Flipperbot

Simple electronics within a structure of 3D printed parts forming an open square base and two triangular flipper feet.
Flipperbot's 3D-printed body. Photo: Dave Astels

FlipperBot is a small robot with a curious locomotion style that can be built from a few simple 3D-printed parts and readily available components. You can try a variety of controllers to learn how that affects the robot's behavior.

Creator

Adafruit Industries

Year
2018
Country
United States 🇺🇸
Categories
Features
Robot meets Cat. Video: Dave Astels

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Appearance

Neutral

Did you know?

Since each side is completely independent, motor variation can cause them to get out of sync resulting in all manner of odd gaits.

A variation of the robot shows two blue 3D printed pieces attached to the flippers.
DC motors power the two "legs." Photo: Dave Astels
Close-up of the robots microcontroller.
Flipperbot's microcontroller brain. Photo: Dave Astels

Specs

Overview

Based on Adafruit's CRICKIT robotics interface board. Bluetooth controller. Driven via a smartphone app. Easy connection of a variety of additional sensors and actuators.

Status

Ongoing

Year

2018

Website
Width
16 cm
Height
12 cm
Length
19.5 cm
Weight
0.551 kg
Speed
0.714 km/h
Sensors

Basic model has no sensors but allows for expansions.

Actuators

Two TT Motor All-Metal Gearbox dc motors (Adafruit part 3802)

Degrees of Freedom (DoF)
2
Compute

Options include Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, BBC Micro:bit, any Adafruit Feather.

Power

6600-mAh lithium-polymer battery pack with 5-V boost/charge board. Approximate 20 minutes of operation moving the robot.

Cost
$90 (approximately)