Autonomous Robot Part 3 – Bully Bot

Group: Kaan Doğrusöz as Tutor and Integrator, Jonathan D. Ortiz as Designer and Scribe

Abstract

The Bully Bot is an autonomous robot that recognizes and charges at the color red until it gores, or until it and idles in pseudo-random walking paths.

Why We Did This

Our goal was to create action from a robot in such a way that it would respond assertively to a specific input it “doesn’t like.” For conveyance, we selected the common misconceptual action of bulls charging at the color red. This idea would allow our robot to respond normally to some users, but also to respond negatively towards a select few.

Final Thoughts

If we were to have a next iteration, we would focus on making the bot more toy-like. Perhaps with some user customization settings, and a softer, more expressive exterior (besides the contrasting super-sharp horns). In critique, the bull motif presented some unwanted symbolic associations and expectations that we were not considering implementing, and so a prospective future iteration would most likely move away from the bull profile, as it is intrinsic with politicized themes such as animal cruelty vs. tradition, ala the modern day interpretations of bull fights.

Technical Notes

The Bully Bot consists of a laser cut hardboard exterior with mounted Arduino Uno, CMUcam5 “Pixy” Camera, two gear head stepper motors driven by a DRV8833 chip, and two 9V batteries.

Video

Photos

Github Code

https://github.com/kaandog/Bull