ok we have big complaint, but often when mentioning new terms this body websearches the term after posting it sometimes i used it wrong often i used it right
i websearched microbots and found this medium article: https://slothswrites.medium.com/making-own-microbots-ed153ea8f7d3 about building your own microbot (traditionally size is less than a centimeter, down to microns) O_o and i am wondering, is this a fake article? it's like almost believable. it uses off-the-shelf parts and no manufacturing o_O .
basically this is probably a fake medium article. but it coudl be real. they might just be building a really big microbot. y'know?
some of these fake articles are kind of like chatting with somebody who's lying, you can treat what they're saying as true but it often involves doing a lot of work yourself to make it so.
review of is-this-a-fake-medium-article
The twist in this project is rather than controlling the bots with the neural transmitter we will let them travel and connect as they want. This ain’t sci-fi this is an easier cheaper, and least complex design, So let’s start making our super cool micro bots on budget, First, we are just making the bots that can sense where the fellow bots are, and reach them. Later when adding computer vision and AI its application will be limitless.
- Author states the twist is that the bots are not neurally controlled - Author does not state that the twist is that the bots are not micro-sized, or do not have AI or computer vision
Starting with selecting the components, we need a small and usable microcontroller that would be AT tiny 85.
I found a datasheet for the attiny85 at https://www.snapeda.com/parts/ATTINY85-20PU/Microchip/datasheet/ and the chip package in the datashet is about 5 mm wide. So this could be the brains of a large microbot ... if the power source and actuators are all bundled under the chip!
AT tiny is having 6 input output pins which is exactly how much we want, moving further we are adding servo motors for the robot to travel, the next part is a Bluetooth module, which we are using to find the distance between the robots, if you are using a development board in which you get an embedded Bluetooth module then you don’t need any external module for that,
O_o is a bluetooth module really the way to do ranging here? it just sounds really big and overcomplicated for this to me. but it is premade ! I guess you would pair and measure the signal dB to range. Maybe this is the way to do it nowadays i don't know! I'm just worried more chips will make it bigger :s :s it's already 0.5 cm :s (i would use linear components here, i'm old) It says servo motors, all the servo motors I have seen are really really huge, but maybe not as big as batteries. I would not use servo motors here. Maybe single-electromagnet actuators or "muscle wires" ! I bet you can find really tiny servo motors on the internet though. It's just not what I think of at first. I'm worried the development board will definitely be overscale but hopefully I am wrong. Let's look for it! There are a lot of development boards for the attiny85, most have a USB plug on the board, here's one for making wearables at https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/sparkfun-electronics/1568-1450-ND... . It's 8x16 mm. So we're pushing the size up to 2cm here but it's still pretty small! I didn't search for a board with a bluetooth module.
Now the main component that will give the superpower to our microbot which was shown in the movie that is bots getting attach for that we need electromagnets, there are few electromagnet modules out in the market which you can use according to your budget.
Electromagnets are really tiny, but they'll need enough combined force to lift the weight of the bot if they're going to attach multiple bots together. The author has an image embedded here that doesn't look strongly related to the content, it looks maybe like two plain metal objects stuck on a magnet demonstrating magnetism.
Now moving further toward calibration connection and schematics. For coding - pair the Bluetooth modules via hard coding - Use the RSSI function and store its value in a variable, - After that code for the servo motors - Create two functions that allow bots to move forward and backward - You can also add the motions for the motors to turn left and right. - Calibrate the motors accordingly - Now check the value of RSSI stored in the variable - Check the RSSI value when the bots are 5–10 CMs away from each other - Use the value of as a base value and if the value changes and increases code the robot to move accordingly and come back closer to the fellow bot And when the fellow bot is in the range turn on the electromagnet so that stick together.
This is maybe revealing, the author is pretty new to development. The article is probably just an idea :)
For schematics and circuits. - Place the Electromagnet at the center of the bot. - place the servo at the ends of the servo horns facing outside. - Use a Mini breadboard or the zero PCB and soldering to complete the connection of the components. - Upload the code and use copper tape and tape the circuit to avoid any harm from the EMF of the electromagnet. - One can use Insulating tape and then wrap the foil over it so the foil will absorb as much as it can and then the rest of the un absorbs EMF is reflected by the insulating tape After completion of the circuiting and connections add 3D printed or handcrafted shafts for the legs of our bot and give our bot a body
It's cool to learn I could bundle a microcontroller in under 2cm (or even 1)! The issues of how to package power and the servos are not addressed, as well as how to use the servos to produce locomotion -- but I suppose a normal servo with horns attached would be able to use the horns like wheels or legs to move around ! Anyway they said to 3d print legs to add to it.
When done with this Ta Daa! your Microbots are ready to connect the batteries, Keep the at distances and watch them coming closer
Ok so we have an ATTiny85 development board, batteries, servos bluetooth module used for interbot communication hrm I'm guessing this is a real article where the author has not tried out their own idea yet. early websearch results show there are some 8mmx4mm stepper motors on amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Acxico-2-Phase-Ultra-Tiny-Precision-Stepper/dp/B09CTT... . this reddit link shows tiny servos but the highest rank comment says things that aren't servos are tinier: https://www.reddit.com/r/Motors/comments/1138tw4/the_absolute_smallest_servo... . the servo linked is 20x6x6mm. the commentor says to use 'magnetic actuators' instead. but y'know i guess mouse-sized robots are a little more interesting than ant-sized robots anyway you just have to buy or make good actuators for them! ohhhh wait what about the power supply??? i guess you'd find a tiny lithium battery O_O they're basically any size huh