An Interactive Presentation Using the Presentabot

Overview

special nuts and screws designed for use in oneinch extruded aluminum. To make the robot look
The Presentabot is a robot that interactively
presents information through the use of audio and more humanoid, the back makes about a 55 degree
video. This robot can be used by any high-school angle with the base. This makes it look a lot like
E.T., the extraterrestrial.
student or manager interested in a more
entertaining way to do presentations. The original To hide most of the wires seen in Figure 1,
purpose of the robot was to hand out gifts and greet Presentabot would wear a shirt appropriate for each
customers visiting a company's trade show booth. presentation he was going to. This would also make
After its first demonstration, it was decided to add him more approachable and kid-friendly for use
voice and video capabilities for added functionality. with middle and high school presentations.
Presentabot stands about four feet tall and is two
foot wide. The Presentabot utilizes two Arduino
Mega micro-controllers, a PlayStation 2 controller,
a Yamaha sound cube, and a Western Digital
MediaTV to allow for many different types of
presentations. This is achieved by loading the
MediaTV with your audio and video files using a
flash drive, and using an HDMI or VGA computer
cable attached to a TV or projector for the video.
The Presentabot is made up of many sub-sections:
head, body, brain, arms, hands, wheels, power
bank, communication, and controls. Each will be
covered in its own section to follow.

Head
The face is a white Yamaha sound cube with a
mouth and eye assembly. The sound cube is
attached to the back with a specially-made bracket
that allows the head to pivot with the use of a servo
motor. For the mouth, a rectangular piece of 1/8inch aluminum was cut, bent, and painted with red
lips to look more human.
The eye assembly is made out of 1/64-inch
unpainted steel sheet that looks like two sets of
bent scissors. The eyelids are opened and closed
using another servo motor. The eyes are made of
white plastic with a pupil and cornea painted on.
The corneas come in green, blue, red, neon yellowgreen and brown. Eye movement is achieved with
an attached grey eye ring that is joined to a set of xy coordinated servo motors. This gives the eyes an
up or down and left or right movement.

Body
The base, back, and shoulders are made out of
pieces of one-inch square extruded aluminum that
are painted black. The parts are held together with

Figure 1: Presentabot at a show.

Source: Rockwell Trade Show Robot

advanced controller than the PlayStation 2's

controller would allow for more advanced hand
Brain
For the brains of the robot, a set of Arduino Mega manipulation. This can be requested for an
micro-controllers was selected. A micro-controller additional charge with the PAB3 kit. A third party
is a small device that is programmed using Atmel option is also available online, but end-user
C. A micro-controller can be used for the control of programming would then be required for
integration. The PAB3 hand is shown in Figure 2.
sensors, motors, audio manipulation, discrete
switch control, and serial communication. These This hand is about six inches long from palm to
middle finger tip.
allow for voice timing, movement coordination,
and automated PowerPoint presentations while also
allowing manual control to not interrupt normal
operation. The interface between the first Arduino,
the MediaTV, and the movement servos take about
25 input/output ports. This leaves only a few ports
for the PlayStation 2 control and voice-sampling
software to run. By using a secondary Arduino that
is serially connected to the first, the PlayStation 2
control and voice-sampling software can be used to
Figure 2: i-limb Ultra hand
seamlessly run a presentation without being
Source: Touch bionics i-limb Ultra
overworked.
The second Arduino talks to the MediaTV though Wheels
serial commands. When the MediaTV sends back Mobility was made possible by using gearboxes
an end of folder command, the presentation is
attached to heavy duty grey rubber wheels in the
considered finished by the robot. This allows
back, and white hard plastic wheels in the front.
multiple presentations to be loaded for all-day
These gearboxes are attached to the robot base
presenting; without requiring user input to start
using four 1/4-inch screws. A 60-to-1 ratio hard
each presentation past the first.
plastic gearbox is used in conjunction with a 600size motor to achieve medium-paced movement.
This type of gearbox set can also be found in Power
The arms are made out of two pieces of 3/4-inch Wheels kid's cars. The motor is powered using a
square unpainted extruded aluminum. They are also hobby motor speed controller and a 8.4-volt switchheld together using special nuts and screws
mode power supply that runs off the power bank.
designed to be used in 3/4-inch extruded aluminum.
Arm movement is accomplished by using a 30-to-1 Power Bank
ratio metal gearbox attached to a 300-size motor. Presentabot is powered by using two 12-volt, 18
To simplify controls, two metal plates and a control amp-hour, batteries that directly supply the arm
rod are used to extend the arm as it is raised. The motors, MediaTV, two switch-mode power
Presentabot version 3 kit includes an elbow motor supplies, and the sound cube.
to allow for more diverse arm movement. Motors An 8.4-volt, 10-amp, switch-mode power supply is
are then controlled by using an Arduino shield
used to take the 12-volt battery power and shift it to
made for motor control.
8.4-volts for use on the wheels. Another 5-volt, 15Presentabot comes standard with a set of three inch amp switch-mode power supply is used to take the
long aluminum claws for hands. The claw opens 12-volt battery power and shift it to 5-volts for use
and closes using a single servo motor. Claws were on the two Arduinos and all the servo motors.
chosen for their ease of use, and minimal
Presentabot version three has an extra switch-mode
programming and control complexity. A more
power supply that is at an end-user defined voltage.
human looking hand can be used as well if opening Version three also includes an extra set of two 12and closing the hand is the only goal. Using a more volt batteries bolted under the base. This gives the

