The IoT Planet Puncher

Overview

Below a quick overview of the content.

• Introduction and showcase video
• The Punch
• The Planet
• The Streaming
• The Result

Introduction and showcase video

Recently we've noticed the world is rather angry, so we're going to build a world punching robot, controlled via the internet, to help vent some of that anger. Controls are right here.

The Punch

To be able to deal out a good jab, we need to start with some punchy parts.

We start with a 12v car door lock actuator. The motor is quite straightforward. Depending on the direction of the current it will either push or pull. To keep the motor in place you can print the bracket included, it's not needed but it makes things a bit easier.

Next step is adding some flair, let's add a bright red boxing glove found on Thingiverse. You only need to hollow it out a bit more, to make room for our white attaching bit.

With our glove fitted, we can move on to the logic part. We'll need a Raspberry Pi, 2 Channel Relay, two 12v power adapters and a breadboard.

To maxime the punch, we're going to make two circuits, with reversed poles. This allows us to both push and pull. Each circuit is opened or closed with a relay, controlled by the Raspberry Pi.

You can achieve the same result using a H-Bridge.

Great, we can deal out a knock with our Pi.

The World

Now we need something to take a beating. A Styrofoam ball, painted to look like the earth, enhanced with googly eyes and suspended with a string will do just fine. Don't get lost in its mysterious eyes....

The Streaming

Next step is to make in controllable and viewable via the internet. To do this we, first of all we need to connect the camera module. With the camera connected we need a streaming platform for our earth shattering robot. Let's Robot is the perfect fit, just following these steps.

The Result

Now we have a planet punching robot, controlled via the internet, who doesn't need that?