I have been captivated by Mark Tilden's BEAM Robotics cult-like following and decided to join the many people that have built a BEAM-bot. My first BEAM project was a 1D Squirmer Head. For those of you that are not familiar with the BEAM movement, that may seem to be odd terminology.
Here are some links to help you learn more about BEAMing (if your interested):
Here are some pictures of my Squirmer Head:
Like all Squirmers, this BEAM-bot is stationary. The head is solar powered and requires no batteries. It's goal in life is to look for the Sun and track it. It has three basic parts:
- Motor that drives the head movement (this is the M (mechanical) of BEAM).
- Tilden H-Bridge motor controller that changes signals into directional movement (this is the E (electronic) of BEAM).
- Solar panel and light sensors to power from and look for light (this is the B (biological) of BEAM).
Here is the circuit I used to build my version of the head. The design is actually quite inefficient - this is not a smoke-less H-Bridge design, so if both photo transistors allow current to pass through them, the circuit is effectively shorted out through both sides of the H-Bridge. I have come up with a design that is smokeless and hope to be putting that into a new head soon.
Also, the A of BEAM stands for "aesthetics". I hope you find this BEAM head to be handsome. :) Here are some additional pictures.
Would you like to see this little guy in action? Check out this YouTube video of him tracking a lamp.
