I need direction and ideas for a project that I am starting. I came across an 80’s Radio Shack robot, Robie Sr, at a local garage sale. He is in fair condition: electronically functional, cosmetic damage, and little pink pony stickers on his side.
If you are unfamiliar with this robot he has a remote control where you command him to move forward, backward, rotate counterclockwise, rotate clockwise clockwise, play a single set of robot beeping sounds, illuminate his eyes, and transmit your voice from the remote to an onboard speaker (a one way walkie talkie). He has a digital clock as well as a cassette player that pops out of his chest. That cassette player can be used, with a blank cassette tape, to record his physical movements and play those commands back at a later time selected by the digital clock (pretty resourceful use of the magnetic strip of a cassette tape). http://www.theoldrobots.com/robiesr.html
First idea I had was to try and keep Robie Sr’s original functions in tact. Like a timecapsule for those that remember the original or for those that never experienced a home-robot from the 80’s. The question I have for this idea is how easy is it to take control of a robot while leaving the original circuits intact? What would I even search for in forums and websites–Hacking, splicing, pirating a circuit? 
Second idea is that I can upgrade him similar to this Make Project:
http://makezine.com/projects/robot-resu … -part-one/
I have a solid background in arduino as a hobbiest. I thought some AdaFruit Neopixel Rings for eyes would be exciting, Possibly some way to replicate the Larson Scanner eye from BSG.
Aside from my main question, how to I find resources that allow me to hack/pirate his original circuits, I would love to hear addition ideas that don’t involve a full gutting and rebuild of my little friend.
Thanks for all the support. I have been a longtime fan and forum reader.
I suspect there’s no schematic available, though I did find a parts list from RS. I’m afraid to say what I would do is almost a full gutting of your lil friend, at least a brain-ectomy and a new nervous system, leaving the muscles and bones in place. That is replace everything except to motors and treads/wheels and the structure. An Arduino can so much more than whatever circuitry there was in place, that it’s not worth the time trying to figure it all out. It should be easy to figure out the motors (my guess, basic DC) and replace whatever H bridge drivers are on the original PWB with new ones you can figure out how to control. There after replace (and add) whatever peripherals you want. Ditto for new input sensors. Perhaps the cassette becomes an SD card ?
Perhaps the biggest challenge is keeping the digital clock display … and perhaps a new OLED display is in order ?
That makes a lot of sense. I’ve already replaced his lights with LEDs. His head is nearly empty. It just has three LEDs. Lots of room for a pan/tilt setup with sonar or a camera as input. Actually, the entire robot has lots of room for new equipment.
The clock was originally setup as almost a completely separate device. It has it’s own battery and just a 4 wire jumper cable with, GND, 1.5v, In, and Out wires connecting to the PCB. The service manual has complete parts lists and schematics. http://www.theoldrobots.com/images7/RobieService1.pdf
What kind of wireless control would have a straight forward learning curve for me? I’ve seen a lot of options–RF, Wifi, Bluetooth, Infrared. I am really good at picking apart an example code and making it work for my purpose. Do any of those wireless communication methods have a great deal of online support and coding examples. As stated before, I absolutely want the same functions as the original, but adding more human robot interaction would be good. Maybe a mix of autonomous interaction with simple IR control as a way to replicate his original functions.
Thanks Mee_n_Mac for the input.
aharron:
The clock was originally setup as almost a completely separate device. It has it’s own battery and just a 4 wire jumper cable with, GND, 1.5v, In, and Out wires connecting to the PCB. The service manual has complete parts lists and schematics. http://www.theoldrobots.com/images7/RobieService1.pdf
So you could leave it as it is. Or perhaps schedule it for an "upgrade" later in life.
aharron:
What kind of wireless control would have a straight forward learning curve for me?
I'm not sure but given the original had command uplink (for actions) via a 49MHz link and a voice link via ???, my thoughts turn to a Bluetooth replacement. Alas I'm no BT expert so I can't much help you there.