To modern man It can be difficult to keep your home clean. However, technology has come a long way; Robotic vacuum cleaners have appeared that clean the apartment independently. They cost a lot cash, but you can try to create such a device yourself.
Features of making a robot vacuum cleaner at home
To make it, you need at least amateur skills, because the process of making a robot vacuum cleaner requires time and patience. But a ready-made device will help you save money first, and then time and effort spent on cleaning.
Theoretical aspects
To successfully make a robot vacuum cleaner with your own hands, you need to understand the essence of its work from the inside. Let's look at a few rules, the observance of which will ensure the correct functioning of the equipment:
- The robot must have the shape of a washer or disk for the correct movement;
- The wheels are placed along the diameter of the vacuum cleaner so that it can make turns;
- The center of gravity is most optimal on the wheels, but can also be close to them;
- The average speed of the device is 25–35 cm/sec;
- A contact bumper measuring at least 0.5 from the circumference is a mandatory component of a robot vacuum cleaner;
- Charger homemade robots must be carried out from charger, there is no need to disassemble the device;
- Dust and debris should be collected in a separate container that can be removed and cleaned.
How to make a drawing
Modern Internet resources allow you to assemble a robot vacuum cleaner without drawings or other diagrams. However, in order for you to understand the structure of the apparatus, we advise you to draw up such a drawing in order to visualize internal structure. The fact is that choosing parts for a robot is easier than correctly arranging them inside. Let us present you with an approximate drawing of the future miracle of technology:
Advice! Mark on the drawing all the components of the future vacuum cleaner and their approximate dimensions. Use arrows to indicate the direction of air and dust particle suction. Visibility is one of the steps to the success of a future assembly.
To draw up a diagram, let's decide what components will be needed in the work:
- The Arduino board is the “brain” of the future robot;
- Turbine from an old vacuum cleaner;
- Engine small size(you can take an old computer cooler);
- Rangefinders - 2 pieces;
- Wheels (preferably 2 regular and 1 swivel), motors with gearboxes;
- Controller (for engine);
- 3 lithium batteries;
- Charge controller;
- Wires;
- Thick cardboard.
Important! If you can’t find an old turbine, you can make it yourself from thick cardboard. The diagram is attached.
Features of the assembly
When assembling a robot vacuum cleaner with your own hands at home, start by organizing the power supply. To do this, charge the batteries using the controller. Next, you need to create control of the device’s drive motors. It is best to use a module on an L298 type chip. To adjust the speed, you need to apply a PWM signal to the ENA or ENB pin. To change the direction of rotation, apply opposite signals to IN1 and IN2 for one motor, and to IN2 and IN3 for the second motor.
Then the motor needs to be connected to the Arduino. Make a circle out of cardboard, then attach wheels to it (calculate the diameter for the “filling” - about 30–35 cm). Use regular wheels on both sides, but with bevel gears, and between them at the back there is a turning wheel for maneuverability.
Mount all the electronics and the vacuum cleaner unit onto the manufactured base. We attach rangefinders to the front.
The next step is to build a turbine, so we remove the blades of the computer cooler and glue a turbine from an old vacuum cleaner into it with hot glue. Secure it exactly in the center: we don't want any imbalance.
You can build the side walls of the vacuum cleaner yourself. The main thing, do not forget: it must have a cylindrical shape.
Testing the device
After assembling the vacuum cleaner, be sure to check its operation. He will have to fulfill next steps: drive forward to an obstacle. If an obstacle is encountered on the way, the robot moves back, makes a U-turn at an uncertain angle and goes in that direction. And also do not forget to check the suction power of the device. If everything works, you have successfully completed the task!
- Try assembling a robot platform from plywood. You can also use a small disc-shaped plastic basin or container.
- When choosing wheels, do not choose too large ones, otherwise your robot will drive at too high a speed.
- If you want to improve your vacuum cleaner, attach two brushes to the front that will push debris into the dustbin.
- Instead of rangefinders, you can use a system of bumpers connected to limit switches.
