: added [Rick]’s demo video after the break!
[thanks Phil]
