Orange Open ROBOT – or OoRoBoT – is a project targeted towards young children (nursery school level), inspired by the idea of BeeBot. It’s a very simple robot that everyone is able to built on their own.
The project had three constraints to meet:
- be entirely opensourced: GitHub page with the source code, list of materials and all necessary plans
- use only standard electronic materials (Arduino) that aren’t too costly
- avoid “complex” operations (like soldering, processing)
The final piece takes the form of a cart:
This is how the author, Matthieu Salvat, comments his idea:
“This idea came to my mind during a discussion with a teacher who uses BeeBot in her school. It is worth knowing that there are many robots available on the market nowadays, but most of them seem too ‘complex’ for simple actions. In the example I saw, the BeeBot was used to teach seniors at nursery school about the relative movement. I failed to find an alternative that would be less costly and/or Open Source.”
For this project he used tools (and colleagues) available in his office in Lannion:
“As a result, I started this side-project and made use of the 3D printers available at SOFT Lannion, my competence in Arduino as well as conducted a research for parts on AliExpress (thank you Gael Breard for helping me with the last two subjects).”
Finally, the prototype cost 17€ in parts (plus around 3€ in transport fee) and didn’t require any soldering to put together. Cart frame can be printed in a printer with 20cm x 20cm plate.
See full list of materials along with instruction on Orange-OpenSource GitHub (French only).