jonh : robots : fiat : photos

Photos of Fiat, a paper-manipulating desktop robot

Here are some photos of the mechanism of my paper-manipulating robot, built for robots class (CS88/188), Fall 1998. Click on an image to animate it.


This view shows the robot rotating 180 degrees, so you can see around the chassis.

This view shows the steering wheel turning. The servo (a black box, mounted inverted) turns the front drive wheel.

This view shows (poorly) the cam action. The green section can rotate down below the wheels, to make the sticky tape foot stick to paper on the desk. If it emerges behind the wheels (counterclockwise rotation), it continues to hold the paper while the rear wheels are free to roll. If it lifts up between the wheels (clockwise rotation), the wheels are over the paper and hold it down so the sticky foot can pull itself free of the paper.

This view shows the tape motor pulling tape from the supply reel (rear of the robot, foreground of picture) under the foot and around the take-up reel. If you look carefully, you can see the brass gears on the right turning. The wires flipping in and out of the frame are the motor power wires, going off to a battery.


Some snapshots of the robot taken with a slightly better camera. These photos show the robot fully operational (February, 1999), so they include the peripheral electronics board, and the wires are actually plugged in. :v)