Project Astromech, a 2 Geeks Web Design Presentation

Welcome

Build Journal

The Dome

The Electronics

The Body

The Legs

Parts Rundown Dome Hardware Dome Electronics Body Hardware Body Electronics Leg Hardware Leg Electronics Other Electronics

Dome Hardware

Dome Electronics

Body Hardware

Body Electronics

Leg Hardware

Leg Electronics

Other Electronics

Produced using a process called Hydroforming and Laser Cut to exacting Builder’s Club Specs, this 6061 Aluminum dome is an absolute work of art! Consisting of an inner and outer 2 piece dome, it makes mounting all of Artoo’s lights, Holos, and panels much easier without worrying about damaging the outer dome, all the while staying consistent with the metal construction a droid should have.

www.300mmdome.com Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread

Kevin’s amazing set of hinges simplifies the task of animating each of Artoo’s 13 hinged dome panels. By making the inner panel, hinge and servo mount into one unit, attaching and connecting the panels is now a much simper process. Plus the design of the inner panel gives them a look similar to those of the body panels seen in the prequel films.

Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread

These aluminum projectors are machined to closely match the shape and appearance of the three projectors seen on Artoo’s dome (The thing that plays the Leia hologram. The are designed with a screw on back cap to allow for the addition of lights and attachment to his mount/control system below.

These control mounts are used in conjunction with each of Artoo’s holoprojectors allowing 2-axis movement and control via micro servos attached directly to them.

This plate is mounted at the base of the dome and offers the ability to mount a plethora of dome electronics and hardware such as Artoo’s Periscope and Life Form Scanner. Its center hole enables us to mount a slip ring, allowing for power and data cables to be routed into and out of the body without out becoming twisted during dome rotation.

Purchased from Astromech.com User monsterzero

This large (17-3/8″) bearing allows us to attach Artoo’s Dome to our aluminum frame and still allow for its rotation. The thin profile with wide center allows us to still use the space inside the dome and body joint for needed functions.

www.rockler.com Purchased from Astromech.com User 92echo

Seen for the first time in Empire Strikes Back, the Life Form Scanner was one of the many gadgets deployed from Artoo’s various dome panels. This set consists of 5 machined aluminum parts and an arc shaped piece of mesh. The kit is topped off with a small Flashing LED circuit board to mimic the LFS’s original appearance and configuration. We are hoping to eventually install a lifter inside Artoo’s dome, so we can actual deploy it from one of his pie panels in the same manner seen in the films.

Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread (LFS) Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread (LED Board) Purchased from Astromech.com User monsterzero

CuriousMarc’s system is quite impressive and he is truly the epitome of the mad scientist (and amazingly helpful) . Utilizing a Wi-Fi connection between the micro-controller and an iOS device through the WiFly Board below, the master and slave MarcDuino boards allows us control of all of Artoo’s Dome Panels, HoloProjectors, Logic Displays, and Sound Effects at the touch of a finger. It can control all 16 servos need to animate the dome’s pie panels and holoprojectors through his companion R2 Touch App . It also integrates with the Teeces Logic Display Controller below as well as the J.E.D.I. Controller System . We can’t wait to see what Marc plans to add to it next.

www.curiousmarc.com

CuriousMarc’s Holo Light v2.0 is a small LED based light projector that will fit in the body of the Builders Club Holoprojectors we plan on using. Not only are these HP lights super bright, they can be integrated with not only Marc’s system above, but the Teeces System, J.E.D.I. System and most droid light control systems as well.

This kit is an Arduino base micro-controller that is programmed to recreate the lighting effects of Artoo’s 2 Front and Single Rear Logic Displays as well as his Front and Rear PSI indicators. It has recently been programmed to integrate with CuriousMarc’s R2 Touch Controller allowing us to display custom messages in its 3 displays on the fly from an iOS device.

www.curiousmarc.com/teeces-logics-dome-lights

This handy little board creates a Wi-Fi access point so we can connect directly to our Marduino Controller from our iOS device allowing us to send commands from CuriousMarc’s R2 Touch App. It can only receive commands and therefore can not send information back to us. While it does not have the range nor performance of an Xbee module, we chose to create our wireless connection with this first due to is simplicity. For longer ranges, we eventually plan to add the option to connect utilizing Xbee modules as well.

www.sparkfun.com

The board takes care of the 3.3V regulation, signal conditioning, and basic activity indicators (Power, RSSI and DIN/DOUT activity LEDs) of our WiFly board above. It translates the 5V serial signals to 3.3V so that we can connect a 5V (down to 3.3V) system such as Marc’s Marduino above to any WiFly or XBee module.

