Published March 5, 2021

Build A "Follow-Me" Robot

My new and improved take on the Hacker Shack original Autonomous "Follow Me" Cooler project!

IntermediateWork in progress971

Story

A "thank you" for the original project by Hacker Shack:

https://www.hackster.io/hackershack/make-an-autonomous-follow-me-cooler-7ca8bc

This isn't a step-by-step project.

I started this video tutorial series on my channel, because the original project, while very detailed, seemed to be raising a lot of questions. I attempted to answer and help as much as I could, but since the original creators don't seem to be around any longer (or at least, they aren't active with their project), I thought making a video showing my own take on it would be better.

Or at least I hope so!

I won't be guiding you on how to exactly replicate what I am building, because you won't likely have the same parts I have. The parts I am using come from my junk pile, surplus, trash, etc.

So look around, and see what you have (or what you can find, beg, or borrow), and follow along as best as you can! It's an adventure, and we can learn from each other...

Introduction

Part 1 - Theory of Operation

Part 2 - Selecting Your Motors and Batteries

Part 3 - Controlling Your Motors

Part 4 - Chassis Assembly: Drive Motors

Part 5 - Chassis Assembly: Frame and Deck

Part 6 - Chassis Assembly: Motor Mount Brackets

Part 7 - Chassis Assembly: Mounting the Motors

Part 8 - Chassis Assembly: Caster Wheels

Part 9 - Chassis Electrical

Part 10 - Controller and Basic Sensors

Ok, now here starts some good stuff...or at least I hope it's good! Yes, software!

The goal or idea is to post a series of these short videos detailing my progress as I develop the firmware and software framework for this robot. It's specific to my platform, and the Espressif ESP-32 embedded system I am using, so don't expect it to be an "out of the box" solution.

Instead, think of it as a base of code that you might be able to build off of.

I am striving to make the code as clear and easy to read as possible, but if you see something that you are unclear on, or anything else - let me know!

Part 11.1 - Creating a Framework

So I'm implementing an FSM (Finite State Machine) for the main controller process for my robot. The goal is to make things easy to read, understand, expand, and maintain in the future. I believe such a framework will allow for that, while also being non-blocking as a plus!

Part 11.2 - Controller Process

With the controller state machine stubbed out, I can begin working on the various pieces of the library for the framework. One of the most important and core pieces of that is the webserver, which is needed for serving up the interactive page I'll use to send the GPS coordinates of my phone to the robot...

Part 11.3 - Webserver Test

Stay tuned...more parts are coming!

Have any questions or project ideas? Got something you want to share?

Post your thoughts and comments down below...I'd love to hear from you!

You can also find more on this project at the Junkbotix GitHub repository:

https://github.com/junkbotix/build-a-follow-me-robot

Do you like the videos? Then hit the Like button on them, Share them with others, and Subscribe to my channel. All will help to motivate me to inspire you more!

Please also consider contributing to help me make more videos:

https://www.patreon.com/junkbotix

Thank you!