Mousey/Junkbot

[dimm]

Hello guys,

I'm building a mousey/junkbot, and its my first robot.
I mounted it, checked the circuit twice (already saw the corrections made on the net), but I still have some problems.
When I press the touch switch the motors dont rotate backwards, they only stop for a moment. Also, the motors run normally, but when I put it on the ground they don't have enough force (torque?) to make the robot "run" (it completely stops when put on the ground).

What the h*** should I do?

[airman00]

pictures please

i have a feeling you are not using a geared motor

[Trumpkin]

Check your battery voltage.

[jamort]

well the swith could be wiring or programming as for the motors either motor size, power supply or as airmann said you need a gear box
 

[Admin]

In addition to the above comments . . . what is your wheel diameter? A smaller diameter will increase the torque.

[BEAMer]

please post the schematic... how are you controlling the motors? i mean, are you using a motor driver?

normally the motors that are used for micro mice are very small that are found inside old transistors and to use them the body should be extremely light. i think your body of the bot is pretty heavy. try putting geared motors and power them with a power supply with a decent current...

[dimm]

pictures please

i have a feeling you are not using a geared motor

These are example of the motors I'm using (they have their respective pairs, I just didn't put them in the picture). What do you mean by geared motor?

Check your battery voltage.

I'm using a 9v battery (a new one)

In addition to the above comments . . . what is your wheel diameter? A smaller diameter will increase the torque.

Hmm... I was using big wheels, gonna try smaller ones, thanks!




For those who dont know, this is how I'm doing it.


Mousey page: http://www.streettech.com/robotbook/mousey.html

[BEAMer]

A geared motor or a gearhead motor looks like this:
http://www.active-robots.com/products/motorsandwheels/solarbotics/gm18/gm18-750.jpg

Its similar to the motor that you are using but it has a set of gears at the shaft. the gears are used for increasing the torque and decreasing the speed (thats the law, can't change that ). if you attach a gear with more number of teeth compared to the shaft (say the number of teeth is twice as that in the shaft, then you get doubled the torque and half the speed).


1) But for your application the motors that you use is more than enough.

2) moreover you are using an audio power amplifier (LM386). it is used to increase the power to the motor. i feel that the power is not enough. i would recommend you to read the datasheet of this IC. they have given that you can increase the gain by attaching some resistor circuit between the pins 1 and 8. try doing those.

3) As admin said, try reducing the wheel size.

4) Try to decrease the weight of the body of the robot.

these are some of the tips that you can try to improve the bots performance.

[BEAMer]

hey one more thing.

you said that when you push the bump switch the bot has to move in the opposite direction, but it stops! Am i right?

so i think the problem lies in the single pole double throw relay that you are using. Check the relay if its working properly. if not check your relay connections because the relay that you are using might be different from the one shown in the schematic. i think that should solve the problem.