Building the new Pybricks StarterBot
Added 2024-07-11 11:51:45 +0000 UTCBuilding a vehicle robot is a great way to get familiar with robotics and coding. As part of the upcoming guide to learning robotics and programming with Pybricks, I'll add instructions for such a robot for SPIKE, MINDSTORMS, Technic, City, and BOOST.
I just completed the design and the instructions for the SPIKE Prime edition! You’ll start by building a drive base and you’ll add various sensor attachments along the way.
This robot makes creative use of the SPIKE Prime left and right buttons to create working bumpers that can independently detect obstacles in its path. This provides lots of interesting learning opportunities, such as monitoring multiple sensors at the same time.
Building the base
This sturdy base consists of just the hub and two motors. Each motor drives a wheel and a ball caster in the back is used for support. You can use this drive base throughout chapters 3 and 4 to learn the basics of programming and robot navigation.
Adding the distance sensor
The Ultrasonic Sensor measures distance. You’ll use it to learn the essentials of working with sensors.
Adding the color sensor and bumpers
This attachment includes the Color Sensor for line following and line squaring. It also has two bumpers that press the left and right buttons on the hub when the robot runs into an obstacle.