In the modern pace of life, it is not always possible to keep the house clean. It will help in this matter modern technologies. The robot vacuum cleaner appeared more than 15 years ago. Its typical appearance resembles a large puck that moves around the room according to a given algorithm or randomly (until it hits something) and collects garbage. We invite you to study 2 step-by-step instructions to make a robot vacuum cleaner with your own hands.
Assembly materials
So, to assemble a robot vacuum cleaner you need to understand its components, let's go in order. It must move around the room on its own, so motors are needed, depending on the final design there should be from 2 to 4 of them, as well as the ability to switch the direction of rotation and speed, which means a board is needed to control the motors. If you are using DC motors, then you need a board with 4 transistors (H-bridge).
A homemade robot vacuum cleaner must detect collisions with walls and furniture. To do this, you need to provide obstacle sensors and limit switches on the “bumper”. You also need the working part itself – a vacuum cleaner. However, it must be designed to operate on low voltage direct current (for example, 12V).
In addition to a vacuum cleaner, you need a movable (rotating) brush that will clean the surface, lift the pile of the rug, and sweep away debris. For this you need one or two more motors.
A system that will manage all this. The simplest option on Arduino. Any of the boards is suitable for this task; the size is convenient to accommodate the Nano or Pro mini option.
Idea No. 1: robot vacuum cleaner made of cardboard
The base of the robot is made of thick cardboard. It is better to glue it in a couple of layers, and place the fibers perpendicularly. For its technical filling you need the following set of parts:
- Any Arduino board.
- Breadboard or simple development board, in principle, you can do it without it, just solder everything together.
- 2 ultrasonic distance sensors (range finder).
- Turbine from a vacuum cleaner.
- A small engine or cooler from a computer.
- Motors with gearboxes and wheels.
- Controller for motor.
- Wires for circuit connections.
- Batteries and charge controller.
The robot must be powered by 3 lithium batteries. The voltage of each of them is 3.7 V. A controller is needed to charge them. For example, like the one in the photo:
To control the robot drive motors, it is convenient to use a module based on the L298 chip. Circuit design is an H-bridge; you can assemble it yourself from individual components, but it will be safer to buy a ready-made board. With it, you can set the speed of the robot vacuum cleaner and change the direction of rotation.
To adjust the speed, a PWM signal is supplied to the ENA or ENB pin, and to set the direction of rotation, opposite signals are supplied to IN1 and IN2 for one motor and IN3, IN4 for another motor. Moreover, if we have a logical one on the IN1 pin, and a logical zero on the IN2 pin, the motor rotates in one direction, to change the direction you need to swap 1 with 0. It needs to be assembled with the Arduino according to this circuit (you can use any pins, this you indicate in the sketch).
Here's a view from the bottom. Two drive wheels with bevel gear and a swivel wheel:
Now you need to assemble a circuit that is mounted on the base. The diameter of the base should be about 30 cm so that both the electronics and the vacuum cleaner unit itself fit in there.
Instead of rangefinders, you can use an option with bumpers that are connected to limit switches. When colliding with an obstacle, the control system will give a signal to change the direction of movement.
You can make contact bumpers with your own hands; for this you need a thin but rigid wire, for example from a twisted pair. To do this, forms a contact pad on inside bumper made of foil, and secure the conductor as shown below. When the robot vacuum cleaner collides with furniture and walls, they will come into contact. All you have to do is adjust the distance from the wire to the foil to achieve the desired sensitivity and eliminate false positives. 5V is supplied to the foil, and the wire goes to the Arduino input, pulled to negative through a several kOhm resistor.
The device is powered by batteries; linear stabilizers such as l7805 can be used to power the control system. To adjust the rotation speed of the motors, a step-down converter, for example LM2596, is suitable.
The most difficult thing is to design and assemble a vacuum cleaner. Here is its approximate drawing:
We break off the original blades from the cooler and attach the turbine from the vacuum cleaner to its rotor. It is important to mount the turbine exactly in the center, otherwise you will get imbalance and vibration.
