As Matt Vella factors out, Nineteen Eighties popular culture prominently featured the mixing of robots with people — Star Wars, Brief Circuit, Transformers, the checklist goes on. Naturally there have been quite a few makes an attempt to make this robotic future into the robotic now, or a minimum of to create toys that had been an affordable facsimile of the R2D2/Johnny 5s (is alive) portrayed within the films.
One attention-grabbing tackle this robotic future was the Tomy Ominbot 2000, which was actually extra of an RC automobile/cassette participant/walkie-talkie/alarm clock than what one would possibly consider as a real robotic. Nonetheless, it’s a reasonably iconic design, and after getting ahold of 1 in an “as-is, non-working” state, Vella and crew set to work turning it into one thing even higher than the unique — the Omnibot MAIV (Modernized with AI and Viam) — utilizing a Raspberry Pi 4B and the Viam robotics/sensible machines platform.
The steps on this construct are outlined in some element in Vella’s write-up, although should you strive one thing related your self the small print will definitely fluctuate. The crux of the operation is that the Raspberry Pi was inserted into the bot because the central controller, which is then capable of command the driving DC motors in a regular differential/tank steering configuration by way of an L298N motor driver board.
The top has a DC motor for rotation, which can also be managed by the Pi and one other L298. The inventory eyes are changed with a pair of LEDs, giving the robotic a bit extra persona with a presumably decrease present draw than the inventory bulbs. A webcam may very well be added for ML/distant management functions, and the appropriate arm — which sooner or later was powered, however not restored/enhanced on this undertaking — is also made to work.
Whereas it’d look like a disgrace to change this sort of classic {hardware}, it was already in a non-functional state. With newer {hardware} and software program methodologies, older {hardware} like this may probably be made to extra carefully mimic its supreme as a robotic companion/helper!