ELEGOO: Tumbller Self-Balancing Robot Car Assembly and Functional Demonstration
Welcome back to another exciting blog on the Elegoo Tumbller Self-Balancing Robot Car. The components necessary to physically build this robot finally arrived and I was so excited to build and play with this robot that I erected it on the first day it arrived. As mentioned before this Tumbller is a smart self-balancing robot designed by ELEGOO which has has multiple functions and offers a good hands on engineering experience. In the last blog post I was tasked to translate the robot’s design to CAD where I could get a good feel for whats to come and what came was extremely cool (it’s probably lame to say cool nowadays but hey).
The robot came as a DIY kit so as expected I got the enjoyment of assembling it and creating add-ons to allow the robot preform specialised tasks, the add-on created was a mechanical attachment for stabilising the robot but for purposes of this blog-post this attachment has been left out. The brains behind the robot is based on an Arduino which further aids my ability to modify its function via Arduino IDE programming. It is my opinion that experiential learning (the process of learning through hands on experience) is exceptionally important to an engineering degree and in particular a design module such as the one this robot build is for. Coming to grasps with all the components such as the ultrasonic sensor and GY-521 Module and how they interact with each other within the system was eye opening for me as an engineer and I’d defiantly recommend this kit to anyone with an interest in design or anything related.
The Tumbller Robot comes with a very comprehensive assembly tutorial booklet with aid of illustrations, which shows you how to assemble the kit step by step. This assembly booklet can be found online and downloaded at: https://www.elegoo.com/blogs/arduino-projects/elegoo-tumbller-self-balancing-robot-car-tutorial…..or you could buy the kit and the booklet comes included. Upon opening the kit I went through the materials list and cross checked it with the physical components in the box to make sure I had everything I needed and that no components were damaged during shipping. Not surprisingly all components were present and appeared to be in brand new condition….not only were they all present but the different components were placed in seperate small baggies labelled as they appear in the assembly booklet. This made assembly very efficient, simplistic (simplistic doesn’t mean simple) and enjoyable as a result.
Assembly Time
- Assemble the Motor Bracket.
For this part the easily recognisable blue aluminium alloy board, 2 motor brackets and eight M3*6 Pan head machine screws were assembled as seen below via a Phillips head screwdriver which came included in the kit.
2. Assemble the motor.
The two motors were attached to the assmebly above via eight M3*5 countersunk screws. Careful attention was given to the installation location of the motor axle in order to properly install the motors.
3. Assemble the tires.
The 2 coupling components were used to attach the tires to the motor. Six M4*6 round head phillips screws were used to complete this task. I made sure that the screw on coupling aligned with the cross-section of the motor shaft as instructed.
4. Assemble the foothold.
The acrylic plate was secured below the base platform of the robot via two M3*11 Double-pass copper columns and four M3*6 Pan head machine screws. The instructions indicated to remove the protective film on the acrylic plate but I decided against this as I felt this would add a layer of protection when I attach my add-ons to this or put abrasive materials on the foothold.
5. Assemble the circuit board.
This step required one M3*11 Double-pass copper column, two M3*5 countersunk screws, a 1XGY-521 Module and the expansion board with the 1XTB6612FNG Module and NANO preinstalled.
The 1XGY-521 module is a breakout board that features a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis accelerometer and a digital motion processor (DMP)…all of which aid this robot to self-balance on two wheels!!! Pretty Neat if you ask me.
6. Attach the Circuit Board and Ultrasonic Sensor.
The circuit board was attached to the assembly via four M3*11 Double-pass copper column and eight M3*6 Pan head machine screws…this allows the board to be elevated from the base platform of the robot.
The Ultrasonic Sensor was attached to the circuit board. The ultrasonic sensor is a device that can generate or sense ultrasound energy. Ultrasound can be used to make point-to-point distance measurements by transmitting and receiving discrete bursts of ultrasound between transducers….this is how the robot detects distances from obstacles ahead.
7. Assemble the battery box.
The battery box which contains a lithium battery inside was easily installed to the assembly. The battery box boasts a power switch, status indicator (lights in green when charging and turned off once fully charged) and USB charging interface. I charged the batteries fully before using as stated by the booklet.
8. Wiring the Motor and finishing up assembly.
Above the battery a new platform was attached via the same means as creating new platforms before… the use of different heights of Double-Passed copper cylinders and screws.
Two 6P Cables were used to connect the ports located on the circuit board to the motor ports. The left port on the mainboard was connected to the left motor and visa versa with the right side. It is stated in the booklet that the direction of the motor’s port has no effect on the function and this is intuitive but I assembled it identically as pictured in the assembly booklet to avoid confusion.
9. Admiring the beauty you created and let out a sigh.
Arguably the most important step…. enough said.
Functional Demonstration
This can be seen over on my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNn39PmggXJ/
To deliver a functional demonstration of the robot assembly I decided to show off some of it featured modes. The robot can be seen turned on and then the robot enters bounce mode where it will stand up instantly by itself and keep balance…..to put it’s self-balancing capabilities under testing I decided to put a lob sided plant pot on top and it was up for the test because the robot stayed upright while holding the plant pot on its top platform….very impressive! I then decided to check out its bluetooth connectivity by connecting it to my phone via the Elegoo app. I preformed the obstacle avoidance mode where the Tumbller will avoid obstacles automatically if there is an obstacle within 0–50cm in front….it did this with flying colours in the arena I set up for it.
Overall the assembly and functional demonstration was a success. Stay tuned for more design related content…in particular an obstacle course that this little robot dude will need to navigate. Ohhhhh exciting stuff!
Peace and Love,
Michael.
