DIY Robotic Toys

Hello again guys.

In this project I will show you how to convert a simple 10$ wooden or plastic robot in a robotic toy with two arms (with one degree of freedom), a waist (with one degree of freedom) and a nice 8 led ring placed over a programmable robot car directed by a joystick.

It is a nice and affordable project to introduce robotic basics to our kids.

I hope you like it.

1. Wooden or plastic robot
2. Programmable robot car: CuteBot Pro
3. Joystick: Josystickbit
4. Led ring: 8 RGB Led Ring
5. 2 Micro:Bits
6. 3 servo motors
7. Hot silicone gun

1. Glue the robot legs to the servo waist.
2. Glue one of the servo adapter to the robot chest.

1. Glue the plastic adapter of the servo to the arms

1. Glue the servos of both arms in the chest as you can see in the image
2. Place the arms

1. The led ring will change randomly the colour every 500 ms

1. Connect the waist servo to the S1 input in the CuteBot Pro
2. Connect the left arm servo to the S2 input in the CuteBot Pro
3. Connect the right arm servo to the S3 input in the CuteBot Pro
4. Connect the led ring to the P14 input in the CuteBot Pro

To programm the robot car I have used a Micro:Bit and Microsoft MakeCode with the right extension: "Cutebot Pro".

The code of the Micro:bit basically is listening the signals of the joystick to move the robot car and the robot servos.

You can download the code from here

To program the joystick I have used a Micro:Bit and, again, Microsoft MakeCode with the right extension: "Joystickbit".

The code sends to the Micro:Bit of the robot car the signals to control it:

1. "E", "D" to control the left arm movement
2. "J", "K" to control the right arm movement ("A", "B" buttons in the Micro:Bit)
3. "C", "F" to control the waist movement
4. "X", "Y" to control the car movement

You can download the code from here