Build a mop robot !

Wash you floor while drinking a beer!

A cheap one

version française

Washing the floor with mop can be boring....

Here I design a little very very simple and stupid robot which can effectively (and quietly) wash floors. No microprocessor! no computer! only one relay (it can perhaps being suppressed!)

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How does it work?

There are 2 x 12V DC motors, each one attached to one rubber wheel. There are also rechargeable batteries, a plug and some components for charging, a (brown) plastic box to receive a normal standard sponge. Another translucid plastic box to receive water and liquid soap (empty on the picture). The 2 boxes (glued) are connected together through a hole partially closed with a screw in such a way soap water pour drop by drop to the sponge.

One important thing: the sort of gray bumpers are connected together with a green piece of epoxy and the 2 bumpers and the epoxy plate can move from left to right  (about 2cm) and push an electrical switch:

• If left bumper touch the wall (or anything), bumpers move from left to right, electrical switch is pushed, relay is on and wheels rotation is reversed.
• If rigt bumper touch the wall (or anything), bumpers move from right to left, electrical switch is released, relay is off and wheels rotation is normal.

That means that robot make non stop left to rigt, right to left, left to right...

But, in fact, diodes and a resistor connected in series with motors means right motors turns a little bit faster than left one in normal way and the opposite in reverse way. That means that robot make big circle's arcs in such a way it is able to wash all the room. (for rigt motor, 2 diodes are connected together in // and in the opposite way but one is serially connected to a little resistor. All that is serially connected to the motor. For left motor 2 diodes are connected together in // and in the opposite way but without resistor) 

For a 15 m2 bedroom for example, going everywhere (include under the bed and furniture) can take a little hour. But relax! take a beer, sit in a comfortable armchair and quietly look the robot doing the job!

This robot is simple and stupid but believe me: it's efficient! Of course, not as efficient as a human being but robot washes and washes the same point many times and now, you can wash your bedroom floor every day (do you do it today? under the bed?)

Bottom view:

Yes, it is a bottom view, not a top one.

From left to right

• Left mobile bumper
• 8 AAA NiCd rechargeable batteries and, in the middle, some wires with 12V 1A relay and switch (not easy to see)
• A piece of lead against the motor to prevent wheels skating on wet floor
• The plastic box with it's standard sponge
• Right mobile bumper

Some comments

• Again, it's very quiet and efficient. 
• Of course, once the job done, you must wash the sponge
• Wheels must be in rubber or something to prevent skating on wet floors
• Robots is very compact and designed to go under pieces of furniture with minimum space (about 70 mm)

http://hpsoft.org/robots/fraccueil.htm

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