Went and brought some bits and pieces today, some of the bits that I know I'll need but not anything I was unsure about. My current thinking is to use a floor sweeper (box on a stick with a rotary brush in it powered by the force of pushing it along, my wife's idea) and put a drive motor in it and use a second motor to spin the brushes. Further I need the thing to not drive into walls or obstacles so a couple of proximity sensors (either ultrasonic which I've seen online or infrared like the ones they use in parking sensors), likely on each of the front corners and a PIC controller to make decisions about if it gets close to something on the sensor, to trigger some sort of steering mechanism.
So far the bits purchased today were;
- PIC16F628A microcontroller and a PCB socket for it
- A switch to power it on :-)
- Two LED lights, one red to indicate it's found an obstacle and steering, and a green power light
- A motor, 12v to drive the wheels
- A worm gear
- A breadboard
- An 8x AA battery holder so I can power the 12v motor with some wires
- A plastic hobby box to mount parts in, inside the floor sweeper to protect them
I also got a little cordless hobby drill for mounting things, I am super excited :-D Now I just need to find a floor sweeper :-(
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