HOW TO MAKE AN AMAZING ROBOT COW SCARECROW

I recently created Moo-Bot, a robot cow scarecrow jumping over the moon, for a local scarecrow competition.

My inspiration was from my son singing "hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle..."

The project was a lot of fun to work on with my son, and I would love to share it with others for inspiration on their own projects this Fall.

You can read the complete details on my blog post about Moo-Bot here:

http://www.justmeasuringup.com/blog/robot-scarecro...

Press his button and see him come to life!

I used TinkerCAD to mock up my design.

Build a rigid frame to support your robot's body, as well as to store your electrical components. Sheet metal will wrap this frame and make it rain proof.

You'll want to have a power switch to activate the robot. Although mine is inside the body, I can still access it fairly easily from underneath.

Construct a wooden frame for the head.

Carefully put pieces of sheet metal to fit the head and attach to frame with screws. Take note to overlap pieces that may leave openings for rain to seep in.

Here's a clever way to mount some eyes in your robot's head.

Fold two rectangular sheet metal panels into U shapes as seen in the picture.

Connect the two boxes from prior step to form the large body of your robot cow. I used small nuts/bolts to connect the sheets. You could use rivets if you're up for that.

Connect the sheet metal housing to the body frame with screws. You should also cut out a large access panel on the rear of the body. This will make it easy to access your electrical components once the robot is fully assembled. Cover the access panel with another piece of sheet metal and screw that into the frame.

If you have the tools, I would suggest creating a plug and play method of connecting the electronics from the head to the body. I made the head easily detachable from the body by repurposing some computer power supply adapters so I could plug/unplug the head.

Although the robot body was not that heavy, I didn't want to risk the post snapping from a strong gust of wind. So reinforce the post with some metal.

Use a jigsaw and cut a round moon from some wood. Sand the edges smooth, paint it, and attach to the post. I also added some string LED lights around the moon, and wired it to the body.

Here is my complete circuit diagram for Moo-Bot.

Get the circuit working to your satisfaction before installing in robot. It's a lot easier to solve issues when the circuit is sitting right on your desk.

Press Moo-Bot's button and enjoy his jokes!

Remember to read the complete details of the Moo-Bot build at http://www.justmeasuringup.com/blog/robot-scarecro...