This is what the reverse side of the turbine mounted on the cooler rotor looks like. You can attach it with hot glue or superglue.
That's all step by step instructions on assembling a robot vacuum cleaner made from scrap materials. The algorithm of its operation is as follows: the robot vacuum cleaner moves forward until it encounters an obstacle. After a collision (or approach, if you use ultrasonic rangefinders), it stops, drives back a specified distance, turns at an arbitrary angle and moves on.
Idea No. 2: almost a factory robot
We bring to your attention no more complex project robot vacuum cleaner. Here is what it looks like when assembled:
The navigation system in it is assembled from a set of 6 IR obstacle sensors. In case none of them work, two contact sensors (limit switches) are provided. Motor control system based on the same driver with L298N chip. To assemble it you will need:
- Arduino board, the original used Pro-mini.
- USB-TTL adapter for flashing this Arduino model. If you use Arduino Nano, then it is not needed, because It has the ability to flash firmware via USB.
- Driver for L298N motors.
- Motors for wheels with gearbox.
- 6 IR sensors.
- Motors for the turbine (more powerful if possible).
- Vacuum cleaner turbine impeller.
- Motors for brushes can be anything.
- 2 collision sensors.
Collect all this according to this scheme:
To assemble the power circuit of the robot vacuum cleaner you need:
- 4 lithium batteries, suitable for 18650 type.
- 2 converters DC voltage(up and down).
- Controller for charging and discharging 2 batteries (search the Internet for 2s li-ion controller). The circuit uses the sequential connection of two parallel-connected cans, as a result, their output voltage is more than 7.4V, and a parallel chain is needed to increase the capacity and autonomy of operation.
Here is the power supply diagram for this robot:
In addition, you need plastic (PVC) or any other material for the robot body; you can print it on a 3D printer, if you have such an opportunity.
For the homemade product to work, you need firmware, here is an example of a chaotic cleaning algorithm, we took it from the network. Sketch download link: .
This article examined 2 designs of a robot vacuum cleaner that can be repeated and assembled with your own hands. Do automatic tool To clean the room, you can invest in a budget of 30 to 100 dollars. The most expensive parts are batteries, motors and Arduino boards. If you managed to collect homemade robot vacuum cleaner or you have come up with a different design, send examples in the comments, we will be glad to open communication!
Science Vetal
Shows how to make a robot vacuum cleaner. It automatically avoids obstacles and vacuums, while collecting pieces of paper and crumbs of various origins.
You need a standard set for an arduino machine. We take one arduino uno, l298n motor driver, proximity sensor, old fan and computer system unit. First, I took a thick corrugated cardboard, tore out a picture of a circle, installed a fan, size. Started cutting. The size of the octagon should be slightly smaller than the fan. Then I took the fan and tried to insert it into the hole. I thought the outline would stretch a little. But that didn't happen. I trimmed it a little and only after that I was able to install the fan. The height of the fan above the table should be small, about 0.5 cm. Only then will it suck up dust well. Then I installed the engines and glued everything in place using hot glue. Including a fan. It needs to be glued after the motors are installed in order to see the required height. Practice has shown that debris will be sucked in well if the height above the table is from 0.5 to 1 cm. Then I started installing another wheel so that the system would stand on three wheels. The third wheel will not rotate.
All elements of the vacuum cleaner are attached using hot-melt adhesive. For such a device, such strength is sufficient.
Cachaça suction of debris depends on the speed of work, it should not be high. Eyes need to be inserted. We use an ultrasonic sensor for arduino.
