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Instruction Manual
USER GUIDE
Dagu ''Playful Puppy'' Quadruped Robot Kit
Step 1. Center your servos
The QuadBot chassis kit includes 8x miniature servos and the Pan/Tilt kit includes 2 miniature servos.
These servos have clear cases so you should be able to see through them well enough to check that they
are centered.
When the servo is centered it can physically turn the same amount in each direction (approximately 90
degrees). Before you begin assembly check that all 10 of your servos are centered. This will save you
time in later steps. Once the robot is assembled, the center position of each servo can be refined in the
software if required.
Step 2. Attach the foam rubber feet
Instructions are included with the QuadBot chassis and can also be downloaded from my DAGU
product support site . I will go through them in detail here.
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Summary of Contents for DAGU Playful Puppy
- Page 1 Once the robot is assembled, the center position of each servo can be refined in the software if required. Step 2. Attach the foam rubber feet Instructions are included with the QuadBot chassis and can also be downloaded from my DAGU product support site . I will go through them in detail here.
- Page 2 There are 8 identical leg segments included in the kit. Select 4 of them and attach foam rubber feet using the 3 x 12mm panhead screws. There are only 4 of these screws and they are the largest so they are easy to find.
- Page 3 control rods or other devices using self tapping screws. Take the 4 unused leg segments and fit servo horns as shown in the photo below using 2 x 6mm self tapping screws. There are are only 8 of these. Use two for each servo horn. Step 5.
- Page 4 Step 7. Attach your legs to the mounting plate The mounting plate of the QuadBot chassis is the laser cut acrylic panel that you mount all your parts on. Mount your left and right legs as shown in the photo. NOTE: the rounded end is the rear of your robot.
- Page 5 Once you have the 3mm screw in all the way, continue turning the screw a few times so that the screw thread can drill out the hole a bit more. You can now easily fit your 25mm (1 inch) brass hex spacers. Use your pliers if necessary to hold the brass spacers when tightening the screws.
- Page 6 This bracket is mounted using two 3 x 6mm machine thread screws and two 3mm nuts. Leave these nuts slightly loose at this stage so that the bracket can move forwards and backwards slightly. We will tighten them once the servo is aligned. Step 11.
- Page 7 Step 13. Inserting the spacer washers There are some spacer washers that must be inserted so that the tilt assembly can rotate smoothly. The easiest way I know to insert these spacer washers is to lie the pan / tilt assembly on it's side with the tilt bracket at about 40 degrees when the tilt servo is centered as shown in the first photo.
- Page 8 The IR compound eye is a simple sensor that measures ambient light and reflected IR light from an object. The eye has seven connectors. Vcc (+5V) and Ground for power. The ENable pin turns the IR LEDs on or off and then there are 4 analog outputs for up, down, left and right. Attach the four mounting spacers on the tilt bracket as shown in the first photo.
- Page 9 This robot works best with a small LiPo battery (7.4V, 2300mAH) but rechargeable AA NiMh batteries are more common and easier to recharge so we will use 6x AA NiMh batteries for these instructions. Do not use alkaline batteries, the voltage is too high and they cannot put out enough current to drive the servos.
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Page 10: Step 19. Power Configuration
Step 18. Wire up the head Connect your pan servo to A4 and your tilt servo to A5 with the white signal wire towards the female header. The software reconfigures these pins as servo outputs. Fit small black and red female to female jumper wires to Vcc and ground as shown in the photo. These will provide power for the infrared compound eye. - Page 11 The power configuration for this robot is slightly unusual. 10 miniature servos combined can draw more than 3amps when the robot is running around. This is far more than the Magician's regulator can handle. The magician board does allow you to power up to 8 servos directly from the battery but the servos are rated at 6V and the battery is 7.2V! To solve these problems, the pan and tilt servos which are not heavily loaded are run from analog pins 4 and 5.
- Page 12 Start by fitting the servo extension cables to the front leg servos. Now plug in your leg servos. D2 - Rear left hip D3 - Rear left knee D4 - Front left hip D5 - Front left knee D6 - Front right knee D11 - Front right hip D12 - Rear right knee D13 - Rear right hip...
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Page 13: Step 23. Installing The Software
Perhaps the easiest way to make a tail is to use a short length of spiral wrap. If you don't have spiral wrap then you can make some by feeding a drinking straw through a pencil sharpener. The pencil sharpener will probably need a new blade as it has to be sharp. Plug one end with some hotglue or putty. -
Page 14: Step 25. Trouble Shooting
The sample code tracks your hand movements with the compound eye and responds accordingly. If you leave the robot alone for 3 seconds then it will sit down out of boredom. Once it sits down it gets lazy and will only track your hand with it's head. If you slowly bring your hand within range and move your hand to a paw then the robot will lift that paw for you to shake hands. - Page 15 in corectly? If the robot frequently resets then you may have a bad battery or battery connection. Check your batteries have a good charge and are making a good connection with the battery holder terminals. Are the battery terminal screws tight? Some cheap batteries may not be able to deliver enough current. If the head does not follow at all then check your eye has power (5V) and that the orange wire is connected to D8.