This single motor controller will take the directional signal from our Spektrum Ar6200 RC receiver and send power to our Dome control motor. This will allow us to control the rotation of Artoo’s dome from our Specktrum DX6i RC Transmitter.

www.dimensionengineering.com

These low cost all metal geared servos are used to operate Artoo’s dome panels and animate the Holoprojector through random movements. A total of 16 servos are connected between the master and slave boards of CuriousMarc’s dome controller above. These are quite cheap for the torque they provide so we gave them a shot before we decide weather to buy costlier servo alternatives. Time will tell how they hold up. www.towerpro.com

At first glance these seem to simply be a set of aluminum dome greeblies to match Artoo’s dome design seen in the films. However, rotopod went a step further, constructing an elegant Arduino based micro-controller that allows us to send commands to Artoo’s various electronic systems through a series of button sequences. This gives us the ability to initiate animation, sound and light control with out requiring the need of wireless communication. Due to the flexibility of Arduino micro-controllers, the possibilities seem endless.

www.droidvillage.net Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread (Club Membership Required to View) Purchased from Astromech.com User monsterzero

The COM-8B Budget Frame is a lightweight Astromech frame constructed entirely from aluminum. The main rings are 1/8″ thick aircraft Aluminum with 3/8″ thick side uprights. The COM-8B comes with utility arm carrier, center ankle mount, built in battery holder, two built in speaker mounting locations for 3.5 automotive speakers, body to leg shoulder hubs, a rear detachable access panel, 2 electronics mounting boards and a charging port bay.

Purchased from Astromech.net User Commando Eight

These aluminum sheet-metal skins consist of a 2 part, inner and outer covering for Artoo’s body. They are laser or water-jet cut to club specs and help create the paneled look of the droid. They have openings for all his body vents, ports, slots, etc. They also allow for his various door panels to be hinged if you so desire. I do. I am not 100% positive but I believe these are John Sherrell skins. I purchased them second hand from a builder who was getting out of the hobby.

These are two aluminum vents that are situated on the lower portion of Artoo’s body, immediately in front of his right leg and behind his left one. These vents are made with handy mounting ears on the back side, making securing them in place much easier.

These are Artoo’s side vents that are located each side of his body behind each leg. They are machined from aluminum and like the Deep Pocket vents above, they too have handy mounting ears on the back side simplifying the build process.

Purchased from Astromech.net User gvardaman

These are the two iconic oval vents that are situated in the center of Artoo’s “chest”. They are comprised of two machined outer aluminum surrounds with a assortment of sheet aluminum vent fins.

These are machined aluminum Octogon Ports that appear on the bottom of Artoo’s body in front of his right leg and behind his left one. At this time, I am unaware of the builder source.

Purchased from Astromech.net User monsterzero.

This impressive part attaches to the underside of Artoo’s body to give the tapered look around his bottom and hides the cut out used to mount (or retract if you decide to go 2-3-2) the center foot and ankle.

This set up consists of all the hardware and motor to effectivly spin Artoo’s dome while mounted to the top of the frame inside his body. The mount is waterjet cut 6061 aluminum, sanded and de-burred, bead blasted, and anodized black for a sleek and unobtrusive look, and smooth running. The motor, a 29:1 pololu motor is powerful enough to easily turn the dome on command.

This display is an Arduino based LED display that mimics the logic display inside the door just right of Artoo’s center vents. The system was designed by MichaelErwin as a joint system with his CBI below, utilizing a single Arduino. However, having assembled the electronics myself, I have chosen to utilize CuriousMarc’s display sketch on its own board as I find the display sequences a bit more organic.

Astromech Info Thread

This display is an Arduino based LED display that mimics the charging bay sequences seen on Dagobah. This display has several display sequence setting and also has the capability to actively monitor Artoo’s battery level and display voltage through a series of LEDs for easy viewing. Since the CuriousMarc sketch used above does not yet support the control of the CBI, I am utilizing the original sketch from Michael.

