Cyclope

Cyclope

A little robot powered by a Raspberry Pi 3 A+, featuring a 8MPixel Raspberry Pi Camera V2 and a 360° lidar.
A fast WiFi connection allows to remote control the robot while displaying camera real-time full HD video stream.
A tailored Buildroot Linux distribution runs the software, controlled through WiFi through an embedded web server.

Hardware

PCB has been designed using KiCad 5.1.5 and has been ported to KiCad 6. All manufacturing files are available from Release page.
A PDF version of the schematic is also provided.

Software

Robot's Raspberry Pi is powered by a tailored Buildroot Linux distribution.

Getting sources

Clone the repository and the submodules all in the row :

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/RICCIARDI-Adrien/Cyclope

Building

Enter repository directory, clean previous build (if needed) and generate image :

cd Cyclope/Software/buildroot
make distclean
make BR2_EXTERNAL=$(realpath ..)/cyclope cyclope_defconfig
make

Generated image to burn to a SD card is Cyclope/Software/buildroot/output/images/sdcard.img.

Mechanical

Chassis is made of two overlaid 3mm-thick steel plates.
See Mechanical_Dimensions.odg file for additional design information.
Provide the Chassis.dxf file from Release page to a metal laser cutting service.

Supply parts

See Bill_Of_Material.csv file from Release page for PCB parts. All other needed mechanical and electrical parts are listed below.

Electrical

• 2x servomotor : Feetech FS5113R
• 40-pin flat cable : Amphenol FC40150-0
• Battery holder : EM8, isolate apparent contacts but battery holder ones with adhesive tape to prevent them from touching chassis spacers

Mechanical

• Front castor wheel : Guitel 55031100.
• 2x servomotor support : ASB01.
• 2x servomotor wheel : FS5103R-W.
• 2x front board flat angle bracket : NFLE2012-20.
• 21x chassis plates M4x40 hex female spacer : Ettinger 05.04.401.
• 4x M2x20 screw to attach camera to front board (use three nuts per screw). Using such long screws allow to further protect the camera.
• 12x M2 nut.
• 4x M2.5x25 screws to attach Raspberry Pi to chassis bottom plate (use three nets per screw).
• 12x M2.5 nut.
• 18x M3x10 screw :
  • 8x to attach both servomotors to their support.
  • 4x to attach the two supports to chassis bottom plate.
  • 4x to attach front board flat angle brackets to chassis bottom plate.
  • 2x to attach front board to flat angle brackets.
• 4x M3x15 screw to attach motherboard to chassis bottom plate (use three nuts per screw).
• 30x M3 nut.
• 47x M4x10 screw :
  • 21x to attach female spacers to chassis bottom plate.
  • 4x to attach castor wheel to chassis bottom plate.
  • 1x to prevent battery pack from escaping from robot bottom.
  • 21x to attach chassis top plate to chassis.
• 5x M4 nut.
• Use flat washers of appropriate dimensions if desired.

Photo gallery

Castor wheel

Servomotor, wheel and support

Chassis

PCB

Motherboard

PCB has been soldered by hands (resistors array part was missing, I used normal 0805 resistors) :

A big capacitor has been added to keep battery voltage stable when a lot of current is required :

Front board

With Raspberry Pi Camera V2 mounted :

Assembled electronic boards

Assembled robot

Update for version 1.1 adding a 360° lidar

Chassis top plate with lidar holes :

Lidar assembled on chassis top plate :

Motherboard PCB with lidar support :