Robot: Skittles

Skittles is the next robot after Rover, and focuses on being lower cost and easier to print. The two wheel drive control works better indoors than Rover’s skid steer, and the smaller motors and actuators are lighter, cheaper, and easier to print. The smaller bearings are cheaper too. However we went all out on the tires, and got big high end foam filled monster truck tires. To keep things cheap, Skittles uses a “skiing caster” shaped like a J. The skiing action inspired the name: “Skittles skates along.” The caster, also called the tail, glides over outdoor obstacles and is effective even when reversing outdoors.

Design of Skittles began right around Jan 1, 2018. I’m designing this robot as a classroom aid for a week long robotics course I am teaching in March at African Leadership College in Mauritius.

I’m trying to make robots cheaper so everyone can benefit from them.

Overview Video of Skittles here.

Controller update:

Action video coming soon.