What are the different parts of a Robot?

The Anatomy of a Robot

By Kevin McAleer,    3 Minutes

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Robots is made up of lots of different parts, for example:

• A brain (Processor)
• A body (Chassis)
• A power source, or battery
• Sensors
• Motors (Or Actuators)
• Motor driver

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The Body

Houses all the parts

Robots need somewhere to house the different parts, and prevent dust or other particulates getting into inside of the robot:

• The Brain
• The Power source
• The Motors
• The Sensors

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The Battery

Provides power, when the robot is not connected to an external power supply.

Robots needs a battery to power the electronics including:

• The Brain, so it can ‘think’ and run programs
• The Motors, so it can move and react
• The Sensors, so it can feel, see and hear

SMARS is powered by a 9v Battery

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The Brain (Processor)

Runs programs, connects to sensors and motors

• Most robots have a computer or micro-controller to perform the instructions from the program
• The ‘brain’ could just be a simple circuit, without a central processing unit (CPU)
• Common microcontrollers include:
  • BBC micro:bit
  • Raspberry Pi Pico
  • Arduino Uno
  • NodeMCU (ESP8266)

  SMARS uses an Arduino Uno for its brain

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The Sensors

Provides information about the outside world to the Robot:

• Robots need sensors to detect, measure and provide input to the brain so it can make decisions
• Common sensors include:
  • Switches and buttons
  • Range finders
  • Temperature, Humidity sensors
  • Infrared & Ultrasonic sensors
  • Lasers
  • Cameras
  • Microphones

  SMARS uses an ultrasonic range finder to ‘see’

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The Motors

Enable the robot to move around

• Robots use outputs, such as Motors to move around and interact with their environment
• Motors rotate a set speed and direction
• Turning the motors in the same direction moves the robot forward or backward
• Turning the motors in opposite directions rotates the robot

SMARS uses two motors to move about

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The Motorshield

Also known as a Motor driver; Enable the robot to power the motors:

• A Motorshield routes power to the motors - they need much more power than the brain
• Motorshields can also bring extra outputs such as a buzzer
• The motorshield sits on top of the Arduino and the connector pins push into the header pins on the Arduino

SMARS uses motorshield to power and control the motors

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