GOOD BOT

Good Bot is not a toy that talks. It is how we test one thing: can a printed structure plus off-the-shelf electronics become an object you want to leave on a desk? It turns. It does not walk well yet.

A desktop robot turns into a parts display very easily. Close the shell and the mechanism disappears. Take the shell off and you are left with a bare board. We wanted the middle: gears you can see, and a thing you can pick up.

1. 01

   Set the track and the center of gravity before the shell. Reverse that order and the robot is only a shell.

2. 02

   The gears stay on the front. Yellow is what moves. Black is structure.

3. 03

   The camera sits near the center of rotation, so it looks at you instead of at the floor.

The first gears locked. The second version turns, but it sounds like a machine that would rather not. We opened the backlash and gave the motor a little space from the shell. It is still in the Lab, because we have not decided how it should walk.

There is no final design yet. This is the version we are willing to photograph: the shell, the gears, and the wheels are printed, and the electronics were bought. The files go public when it actually walks.

Material

PLA, PETG for the gears

Layer

0.16 mm gears / 0.20 mm shell

Walls

4

Infill

30% for the gears

Supports

A few, on the shell

Clearance

0.25 mm backlash to start

1. 01

   Fit the gear train first and turn it by hand. There should be no tight spot.

2. 02

   Then fix the motor. Do not drive the screws deep into the print.

3. 03

   Close the shell last. If the sound changes, the shell is pinching a gear.

Scale

About a mug

Drive

Two wheels, gears outside

Electronics

Small board + motors

Status

In the lab, no files yet

• Not yet. The structure is still changing.