This means that a lot of instructions will be just textual, and are only directional. Unfortunately I was not taking pictures of every step while building the Scarab. If Scarab cannot move, either because of some serious obstacle or low batteries, all three lights will blink with a slight relative delay (running lights).įor mobile users: the 'promotional video' of this project is on YouTube here. This also resets the direction Scarab is trying to maintain. If Scarab is turned upside down, it stops and re-starts the calibration process. If Scarab is moved or shaken during calibration, a red light starts blinking, and the calibration process restarts. When Scarab is calibrating gyro, a yellow light is blinking. It has to be absolutely still, and on a horizontal surface.

When Scarab is powered up, it needs to calibrate the gyro. Back off a little, then execute dance #1 (random) - this is just a little more engaged than #1 dance.Then try go in the direction of measurement with the highest distance to the obstacle. Stop and measure distance to the obstacle at 30 degrees to the right and at 30 degrees to the left.Then attempt to move in the original direction. Randomly turn right or left by 90 degrees and walk in that direction for 5 seconds.Currently scarab performs 3 different dances, which he chooses randomly in front of each obstacle: Some of the dance moves are just for fun and show-off. A dance is a sequence of movements Scarab performs to help it decide how to go around an obstacle. When scarab detects an obstacle, it performs a ' dance'. (A black teddy-bear is still somewhat a challenge for this Scarab.) IR sensor does not detect black objects.Ultrasound sensor does not detect soft objects (e.g., a teddy bear).The decision to have two sensors for obstacle detection comes from the fact that each of the sensors have its limitations: Since Scarab has Arduino Nano on board, it could be programmed to performed variety of actions, including serving as a physical platform for executing programmable steps in the equivalent of the Logo programming language. Flash LEDs, point the direction with a laser beam.Detect being upside-down or on the side.

The robot should be able to do a lot of things.

The Idea: To build a programmable robotic spider based on Hexbug Scarab, equipped with the following sensor suite:

Download hex bug tarantula