Code Kitty Robot v1.0 by CodeKitty

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

Introducing the Code Kitty
The Code Kitty robot is a 3D printed robot designed to help teach kids coding. It was developed by the Code Kitty non-profit because we wanted there to be a robot cheap enough for every kid to have one and learn the joy of engineering, coding, and robotics! We offer the robot FREE for participants of our workshop, or sell complete robot kits under a "buy one/give one" program for $50.
Although the 3D printed parts of the robot are the same, there are two "builds" of the electronics of the robot: The "Workshop Build" and the "DIY Build". In either case you will need to print one base, one face, one tail, two wheels and two hubcaps. We recommend combining all of the parts you want to be the same color into one print job, and the parts are small enough that the entire robot can be printed in two print jobs on most 3D printers.
The "Workshop Build"
This build of the Code Kitty robot is the one we use on our hands-on workshops to teach coding, computational thinking and engineering skills. It features the 3D printed parts here, along with the following
Note: several items linked are for larger quantities and are meant to be reference
Arduino Nano - Atmega 328PSG90-compatible 360 degree rotational micro servos - for the wheels
Two regular size rubber bands - for the wheels
An LED attached to the end of a 2-wire dupont-style female/female wire - for the tail
A pipe cleaner - for the tail
Our custom Code Kitty Breakout Board - seated on the pins of the Arduino Nano
A two-by-two four cell AA battery holder
Four AA batteriesA standard-size marble - 14mm - for the back wheel.
Optional 3-pin sensor modules such as infrared object avoidance, light sensor, etc
* Build instructions, software and coding instructions found at http://codekitty.org (Click "How")
The "DIY Build"
If you don't have our custom breakout board, or just want to Do It Yourself (yay for you!), you will need all of the parts listed under "Hardware", except for the battery holder and the Breakout Board, along with the following:400 point "mini" breadboardFlat-style four AA battery holderPiezo buzzer for speaker
What we have found works well is to stick the bottom of the battery holder to the sticky back of the breadboard, and set it in the robot base in place of the 4 AA battery holder mentioned in the build instructions. Then you place your Arduino Nano in the center of the breadboard, and connect the components to the following pins on it:
A0 to Piezo buzzer
A1 to Sensor VCC
D9 to Left Servo
D10 to Right servo
D13 to Tail positive
Please see the Arduino Servo Page for information on how to wire the servos to your Nano, but make sure you use the pins listed above in order for the Code Kitty arduino library to work.
Finally, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter and post your Makes if you make our kitty!
Happy Making!