How to make milk carton robot with a Microcontroller No.1

I will introduce how to make a robot with a micro controller using a milk pack from now on.Here we will explain how to make.

Number 2 page explains how you can modify the program to make your own robot.

Milk carton robot kit is sold here.

It's perfect for study on vacation, so try it.

What to prepare

・Milk carton
・cutter
・Thin Phillips screwdriver
・awl
・Scotch tape
・4 AA batteries

We recommend a 1 liter milk carton. Can be made from a 500ml milk carton.
The battery can be a manganese, alkaline or rechargeable battery, but we recommend using an alkaline or rechargeable battery.

Paint on milk carton

Draw on the milk carton. You can paint with white paint or water-based paint and then paint, or decorate with origami or masking tape.

Make a hole

Cut alignment seal

Cut the alignment sticker included in the kit into four parts. This seal is used for drilling holes for servo motors and for drilling holes for LED.

Paste the alignment sticker

Attach a sticker with a round picture to the position of the LED eyes.

Place a sticker with a cutter pattern on the left and right sides of the milk pack where you want to attach the arm.

Make a hole

Eye LED Hole

Drill a hole in the center of the circle using an awl.

Open it wide enough to hide the round line on the seal.

Remove the seal.

Arm servo motor hole

Cut along the line of the seal on the left and right sides of the milk pack with a cutter. Milk packs are a little hard, so be careful not to cut your hands.

Remove the seal.

Motor wiring holes

Make two holes, about the size of your eyes, at the bottom corner of the milk pack, on the face .

The back door.

Make the door on the back side of the milk carton.

As shown in the red line in the figure above, cut about 1 cm inside the milk pack from below the hole on the face with a cutter.

Installation of parts

Eye LED

Preparation for wiring

The jumper wire is divided into four sets of brown, red, orange, and yellow, and four sets of green, blue, purple, and gray.Please split it like a video.

Connect the LED

Insert the LED foot into the jumper wire socket. Here, the color of the jumper wire and the orientation of the LED feet are important.

Place the jumper wires from left to right as shown in the photo. Gray, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, brown. Next, make sure that the longest leg of the LED is the second from the left.

Insert the LED foot into the socket in that orientation. Please insert firmly.

Wrap it around the socket and LED feet with cellophane tape to secure the LED.

Fixed in eyes holes

Bend the LED at right angles in the direction of the photo so that the color of the jumper wire is yellow, then red, then brown, from left.

Open the rear door of the milk pack and insert the LED into the right hole. Secure with cellophane tape to prevent peeling.

Similarly, bend the LED as shown in the picture, with the jumper wires starting from the left in the order of gray, purple, blue, and green.

Insert the LED into the left hole and fix it with cellophane tape.

Attach the servo motor to swing your arm

Use your finger to push out the hole for the servo motor on the side surface, which has been cut with a cutter.

Pass the servo motor wiring through the hole.

Insert the servo motor into the hole so that the white gear is on top.

Inside the milk pack, the paper of the milk pack and the servomotor are fixed with cellophane tape.

Similarly, insert the other servo motor into the hole and fix it with tape.

Installing the motor

Insert tires into motor

As shown in the picture above, place the motor so that the double-sided tape faces the front and the cable is inside. Tires are connected to both sides.

If the shape of the motor shaft does not match the shape of the tire shaft, it cannot be inserted. Insert the tires so that the axes match each other.

It is quite hard and needs some power.

Paste on the bottom

Attach the motor to the bottom of the milk in the direction of the photo.

Attach the corners of the motor and the milk pack so that the tires do not rub against the milk pack.

Pass the motor wiring through the hole drilled in the bottom.

Installation of auxiliary wheels

Remove the double-sided tape on the white tire.

Paste under the center of the face as shown in the photo.

Component installation completed

This completes the component installation. You can now stand as shown in the picture.

Connection with main board

Insert batteries

Set the battery on the back of the main board. Please pay attention to the direction.

Connect servo motor

The left servo motor plugs into the leftmost connector. The right servomotor plugs into the rightmost connector. The color order is orange, red, and brown from the left.

LED connection

The left LED connects to the left connector, and the right LED connects to the right connector. The color order is gray, purple, blue, and green, and yellow, orange, red, and brown from the left.

Motor connection

The left motor plugs into the left front connector, and the right motor plugs into the right front connector.

Insert main board

Push the main board into the milk carton.

Let's try it

The program that moves the robot is already written in the microcomputer. Let's try it out to see if it works.

Connect the remote control and cable

Connect the cable to the connector on the remote control.

Turn on the power

The power is automatically turned on when the connector of the cable of the remote control is inserted into the main board. The LED next to the connector is white, and the LED at the back of the board glows green.

If the green LED on the back lights up, the program is working properly. If the green LED in the back is not lit, unplug and plug in the connector and restart the microcomputer.