Introduction and History
Early in the development of steam power (1868) inventors and engineers were thinking about using steam to power people carriers, at the time horse and cart were the predominant mode of transport so obviously steam powered horses were the focus of many inventors, however Zadoc P. Dederik thought about a steam powered rickshaw, but he needed a steam powered man (robot) to pull the rickshaw.
Zadoc P. Dederik’s steam powered rickshaw
In March 1868 Zadoc and his partner Isaac filed a patent titled “Steam Man”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadoc_Dederick
His unique design attracted a lot of interest so they built their first production model later that year, “Mr. Steam Man is a person of commanding presence, standing seven feet nine inches in his stocking vamps, weighs 500 pounds, measures 200 inches round the waist, and [is] decidedly bucolic in general appearance.”
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2016/03/the-steam-powered-robot-of-1868/
Fast forward to today robotics has come a long way.
So if you want to build something like Atlas…
or a friend like Ameca:-
we all have to start somewhere.
Build Your Own DIY Home Robot
In this first of several articles we will start by building a very simple dancing robot.
Back in 2016, founder and Design Engineer Camilo saw the need for accessible DIY robots for the public, as it was only available to professionals at that time. After lots of iterations, he came up with an easy, affordable and expandable robot for all ages.
Otto was designed as a simple educational robot that could be easily built at home using a 3D Printer.
The design is modular so parts can be easily modified or added allowing the builder freedom to express their creativity.
The control electronics are based around an Arduino single board computer and easy wiring little or no soldering is required. Software development can be done using a block style user interface or C/C++ for more complex capabilities.
Otto now has a huge following and online presence https://www.ottodiy.com/design
The next article will walk through building a simple instance of Otto in the hope it will inspire professional engineers and children alike to build and experiment with some basic robotic principles.
Then over the next few articles I will introduce more and more advanced topics perhaps not to the level of General Dynamics but at least to the level of Disney Animatronics.
Other Pages In This Section
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