Project SolarBot - aka "Rob"

One of the projects that I was finally able to start this year was SolarBot. Technically he is the first "sun chaser". Well, let's start from the beginning. Since the dawn of time, or at least the creation of solar panels, we have had a problem. How do we maximize our harvests? So far the answer is either we don't, or we use a "sun tracker". Obviously, we want to harvest as much as possible, but "sun trackers" only work up to a point. In the realm of "guerrilla solar" they are huge, clunky, barely "better than nothing" solutions. So I started building "SolarBot" aka "Rob". He wound up being dubbed "Rob" because I started using him to prototype different concepts, not just chasing the sun.

His purpose is to follow the sun or at least move himself to maintain the most sun exposure, to recharge batteries, or perhaps act as a mobile power circuit. When I get a chance I will show you the path he will ultimately have to traverse. For now, his range will be only about 30 feet. Why does he have to move at all? While I don't know about the rest of you, I happen to live in this place called the real world. As such, and as you can tell by the photo, we have trees. Trees cast shade. Cutting down the tree is not feasible, as I live in the desert, and I rely heavily on my big tree to make life bearable in the summer. This also makes a problem for solar. It means that as the shade moves, so must my panels.

Anyway back to "Rob". I misspoke in one of my early posts about how many lead acid batteries I have. I said I had 1, but I actually have 2. "Rob's" main system battery is a 10amph SLA. This is a must, because I still haven't figured out the hot box for the battery. Lithium batteries can't handle the winters here without being heated, because the wind chill can bring the temperatures down to -65 Fahrenheit or colder. His body was the big experiment here. I wanted to see if I could find an "off the shelf" solution. I always had this idea of using an RC car. That's how I started my first robot on fire many years ago. Yes, Rob's body is a giant RC Car! I created a rig to hold the platform for his solar panel, that's the big black board. The board is actually covered in rubber, not paint. The original idea was that he would be able to change the pitch of the panel, but it's not really necessary, because I live very near the 40th parallel. My panels can be flat on the ground and still be very close to "ideal" (I need to make an edit here; The panels do still perform better at an angle, but like always it depends on season and location.).  I use what I call a "Surveyors Panel" to check my angles. Maybe I'll show you how to make one some day. Anyway as soon as I get it, I'm going to use an arduino as the brain to make him move. At least at first. An arduino doesn't have a reliable "real time clock" so that won't work in the long term. I do have to get a new motor controller for him. I burned his RC controller out, getting him from the shop to the house. It was just a cheap chinese pos. It's really just a 15 amp relay board, not a proper motor controller. I image that we looked pretty stupid, carrying this 60lb car, with a black board on it, home.

Yes, there is still a lot of work to do on him. I'll try to keep some kind of an update going. Who knows, maybe one day he will do what he's supposed to do.