The Robot Shop
 | The basic solar engine schematic. The solar cell charges the capacitor until the voltage reaches a level high enough to trigger the flashing LED which dumps the charge through the motor. |
 | This is a Magbot made with a focusing mechanism from a trashed CD player.These "focusers" are a small magnet/coil assembly that works great with solar engines. The small solar cells on the tail of the 'bot supply about .4 volts each but are hooked up in series to produce the neccessary voltage for the solar engine. The wings are made from a piece of reflective vinyl with an old circuit board glued on. When the engine fires, the 'bot shakes. |
 | This is my first attempt at a solaroller. It uses a 2200 Mf cap and kicks the motor over about once a second in strong sunlight. It putts along pretty good but can get stuck on really small obstacles. |
 | This is a two-legged walker made from a wind-up robot toy. It's powered by the same solar engine used in the roller. It walks but it's stride is only about an eighth of an inch and the worm gear that drives the legs gets jammed sometimes. It DOES look cool, though. |
 | This is a Magbot. It uses the solar engine to send pulses of electrcity through a coil. This creates a magnetic field and can repulse or attract a powerful magnet placed under it. When this planes engine fires, it's nose lifts. The plane is not attached to the base. It balances on a pivot point near the rear. |
 | Another Magbot. This one was built using the focusing mechanism of a trashed CD player for the coil/magnet assembly. A spring was glued from the moving coil to a butterfly shape. The butterfly was made by printing a piece of clip art onto a transparency using a color printer. When the solar engine fires, the spring moves and the butterfly "jumps". |
 | This is the smallest solar engine that I've built. It uses surface-mount transistors and resistors on a board that I designed and etched myself. It only needs to be combined with a solar cell, motor and a capacitor. For the circuit board pattern, click here. |
 | This is the first 'bot that I built back in the late '80s. The Omni Photovore. The 'vore is built around the "guts" of a cheap toy car from Radio Shack. This robot will seek out light using it's two side-mounted photocells and run away from shadows that cover it's forward- mounted photocell. Plans for this 'bot are available at Johuco ltd. and include a wealth of information on artificial neurons, robotic behaviors, etc. Highly recommended and lots of fun!. |
 | Another Johuco 'bot, the Muramator (wall lover). This 'bot has an infra-red emitting diode and I.R. detector at the front of the circuit board that it uses for obstacle sensing. If an obstacle is detected the Muramator stops and backs up, turning to the left as it reverses. This 'bot is fun to watch as it zooms forward, screeches to a halt, spins around and takes off in another direction. Muramator has a second level of "intelligence"- a timer that tells it when it has gone too long without sensing an obstacle. When this is active, the 'bot will change from avoiding walls to searching for them. Fun little 'bot to build and play- erm, do research with. |
 | Another view of Muramator. |
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