Arms and Hands

robot roughly double the run time.

order form, for premium useability. Common

button selection for moving the robot is usually
selected to be the same for the directional buttons
Communications
The mouth has a servo that makes it chatter while on the keyboard as for the PlayStation 2 controls.
sound is being played through the sound box.
Presentabot's original voice was selected to sound Conclusion
like a child robot, and sounded almost like Astro Presentabot is a multi-function robot that can be
Boy. Its first voice was the designer's voice that
used for many applications; including an expensive
was digitally sped up to sound more like a robot. butler. Typical run times are about eight to nine
A spring is attached to the jaw of the mouth to hold hours, depending on the loudness needed for the
it shut when it's not talking. As Presentabot would presentation. With version three, run times of 18
be "talking", the lips would move to the loudness hours can be expected, for those really long days of
of the audio, to mimic normal speech. This is
presentations.
attained by the second Arduino sampling the
After Presentabot version one's 12th show, some
loudness of the sound coming out of the
kids came by and tore the arms off of the
MediaTV's audio port.
prototype's body. Figure 3 shows just how angry a
A Western Digital's MediaTV was chosen to be
smiling face can be with the right viewing angle.
used for its ability to take a command signal to
open files and start presentations stored on it.
Western Digital's MediaTV allows for up to 32
gigabytes of sound and video to be stored on the
robot for use in presentations. The MediaTV also
allows for up to an additional 16 gigabytes of data
by using a flash drive in its provided USB port.
There is also a separate set of USB ports for a
dedicated mouse and keyboard to be attached to the
MediaTV.

Controls
Presentabot versions one and two are controlled by
a PlayStation 2 controller that interfaces with two
Arduino Megas. 'Start' starts and stops
presentations loaded on the MediaTV device.
'Select' makes Presentabot do a dance. 'Square'
moves the eyes left. 'Circle' moves the eyes right.
'Triangle' moves the eyes up. 'X' moves the eyes
down. 'L1' makes the robot look surprised. 'L2'
makes the robot blink. 'R1' makes the robot laugh.
'R2' makes the robot roll its eyes. Left stick raises
the left arm up and down. Left stick's button opens
and closes the left arm's claw. Right stick raises the
right arm up and down. Right stick's button opens
and closes the right arm's claw. The directional
buttons move the robot forward, back, turn left, and
turn right.
Presentabot version three is controlled by small
specially-made keyboard with 20 buttons for
controls. The buttons are end-user defined in the

Figure 3: Presentabot angry at arm loss

Source: Rockwell Trade Show Robot