About

The Team

Jaidyn
Creator of PopPet

Tilea
Assistant Designer

I'm Jaidyn Edwards, the creator of PopPet. I'm a blogger, teacher, writer and YouTuber on the subject of Robotics. I have been making video tutorials since 2012 teaching newcomers the basics of robotics. My previous experience also involves writing the Core-Electronics blog, volunteer teaching Robotics and Computer Programming at a local High School and giving presentations on 3D printing.

Hello, my name is Tilea and I am an assistant designer and consultant with PopPet. I have no previous experience with robotics, but I offer a different perspective on things and give advice on issues that may effect those new to robotics. My previous experience involves volunteer catering at clubs and work experience at a local primary school.

What is PopPet?

PopPet is a fun and easy to build educational robotics platform for all ages.

The problem with many educational robotics platforms is that they restrict how much you can actually modify them. Most come pre-assembled and sealed, not allowing any access to the inner workings whatsoever. How can you learn robotics without knowing what makes up a robot? PopPet is different however. PopPet is a fully Open Hardware DIY robot kit that allows students or hobbyists alike to learn what goes into making a robot. Not only will you learn how to make a robot from scratch, you can also customize PopPet's looks to suit you by changing out the faceplate.

One of the main design features of PopPet is the interchangeable faceplates. The faceplates allow PopPet to express different personalities or moods. Want PopPet to be suprised, sad, happy or even turn PopPet into a cat? There's faceplates for that! You can browse the store to view the ever expanding amount of faceplates on offer.

What can PopPet do?

PopPet can do whatever you want!

PopPet can do whatever you are capable of programming. But don't fear, PopPet comes with plenty of example codes and tutorials to get you started. Even if you are new to robotics and programming, with the tutorials you will get PopPet avoiding obstacles in no time.

Here is an example of PopPet avoiding some obstacles:

But not bumping into things is not all PopPet can do!

What's inside PopPet?

Whilst PopPet does look great on the outside, it’s what’s in the inside that counts.

In terms of actuation PopPet uses two Little Black Duck DC Motors. These LBD’s come in a servo form factor making them very easy to mount. They are quite quick and come with handy jumper cable connectors.

To ‘see’ PopPet uses the HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Distance Sensor. Using this sensor essentially means PopPet ‘sees’ just like a bat. It sends out an ultrasonic wave using one ‘eye’ and waits for it to return on the other. When this wave is heard we can calculate how far away an object is by using a simple mathematical formula.

For the ‘brains’ PopPet uses the DAGU Mini Driver V2 (aka. S4A EDU Controller). This is a great board as it has a small form factor, is Arduino Duemilanove compatible and has an on-board H-bridge. Having an H-Bridge on-board means we can control two DC motors without any additionally circuitry.

Technical specifications:

Mini Driver:

16MHz ATmega328P processor with 32K flash
Input voltage range: 6V ~ 9V
Low dropout voltage: 250mV @ 500mA, 450mV @ 1A
Onboard high-performance dual 2.5A independent MOSFET H-bridge motor driver
PWM motor speed control
Bluetooth module interface (standard Otani Electronics Bluetooth module)
Onboard USB to serial chip
MOSFET anti-reverse circuit
Power/Signal Interface available on all IO

Little Black Duck Geared Motor

Input Voltage: 3V~6V
No load current at 5V: 110mA ±10%
Stall current at 5V: 650mA ±10%
Speed (No load at 5V): 100RPM ±10%
Torque at 6V: 2Kg/cm maximum
Weight: 9.1g

HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Range Finder

Detecting distance: 2-400cm
Input Voltage: 5V
Working Current: 15mA
Measuring Angle: 15 degrees
Trigger Input Signal: 10uS TTL pulse
Echo Output signal: Input TTL signal and the range in proportion