Help Me Release Filipino Open Source Robotics

TLDR;

Hello there! I'm Alfred , a Computer Engineering student here in the University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman Campus. I want to ask for your help in building Pandayan Robotics, the first Open source hardware company here in the Philippines.

What is Open-source?

Through Pandayan Robotics I will be releasing my designs, firmware and documentation on how to replicate my own autonomous robots , Itak (Completely Home made) and Karit (Partially Manufactured) . I intend to provide donor subsidized kits, which contain parts for Karit, for beginners to purchase to help them get started. On top of this I will be teaching open-source robotics through a Youtube channel and multiple workshops and competitions organized by my affiliated organization , UP Engineering Radio Guild (UP ERG) .

Where will your Money go?

The Goal of this Campaign will be to subsidize 100 pcs the Mentioned kits in order for them to be more accessible to the public. Each Kit currently costs Php 2500 (Retail) and through this campaign I will be able to reduce that cost to about Php 1000 (Retail).

At the same time, this Campaign will help me build a team to release documentation, make tutorial videos, conduct workshops and participate in tech-faires in the Philippines. We hope to participate in next year's "Make Faire Manila" in order to showcase the possibilities of Open Source Robotics in an exhibit of my own.

My current open-source robots

Both my existing robots, Itak and Karit , are autonomous line following robots whose main function is perform line tracing and maze solving on a line maze. Both were heavily inspired by other existing robots, especially the 3pi Robot by pololu, thus they are both 2WD and use N20 Motors. To keep things short I will simply Bullet point their differences below:

Karit

• Chasis is completely made of PCB manufactured in china
• Also uses N20 Motors screwed onto the PCB.
• Uses 5 CNY70 sensor circuits that are free to be configured.
• Features a sensor circuit inspired by the Pololu 3pi Robot.
• Arduino Based

Above is the Current version (v2) of Karit. You can see that I designed it specifically so you can tell which parts are which and what they do by just looking at them

Since Karit is designed to solve Line Mazes, it features 5 CNY70 line sensor (The black boxes) you can use to sense the maze

Itak

• Chasis made part from Prototyping board and part Popsicle sticks
• Uses N20 Motors screwed into Prototyping board
• Uses Pololu QTR-8RC line sensor module
• Uses 2x CNY70 sensors to sense turns in the maze
• Can run off of a small powerbank or battery.
• Arduino Based.

A picture of Itak while I was testing out new batteries I had salvaged from a broken powerbank

Above is an embedded picture of an assembled Itak during one of my workshops organized by my affiliated org UP ERG

Milestones

To enumerate the things I want to accomplish within the year (2019), I bullet-ed them below:

• donate 100 donor subsidized kits
• Teach 5 Workshops with sample Robots
• Purchase 3D Printer to reduce costs of the Subsidized kits
• Donate to and Create Partnerships with other organizations in Universities and High schools in Metro Manila.

The future of this campaign

After the first year of this campaign I'd like to make more open-source robots to release. Among them are an open-source PCB plotting machine called Hasaan (already in development) to allow people to manufacture their own PCBs using the etching method.

My background and motivation

Tinkering and Electronics has long been my passion since I was a kid. I learned so much from watching my father work his magic as a tinker himself (P.S we come from 3 generations of blacksmiths). At about 2 years into my degree, I realized that there might be a lot of people like me out there that love to learn and would gladly teach themselves how to make things if only the tools necessary to do so are available. And if only those tools were available to them.

Through meeting other Engineering students like me (from other Universities) I found that the lack of affordable means to teach ourselves about technology and robotics hinders the majority of people. Thus I've decided to take things into my own hands and be the change I want to see. I decided to start teaching Robotics for free through UP ERG's annual flagship event Synergy. All things were well and good however I quickly realized that the topic of Robotics is simply too broad to learn without an actual Robot on hand , thus, I am here writing to you today.

A group picture with me (Center in a Stripped long-sleeve shirt) after teaching a robotics workshop for UP ERG's flagship event Synergy