The button was installed on the side, but practice has shown that this is not entirely the right decision, because the robot turned itself off several times. He hit the wall with that particular button. In principle, this is not quite a classic vacuum cleaner, because a box is usually used. And here it stands directly for suction. But this does not degrade the performance. Please note that the master took an ordinary fan, not intended for sucking. He's just blowing air. Therefore, if you want to create a vacuum cleaner that will suck not only paper, then you need to install a more powerful motor. And give the blades the configuration necessary for the vacuum cleaner. The entire process of creating the robot took about 3 hours. As you can see, there is nothing complicated. The most difficult thing in this matter is programming. In this case, the master programs only a little. He took his car, which avoids obstacles, and modified it slightly to limit the robot's speed. To do this, I used PWM pins on the arduino and connected them with the corresponding pin on the motor driver. By the way, it is not such a small radiator calculation. But it has a big advantage compared to other motor drivers. Namely, the output is 50. They are very convenient for servos and also arduino. If you don't like the large size of this driver, you can simply remove the heatsink from there. The fact is that when using these two engines, it does not heat up much. The temperature does not rise above 40 degrees. The circuit receives power from the battery via a switch and a nano motor driver. A fan is also connected here.
Became a top seller and remains there for a long time, making life easier for many people.
Is it true, indispensable assistant- expensive pleasure. Therefore, resourceful engineers assemble robotic vacuum cleaners on their own, and equip them additional functions and upgrade the design.
For those who are too lazy to clean the apartment, but are not too lazy to assemble a robot vacuum cleaner, we have prepared detailed instructions for this.
Required materials
- corrugated cardboard from under an old vacuum cleaner, because you won’t need it anymore;
- ruler and marker - measure and draw seven times;
- stationery knife, scissors and glue - cut once and glue several times;
- a sheet of felt - the bristles of a brush that can collect 99.9% of dust and debris in your home;
- Chinese stick - the axis of the same brush;
- on/off button from under table lamp- it will turn on the device (the lamp will have to be sacrificed to the gods of purity and robotics);
- Arduino gear motor with power wires - so that the brush rotates independently, and not with the help of your hands;
- a battery or a Krona battery, which will give strength to the gear motor to rotate the brush;
- lids from under plastic bottles Coca-Cola/Fanta/Sprite or any other favorite drink (8 pcs.) - no, this is not a promotion, but a way to move the robot vacuum cleaner;
- wrapping paper, felt-tip pens, paints, etc. - for non-standard design solutions.
Assembling a robot vacuum cleaner. Home Edition
So, if you have all the materials at hand, it’s time to start assembling the robot vacuum cleaner. Before you start, we recommend watching this: it clearly demonstrates the process.
Now let’s write down all the stages for greater clarity.
1. Take cardboard and draw bending and cutting lines according to the dimensions indicated in the video.
2. Bend and cut. Congratulations - the base of the robot vacuum cleaner is ready!
3. Take a sheet of felt and cut it into short strips. You should try to make them the same size. We collect them in a pile and put them aside, but not far away.
4. Cut off the sharp edge of the Chinese stick, thereby turning it into a regular stick. More precisely, in the axis of rotation of the vacuum cleaner brush.
5. We return to the pile of cut pieces of felt and carefully glue them one by one to the resulting axis.
6. Make a shallow hole at one end of the axle.
7. Take the gear motor, lubricate the tip with glue and insert it into the hole made in the former Chinese stick.
8. Congratulations again - the brush is ready! Carefully cover the microcircuit with glue and attach it to the cardboard base.
9. Using the twisted pair we prepared just in case, we connect the motor power wires to the power button and battery. We put it in a special compartment, as shown in the video.
So, we can congratulate you for the third time, because The robot vacuum cleaner is actually ready! All that remains is to attach wheels to it and decorate it as you wish.
You will need drink lids for the wheels. Making wheels out of them is very simple: two covers - one wheel. Just glue them together and get a rotating element. You need to make a hole in the center of the wheel covers and insert the prepared nails into it, and then attach them to the structure. This stage is also shown in the video.
All that remains is to decorate your assistant. Here, instead of instructions, you will receive from us only parting words: just let your imagination take flight! Robot in hi-tech style, with the Samsung logo or with puppy eyes? Great! After all, this is your personal assistant for cleaning your home!
P.S. We are not sure that after reading this article you will still assemble your own robot vacuum cleaner. But we hope that you received a lot of positive emotions. However, if you set a goal, you will certainly be able to construct a real, super-powerful destroyer of any kind of dirt - after all, the model from the video really is.
