LEGO®

Features and Functions

Primary picture: a full view of F.I.D.O. As you can see, an Ultrasonic Sensor is placed between its eyes. This is how it recognizes objects in front of it. 2nd Image: This displays its main gears that operate and control all his movements. 3rd Image: In this picture, the tail is shown and how it is controlled through multiple gears. 4th Image: Here, the dog is shown, following (with the US Sensor) a a plastic ball. 5th Image: A bottom view of the entire dog.

Summary

While developing this dog, I had many ideas that were omitted and reconsidered due to the restrictions of the number of motors i have. Now, I wil explain each function in depth. 1) As you can see in the picture, the farthest motor from the front operates the front and back movement of the head. But because the head also moves sideways, a normal axle would break if it is directly connected to the head (because the motor that operates it is not directly built with the head). Therefore, I had to utilize a ball joint in order for the head to move front and back, and left and right. 2) The middle motor operates the turning of the dog's neck; it's very simple. There is nothing very complicated; just a worm gear that turns the turntable. 3) The third function is the tail-wagging movement. The motor is directly connected to a medium gear, which is connected to a small gear. The small gear is linked to a "clover" gear thus rotating the tail left and right.

Program and Video

Please excuse the fact that the programs are not the most advanced ones that the dog can perform like the ball following or human_interaction program, where the dog slowly develops as a new dog would in a new owner's home. In the program, the dog will evenually ultimately decide whether it likes you or dislikes you as an owner, and when the robots battery dies out, the dog "dies" :'( . This log does not support NXC, which is why I cannot upload these programs, but I will try to share it to you all one way or another. Please enjoy the video :) and Please rate and comment! ~nxtcreator6604 --------------------------------------- (The first program is the petting program; the second is the sleeping-FIDO program)