My Little Kikiro Project
Alright, so I wanted to share what I’ve been up to lately. Got this idea, called it Kikiro in my head, just a little something I was tinkering with. Had some old bits and pieces lying around in the garage – you know, small wheels, a couple of tiny motors, a basic circuit board thingy. Nothing fancy.
So, I thought, why not try sticking them together? See if I could make something that moves on its own. Wasn’t really aiming for anything useful, just wanted to see if I could pull it off.
First step, just getting the wheels onto the motors and figuring out how to attach them to a base. I used a piece of hard plastic I cut out. Looked rough, really rough. Wires everywhere. Soldering those little motor connections was a pain, my hands aren’t as steady as they used to be.
Then came the brain part, that little board. Had to figure out how to tell it to make the motors spin. Dug up some old instructions online, cobbled together some simple commands. Just basic stuff: go forward, maybe turn a bit. Took me ages.
- Tried making it go straight. It kept veering off to the left.
- Adjusted the speed for one wheel. Then it veered right.
- Fiddled with the code for hours, felt like I was getting nowhere.
- Finally got it moving mostly straight, but then it just crashed into walls. Obviously.
That was frustrating. I almost gave up. But then I found a couple of simple bump sensors, like little switches. Added those to the front. More messy wiring. More code tweaking. The idea was simple: if it bumps into something, back up a little, turn, and try going again.
Getting that logic right took another evening. Lots of trial and error. It would bump, turn directly into another obstacle, get stuck in corners. Pretty dumb, honestly.
Making it ‘Do’ Something
After I got it moving around without constantly getting stuck (well, mostly), I thought, maybe it could do something. Found a small brush head, the kind for cleaning keyboards. Glued it underneath, between the wheels. Lowered the whole thing a bit so the brush actually touched the floor.
So now, Kikiro just wanders around bumping into things, spinning its little brush. Does it clean? Barely. Pushes around dust bunnies more than picking them up. It’s noisy too, with those cheap motors whining.
But you know what? It works. I took a pile of junk and made something that moves according to instructions I gave it. It’s clumsy, inefficient, and pretty pointless. But I made it. Went through the whole process: had an idea, gathered parts, assembled it, coded it, debugged it, tested it, improved it a tiny bit. That whole journey, that’s the good part. Kept my mind and hands busy. That’s my Kikiro story.
