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R8-D8 - a distant relative of R2-D2

a 12cm radius, 3d printed R2-D2 with some motors, servos and blinky stuff that follows lines, persons or just drives around via bluetooth

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So far there is not much more to say than I started another project. I figured that I shouldn't hide all the stuff I'm working on, only because I'm leaving the other projects aside.

Since the project number is 3818 and the color scheme and size is different I thought I would rename him.

This little friend started with an IKEA bowl and an idea for a R2D2 years ago and now with 3D printing technology, the power of eBay and stuff I have collected over the years I will finally tackle this project.


Motors are from a "WowWee Roboreptile", they run on 6V

  • 1 × http://www.ikea.com/de/de/catalog/products/30081467/ B:ANDA BLANK serving bowl 12cm
  • 1 × 100pcs of 5mm bearing balls for the head mechanics
  • 1 × MG90S metal geared servo

  • 2 cell power bank

    davedarko06/18/2017 at 11:43 6 comments

    [2018-10-03] Turns out my schematics were bad and basically shortened one battery when in "use" setting. The after math: one LiPo is trash, as well as the charger. Today I've rebuild the charger with normal TP4056 modules, no protection and strictly followed the tutorial.


    [2017-06-18] next maker faire this thing needs to roll around and move the head and stuff. SO I needed a power bank. I wanted it to be a 2 cell battery, that is also balance charged. https://learn.adafruit.com/multi-cell-lipo-charging/fast-multi-cell-charger my schematics are a bit different, but the general concept is the same. Micro USB is all the rage to charge stuff, but mounting can be quite a challenge, so I went with a USB B plug. I've used two classic TP4056 modules with onboard protection (TE420) and a voltmeter. Bye bye weekend, but totally worth it! 

  • LED projector

    davedarko10/21/2015 at 11:14 4 comments

    I'm thinking of using a servo that turns a wheel with little pictures in it and put a little LED behind it.

  • taking him for a test spin

    davedarko05/23/2015 at 21:58 2 comments

    So 5V from one source seem to work just fine - a pcb might help correct loose wires an hot-glue mess ;)


    I designed 2 iterations of rolls for the front but finally bought one on eBay for 5 Euros.


  • some pictures of the misery

    davedarko02/18/2015 at 12:18 0 comments

    Here's R8 upside down on his neck, with the controller connected to the arduino and the motors over a Molex connector I harvested from my PSU build.

    A close up of the "flying wire" perfboard hot-glue mess. Yes, the power cable is twisted, but only the colors, since GND is on the first pin of the pin header.

    Quite helpful, a sheet of paper telling which pins from the arduino are connected to what or to what purpose.

  • It's not my month

    davedarko02/10/2015 at 23:17 16 comments

    So I was motivated to work on the L293D perfboard, and the motors were running for a bit, but then came, what frustrated me on the #Locomatrix - 3D POV - a different approach so much - the arduino browned out when the motors moved, even on my supposed to be strong PSU. Without a scope I can hardly tell if it is not working because of the noise of the motors, I will have to throw in some capacitors and hope I can reduce all that. Maybe I'll add a 5V gold-cap and a diode to the arduino, so I have some power left over that can't be stolen from the motors. There isn't a front wheel on R8 yet, so it wasn't that spectacular to film.

  • Bye bye bluetooth

    davedarko02/08/2015 at 19:29 0 comments

    I accidentally killed my HC-05 module, I can't receive or send anything, but connecting works - weird. Shopping time! I also scored 1000 M3X16mm screws for 11 euros - I don't think I will ever run out of screws on R8 again :D Still a frustrating weekend in terms of soldering and getting things done on R8, got nothing working, broke something and bought too much stuff.

  • Arduino mini motor shield

    davedarko02/07/2015 at 01:07 5 comments

    I started soldering the motor controller board for R8 today, and realized that I'm totally spoiled by designing and ordering boards from OSHPark. There are 2 other robotic projects I consider working on, that would also need a motor control at some point - the magical number 3 (boards) of ordering at OSHPark. There is the already infamous BB-8 / R0-T8, the rolling bot from the new star wars installment "Episode VII" for that I've ordered a 20cm plastic ball, matching the size of a 12cm dish. I can't believe that already know its both names. The third robot in need of a controller would be Emiglio, a not so little robot I scored on eBay. One gearbox is broken and pretty much all the electronics where not reusable.

    There are probably some open source robotic platforms I could try out, that work with arduinos, but I always end up doing my own stuff. I should at least push all my code, pcbs and 3D parts online. The shield I designed has the GVS feature that should allow for some easy servo installation and should be plug and play to the serial bluetooth dongle I bought at eBay. This makes it possible for some Android apps to control it.

    I hope I manage to power R8 by one of four 2750mAh LiPo cells I harvested from a broken macbook with a boost converter to 5V, but I have to measure the current of the motors and the arduino + bluetooth module to figure out if the boost converter will be able to give enough power. If not, I would have to use a second one in series and separate the power supplies for the controller vs. the motors.

    Is anyone of you using the rectifying diodes with the L293D? I've never seen them in a diagram/schematics before, so I was surprised checking the datasheet. Anyway, I've ordered those purple beauties. I know, I said I wouldn't order boards after midnight, but I've checked all the connections this time. A prototype is something I still have to solder though, since I want to see some progress with R8.

  • some updates

    davedarko02/02/2015 at 15:04 11 comments

    The latest project picture shows the new parts I've printed in yellow - the motor mount parts and the shoulder parts. Now that the motors are almost fixed, I'm so close to making a test drive, but the shoulders aren't fixed to the body yet so the legs twist themselves out. I have to wait for the 40mm M3 bolts. The middle leg needs to be designed and I want to have a basic bluetooth / arduino / L293D controller setup done, too.

