The Robostool is at Your Feet’S Beck and Call

July 31st, 2008 by: Karen M.

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The RoboStool is a homemade robotic footstool that’s ready and willing to support your tired tootsies whenever you summon it. It’s a little reminiscent of the Take A Seat robotic chair but differs in that it uses 3 different modes of control.

RoboStool has three modes- universal remote, beacon navigation, and thermal sensor following. This video demonstrates the beacon navigation. It looks a little scary when the footstool springs into action, but then again, robots springing into action are always inherently a little scary, no?

To explain how he turned this cheap vinyl footstool into this robotic wonder, the creator says, “As with all my current robot projects I’m using the Parallax Propeller Chip on a Proto Board. For the drive I’m using the new Parallax Motor Mount Kit and two HB-25 motor controllers. A third HB-25 is used to control the two ServoCity linear actuators which are used to raise and lower the body and lid.” (Hopefully you understood some of those words because I’m not sure I did.)

This is the latest project from Norris Labs. You can get the schematics to build your very own RoboStool, and learn about previous projects, right here.

[via Make:]