In comparison to my first idea the way of walking changed a lot! Usually you lift your leg to step forward. But by experimenting I found this strange and beautiful way of walking through shifting.
Task: Walking on different inclinations
On flat surfaces it can walk quite well. On slightly inclinating surface it can walk, too. But somehow the power of the battery is filtered by the h-bridge. That means if I stick the battery directly to the air-screw the foot can even hold itself upside down. My robot can not walk vertikal.
Task: Modularity
In it's main structure modularitiy is implemented. But still the design has to be modified to become a real modular system.
Task: Way of assembling
Assembling my railbot is very easy and logic, by clicking the traverse onto the feet. and connecting the motors to the pcb pinheaders. Then closing the shell with clasps to the traverse. The Battery is located beneath the traverse and is very easy to exchange.
Task: Changing and individualizing
The pcb is designed with additional empty pinheaders. One couple of pinheader are connected to the pins which enables I2C (Master and Slave) functions. By this I can develop a chain of railbots to enable a snake like movement.
Further improvements
Next, I want to improve the power of the air-screws by
using more powerfull air-screws. They will need more powerfull batteries
or, trying to develop a pure c programm, to see if it is a Arduino based problem. Even though a pure C command is turning them on and off, it is possible that the other Arduino based commands for Servo and Sonsor are interfering.
by developing a self made h-bridge
by developing a more flexibel traverse.
I want to find out if it is possible to walk on the wall with just a small battery.
What have you learned Aleksandra?
Developing and producing products and mechanical details to get prototypes for mass production, finally, is a natural part of the profession of an industrial designer.
Completely new to me was developing the electronic part. I had nearly zero knowledge about electronics at all. I new about resonators and capacitors but without practical experiences they were abstract to me.
Same with embedded programming. It was always a wish for me to be able to program robots but I didn´t know how to start. It was like a huge mountain in front of me I would never made it. Now, I got a link to embedded programming and defintitely I will stick to it until I am able to program my chips in pure C what ever the robot has to perform.
Same with HTML and CSS. I never had contact with them. It was always part of 2D design and 2D design like grafic design is something I do not feel any ambitions. The experience of learning and writing html and css was amazing, too, for me. Especially every week finishing a documentation about an assignment helped me to get used to it like eating bread. I am not a specialist, yet, but I will stick to it like embedded programming.
Git: This is something I thought I will never be able to do - getting in touch with a low level of my computer. A Computer was always a closed book to me and I was a bit afraid of doing something wrong. Having Git in our weekly assignments disclose a secret and took away the uncomfortable feeling working with a machine I do not understand. I do not know how yet, but I want to go deeper into the architectural structure of my computer. Git was a real empowerment for me.
CNC Machines: I worked with cnc machines when I was a student, but these machines were only programmable directly by g-code. That was to abstract for me, because the parts to be produced had nothing to do with me or my interests - some massproduction metall elements. So, I have never learned it. During our assignment make something big I was milling my wooden chair and observing the g-code running down the screen. It was so fascinating, that I started to understand the importance of knowing what is going on behind the software surface. I am deeply interested in learning more about g-codes.
System integration: As an industrial designer I am used to work with system integration strategies but I wasn't able to do it consequently until the fabacademy. It is an amazing and wonderful experience to implement system integration from the very first idea until a finished electronic product\robot (not only a dummy or prototype). Something I have always dreamed of.