It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and is quite powerful. At its heart is an ATMEGA168 chip which comes pre-programmed and can easily be re-programmed as it it basically an Arduino project. Yes it even has the bootloader.
The machine also has a small prototyping area and masts for mounting larger prototyping areas. The board is designed so every pin of the processor can easily be tapped into so the machine is a very friendly to hackers and circuit benders. It's a perfect robotic project base or you can just enjoy it as is, as a desk top robot toy.
More details about the robot can be found here:
And just for fun I threw in a bit of SpeakJet fun too
Nice one! I think you have come up with a very clever integrated solution using the PCB as various structural components. I also like the method of mounting the servo horns. Of course they may not be as strong as screws, but it makes it so much simpler, and reduces the number of necessary fasteners.
Your instructions are also very good too - they give a very good amount of information, e.g. the LED orientation, servo pinouts etc.
Does the large-ish number of individual PCB bits (e.g. the separate voltage regulator board) add to the cost of manufacture?
May I make a suggestion or two? They are very much in the spirit of constructive criticism.
[1] The instructions .pdf file is great, but it's a huge file. A "reduce file size" operation in Acrobat for me reduced it from 16.1MB to 7.6MB. That's help your server yeah?
[2] On your website and this post refer to the micro controller as a "AtMega163", but the instructions call out an "AtMega168". I assume you are using a '168 - the '163 is not pin compatible. Worth updating the website to avoid confusion.
Re: the leg attachment method. it's actually really strong. My prototype used epoxy glue but that was brittle. You could use tiny nuts and bolts instead if you like but I've found the wires to be quite effective. the thing has walked off the table and crashed to the floor many times. worst it suffered was crumpled antenna. You just have to be sure there's no shake in the joint when you first attach it.
