Desktop Robotic Companion

 What’s up Tinker gang. I’m back with another update to my robotic experiments. 

I’ve already created a pretty stable robotic companion, but now that this companion can travel, I don’t like it super close to me because of dust and dirt. I now want something near me as I’m working on my computer, and have found a pretty cool opensource project to start from. 

You may know the project as Emo on YouTube, this humanoid desktop robot rotates its body and arms , as well as displays facial animations thanks to its tiny face screen. I liked the concept and wanted to play with the designs.

First, I wanted to add a way for the device to have extra gpio hats. The original design tucks the computer inside the body shell but I needed room for a microphone and any other thing I wanted to add. I thought about a few possibilities, including some kind of backpack (which I still may use later) on the bot but I didn’t like my mental designs. Instead, I decided to increase the height of the base and add all other parts there.

The bot would now sit a little higher, but this way I could add components out of sight without doing too much redesigning. After finalizing my plans I began to print the body shell. 

Because of my inexperience and roundness of the parts, 3d printing was a bit difficult (I recommend glass base plate for 3d printer). All the parts printed, but a bit of warping occurred. This didn’t bother me however, I just needed a proof of concept.

I added all the components to the shell with hot glue and screws. All that was left was the wiring of servos and a power supply for both the raspberry pi and servos separately(it was recommended not to use the original circuit power supply for the servos) .

After finishing the bot I added my companion software and Voilà, I now have a desktop assistant that stays with my computer and can assist me while I work. 

Talking to my bot without having to type or open a new tab all the time will be a major time saver and allow me to complete tasks quicker. Also when I get conversation software, it’ll be able to give me information smoothly without worrying about batteries and without a high voltage requirement. Checkout all the progress so far on YouTube  and follow for future updates.