The bigger project context

So what exactly am I trying to achieve?

The Arduino Due

First of all I was (and still am) a noob in electronics, robotics and 3D printing.
My hunger for knowledge drove me to the internet to search for some tutorials and the first encounter I had was with the Arduino prototyping board.

The programmer background I have, made for an instant hook. I began to further explore the possibilities of this small piece of wonder and got to the electronic part and the programming tutorials.

I also found out that prototype desktop 3D printers where using the Arduino as controller and so did various other robotic projects. The 3D printing avenue seemed even more appealing since it was still in its infancy (2011).

Makerbot Thing-o-Matic

That's when I decided to buy a Makerbot Thing-o-Matic 3D printer kit.

Ultimaker

Later on, beginning 2013, I also bought the Ultimaker 3D printer assembly kit because the evolution of build volume and electronics has been huge in those two years time.




In this Blog I will let you in on my adventures (failures...) with building and operating both 3D printers and, if time permits, the side projects linked to 3D printing and robotics programming. (read refinement, alignment, calibration, a lot of patience....)

The end goal: A completely autonomous Robot that solves the 3D printed Towers of Hanoi

My ultimate goal is to have a completely autonomous Robot that goes to the correct 3D printed tower (there are three of them) and takes the correct 3D printed disc to place it on the correct tower.

For you people who are not familiar with "the towers of Hanoi" please have a look HERE. This is a classic for beginning programmers to solve.  I would like to have 4 disks (so it means that the robot needs to solve it in 15 steps (2 to the n - 1 where n = number of disks)). Each disk is a little smaller than its predecessor and you can only move 1 disk at a time being sure that a bigger disk is never put on a smaller one on any of the three towers.

For the moment I am busy with the first part: getting a working 3D printer to design and print the disks and the towers. If you look on youtube for the towers of Hanoi you can find static robots (Lego or other robotic arms) solving the problem. But I did not come across an autonomous robot. It surely is a big challenge given the sensors needed and the programming.

So if you have any ideas how this could be done or you already did something similar with successful results, please let me know by reacting!! All tips and suggestions are more than welcome!!

Usefull links:

RepRap where it all started  ==>  Click HERE.

Makerbot can be found HERE, and Ultimaker HERE.
The full picture set of my ToM can be found HERE.
The full picture set of my Ultimaker can be found HERE.