These sturdy aluminum outer legs from JAG are built provide mounting points for all of Artoo’s leg accessories and provide him a solid foundation. Their hollow core makes running wiring to each foot’s drive motor much easier. Plus, they are just plain sexy!

These two aluminum details are found on the upper shoulder of each of Artoo’s outer legs. These are from chach75’s early 2014 run using new techniques to give them a much more accurate look.

These four aluminum details attach to the front and back of each outer leg just under the shoulder, where you will find a small indention as part of Artoo’s leg design.

Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread Purchased from Astromech user dartz

These absolutely beautiful cast aluminum booster covers are designed to mount to the outside of each of Artoo’s legs and are built to the high expectations we have come to have with mcwhlr parts offerings. They are extremely light to help keep our droid under weight.

These are the long piston looking rods that mount to the underside of the top of the booster covers and run down each of Artoo’s outer legs. They are a sort of shock absorber.

These aluminum built battery boxes are mounted on each of Artoo’s legs. They are conveniently threaded to make attaching the two knurled hose fittings on each box a trivial matter.

Purchased from Astromech.net User Ryan Huffman

These fittings are milled from solid aluminum and attach to both ends of each of Artoo’s 4 Foot to Battery Box Hoses. They are threaded for easy attachment to both his battery boxes and foot shells.

Purchased from Astromech.net User BobC

Mike makes some really nice battery hoses with the appropriate amount of weathering to capture the look of a movie used Astromech. These, with the KHF’s above complete the connection between each of Artoo’s foot drives and his battery boxes on each outer foot.

I had these made by a good friend of mine, Chad Brown to club specs. These are the 6 aluminum strips that go on the front and back of each of Artoo’s feet. The front ones on each outer foot are drilled and tapped to accept the KHF’s on the foot end of the Battery hoses.

These solid aluminum sets consist of 4 leg cylinders, 4 cylinder wedges and 2 cylinder holders. A single cylinder, holder and wedge are attached to each of Artoo’s outer ankles and a double set of a cylinder and wedge are attached to both sides of his center ankle.

Outer set purchased from Astromech.net User riker0007

Custom built by Dennis of the Midwest R2 Builders Club , these low profile foot drives utilize two scooter motors capable of either 12V or 24V operation and easily work with wood, steel, aluminum or resin foot shells. Their robust design and heavy duty chain drive system make them a solid choice for medium and heavy weight droids.

http://www.midwestr2.com Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread

www.spektrumrc.com

www.pololu.com

This board allows us to store all the sound files used for Artoo’s “Voice” as mp3’s on a MicroSD card. It interfaces will CuriousMarc’s MarcDuino Dome Control System above allowing us to control Artoo’s sound effects from any connected iOS Device using his R2 Touch App . It also allows us to use hardware or RC triggers on the droid to initiate selected sound effects as well.

This amp board receives the relatively low powered audio signal from the MP3 Trigger above and amplifies it so we can all hear Artoo as he gets into mischief.

www.parts-express.com

These 3.5 inch speakers allow Artoo’s voice to be heard easily with out taking up precious dome and body real estate, allowing us to incorporate and add additional tricks and gadgets.

www.pyleaudio.com

This kit allows us to run wiring between the dome and body of Artoo through a slip ring, a device that allows for the dome to spin without the wiring becoming twisted. It include parallel connectors and two breakout boards for ease of connecting on either side of the slip ring.

Approved Astromech.net Part Run Thread Purchased from Astromech.net User monsterzero

Dome Electronics Pt. 1: Building CuriousMarc’s Marcduino Dome Control System

Lighting Up the Dome, Part 1: Building the Teeces 3.2 Logic Display and PSI system.

Artoo’s First Steps: Testing His Differential Drive System via RC

Testing My Syren 10 and Pololu 18v25 Motor Controllers with Drive Motors…I went 2-3 with a Huge Strike Out!!

Configuring, Connecting (Binding) and Testing Artoo’s RC Transmitter and Receiver.

Tested.com interview (Senna's R2 Adventures)

Star Wars Day at the Corona Public Library 2015 (Victor's R2 Blog)

UPCOMING APPEARANCE: Oct 10, East Anaheim Branch Library (Senna's R2 Adventures)

Body work on BB (Thomas's R2 Blog)

R2LA XII (Victor's R2 Blog)

12th annual R2-LA (Senna's R2 Adventures)