Congratulations on getting started with your Piper Make Robotics Expedition Kit! As a part of your kit, you'll be building the Rover, the motorized omnidirectional vehicle Piperbot and Pip will be using to make their great escape from the angry Zomars.
You may have already opened up your kit and found your blueprint! If not, here's a digital version of it to go ahead and take a look.
First let's take a look at the different pieces you've got in your Rover kit. In addition to the wood pieces, you'll find a bunch of screws and nuts in a hardware bag and two bags with two plastic wheels that correspond to the FS190R servo motors. This is what you should see:
There are a bunch of screws and nuts you'll find in a hardware bag in your kit. Along with two small silver screws that you'll find in the bag with the wheels and tires, these are your hardware inventory.
You'll also need jumper wires, resistors, and your Raspberry Pi Pico on the breadboard from your Piper Make Starter Kit. Keep in mind there are two types of jumper wires (male-to-male, abbreviated M2M and female-to-male, abbreviated F2M) in your kit. Together, all of these parts will make up your electronics inventory.
In Step 1 on your blueprint, you will be attaching your servo motor and wheels to the Rover base. A critical part of this process includes centering the motors (to make sure they are running as expected) which you will need to use Piper Make to code. Follow the steps as shown:
Let's walk through how this process should look:
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Add the bottom screws to the H-shaped piece and connect the servo. Make sure that the small side of the H faces up (it should slot into the Rover). For best results, place the screw all the way through and then gently place the nut on top and spin it down. Fold up the wires to access the second hole. |
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Head over to make.playpiper.com and click to Step 2 of Runaway Rover. You'll have to access the small screw on the back of the servo motors so do this before you attach them to the base! |
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Add the H-piece with the attached servo to the Rover base. Make sure the part of the motor that sticks out is towards the FRONT of the Rover, away from the nose). |
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Add the wheel to the motors. On the two sides of the wheel, there is one bigger hole through which you can see a ridged tunnel and one which is small. Insert the motor into the ridged side and the screw into the smaller hole. |
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In Step 2 on your blueprint, you will assembling the back nose of the Rover. Important notes: remove the ball from the holder before screwing in the assembly and only use one of the small circular spacers otherwise you won't be able to insert the screws all the way through.
| Step | Pictures |
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Screw together the assembly as shown |
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Add the ball by gently pushing it into the holder |
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(Optional) add the gummy foot to the etched circle on the back nose. |
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