Let's kick things off. For starters, I didn't design this project. We can extend a heartfelt thanks to Instructables.Com contributor "tanabata" for his excellent design and instructions. If you are interested, you can find the project here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Mechanized-Android-Figure/
I saw this project and knew that it was something that I wanted to attempt. It was just so darn cool. I already had an android figure, which was already pretty awesome, but who could turn down one that blinked and made beeping sounds! I couldn't. So I went ahead and purchased the parts to make it.
This particular project used an ATtiny44A chip, something that I hadn't used before, but I was pretty quickly able to utilize my existing programming board to program the chip. (This may be one of my favorite parts of doing these projects. That I can simply hook a chip up to a computer and flash some information to it just makes me super excited.)
Back to the android. Here you can see, the circuit with the speaker. My original intention was for that smaller circuit board to fit inside the android, as the more experienced author of this project had done. I used my dremel to cut the board down to size. And, a hint. Don't cut circuit boards inside and without proper ventilation. That stuff is dangerous to inhale and will give you a headache.
I think that one of the hardest parts was simply installing the servo in place in the body. I had to get some glue down in there and make sure that it was perfectly aligned. I took a very long time to complete this part. Mostly because I had no idea how I was going to fit all of those parts inside of the body. I just didn't have the skills to do it. I ultimately decided that I would put some parts inside, and then a sort of external house for the rest of the parts.
And, the final project, sans house.
Here is a video of the working Android.
And, here is the android at work, greeting my nohohum doll.
This was a really cool project, and I'm glad that I worked on it. Here you can clearly see the box that I used for the android guts.
My next project is a secret, but after that, it's going to be a plasma speaker.
I saw this project and knew that it was something that I wanted to attempt. It was just so darn cool. I already had an android figure, which was already pretty awesome, but who could turn down one that blinked and made beeping sounds! I couldn't. So I went ahead and purchased the parts to make it.
This particular project used an ATtiny44A chip, something that I hadn't used before, but I was pretty quickly able to utilize my existing programming board to program the chip. (This may be one of my favorite parts of doing these projects. That I can simply hook a chip up to a computer and flash some information to it just makes me super excited.)
This is a pretty decent shot of the schematics that I followed to build the android. At this point, I didn't have the servo installed, but I had most of the blinking lights up and running.
The next step would be to move from the breadboard to an actual circuit board. This part would be ridiculously difficult for me. I am decent at reading schematics, but only decent. There was a particularly trick section of the project that led me to solder the project up and then break it down many times. Finally, I decided to solder the thing piece by piece. It took longer, but in the end, it was worth it.
Then, in the middle of this project, my headphones broke and I needed to fix them.
Back to the android. Here you can see, the circuit with the speaker. My original intention was for that smaller circuit board to fit inside the android, as the more experienced author of this project had done. I used my dremel to cut the board down to size. And, a hint. Don't cut circuit boards inside and without proper ventilation. That stuff is dangerous to inhale and will give you a headache.
This is a video of the working "guts" of the project.
Once I finished the circuit board, it was time to start messing with the plastic android figure. One of many steps involved cutting holes in the head to allow me to install LED eyes for the figure. What I was left with, for a short period of time, was a very creepy eyeless head.
I think that one of the hardest parts was simply installing the servo in place in the body. I had to get some glue down in there and make sure that it was perfectly aligned. I took a very long time to complete this part. Mostly because I had no idea how I was going to fit all of those parts inside of the body. I just didn't have the skills to do it. I ultimately decided that I would put some parts inside, and then a sort of external house for the rest of the parts.
And, the final project, sans house.
Here is a video of the working Android.
And, here is the android at work, greeting my nohohum doll.
This was a really cool project, and I'm glad that I worked on it. Here you can clearly see the box that I used for the android guts.
My next project is a secret, but after that, it's going to be a plasma speaker.
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