    So hackaday.io stores pictures that were "deleted" - I "smell" a shitstorm coming up any day soon.

  • started with the legs today

    davedarko01/23/2015 at 20:21 0 comments

    Not sure how I will progress from there, but this is all a step by step, print small and go on theme. These parts are almost 20cms, so I print them one by one diagonally. The holes are for later stiffness by adding parts.

    [update] 3hours later - first leg is printed and came out just fine, check the new project picture :) second one just started and I hope there is enough plastic on the spool to get at least this part done and then I go for yellow. No Idea why I didn't go with white and blue in the first place.

  • new part(s)

    davedarko01/20/2015 at 21:17 0 comments

    With all the hassle with the firmware and recalibration of the zortrax done, I'm finally printing new parts. I had to reprint the 2nd wall again, that I was previously clamping down while printing. The leg holders where 2mm too short, so I had to tweak them and reprint them, too. In general I'm missing some connection points for future parts in my designs, I think I can work with acetone welding at one point but surely like screws and nuts more.

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Discussions

Craig Hissett wrote 10/19/2015 at 14:45 point

Ah, I love my RPis; I've never been mistreated too badly by them - problems are usually my fault ha ha. I have a PCDuino v1 that I can't for the life of my get an OS running on. I'd love to use that in a project like this; it would be awesome, runnning android on an android :-)
I'm following #Johnny IV with interest too mate, don't worry :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Craig Hissett wrote 10/19/2015 at 14:00 point

This guy is going to look awesome when he's up and running! Then the exciting part; the possibilites are endless!

I always dreamed of getting one of these printed, mounting an Raspberry Pi with Wifi, bluetooth, a mic and speaker system for voice control and feedback and everything, and a pico projector in the head, with a Pi controlling an on/off relay for the projector so it only outputs when Media is being played.

So much scope to play around with, and I can't wait to see what you do!

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 10/19/2015 at 14:34 point

... whenever my raspberrys win my trust back, I'll do that :D I'm focusing on #Johnny IV at the moment and also checking SD cards for corruption, but R8 is always looking at me. 

  Are you sure? yes | no

lukasz.iwaszkiewicz wrote 02/03/2015 at 20:32 point

Cool. Those yellow parts appear to be of great quality! What printer do you have? I envy you! :D

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 02/03/2015 at 20:57 point

It's a zortrax M200 - the prints are pretty awesome and the punctured printing bed is quite unique. For each object it will print a multilayered base which peels off in the most elegant way :) With some acetone/abs paste I've solved some warping issues I had.

Edit: it's not quite mine, it's from my work but I'm allowed to print on it and it is at my home... so.

  Are you sure? yes | no

lukasz.iwaszkiewicz wrote 02/03/2015 at 21:33 point

Envy x2! Maybe once I'll afford to buy one. But it seems to be in distant future :D Ultimaker looks promising. Or not?

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 02/03/2015 at 21:48 point

I think ultimaker, lulzbot and printrbot are probably all pretty good, now. The mendel and replicator printers should be fine, too. But it's also important which software you use and how you set it all up. Just don't buy those printers with DRM protected filaments. 3D printing gave me a tool I did not know I need that much, but it is awesome!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Eric Hertz wrote 01/24/2015 at 23:02 point

I'm digging the progress... Was hard for me to visualize when it was just a bowl, but now it's got a leg and a body, I can totally see it coming together. Awesome!

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 01/24/2015 at 23:15 point

Thanks :) I'm pushing hard to get some movements out, soon! Thanks for the skull, I'm following so many projects where I'm waiting for some updates to give a skull - and I think many hackers out here do the same, so I appreciate every early skull :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Eric Hertz wrote 01/25/2015 at 23:54 point

I think everyone views 'em differently... You gotta understand, I'm of an era when internet didn't even exist in schools, "social media" wasn't even a term, and "you tube" probably woulda been considered quite the insult... so the idea of skulls/likes is still a bit foreign to me. Actually, the first skull/crossbones I received, I was a bit insulted, I thought someone was suggesting I put a death to my project ;) I jest... a little. Nah, man, R8-D8 is really coming along, it's cool to watch the progress. Even if nary a microcontroller was to be installed, it looks great.

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 01/26/2015 at 09:56 point

You're 2 years older than me, don't talk yourself old ;) I'm from an era where it felt awesome to download a 3mb file in 15 minutes! And that was around 8th grade. The skull thing - being not a native speaker the uncanny thing passed by me.

  Are you sure? yes | no

glebite wrote 01/13/2015 at 12:14 point

I like it - the motor swivelling looks wonderfully smooth. Should be fun to see it moving around. You could have another robot that draws the lines and this one follows... ;)

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 01/13/2015 at 12:42 point

I think the dome sells it! otherwise it's just a servo moving a plate. I definitely need more robots - my flat is so boring :D

  Are you sure? yes | no

Adam Fabio wrote 01/13/2015 at 07:11 point

This is awesome! Love the progress you've made so far! Ok - but now that I know Ikea has these bowls, I'm going to have to buy a couple of sets. (One of the dangers of living in the same town as my local Ikea store... )

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 01/13/2015 at 07:42 point

thanks Adam :) at the moment it really is just a moving head, but I have a concept stage for the basics in my head.

Berlin has 4 IKEAs now and one is in a six station tram range - great for getting decoration stuff and hot dogs every once in a while :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

Stefan-Xp wrote 01/12/2015 at 00:10 point

Already amazed ;)

Nice job, keep it going ;)

  Are you sure? yes | no

davedarko wrote 01/13/2015 at 07:42 point

thanks, as always :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

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