K-9

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K-9 was my first full-scale robot.  Before I get any further, I'll lay down the disclaimers:

1)  This was not an autonomous robot--it was radio-controlled. 

2)  This was intended to be a replica of the K-9 robot on the BBC television show "Doctor Who".  No copyright infringement or whatever was intended. 

3)  I was in my early teens when I made this thing, so gimme a break.

Nobody's actually given me any grief about any of the above matters--I just thought it best to head those issues off at the pass.

At any rate, the pictures below are of the last version of K-9 I built, Mk3.

Mk1 was *very* rough.  It was basically a silver trapezoid on top of an underpowered R/C car.  As I recall, that car was prone to interference, which made for some interesting (read: embarrasing) behavior.  It wasn't very glamorous, and I'm not sure if I have any pictures of it.  I actually named it K-9-2, out of respect for the original K-9 on "Doctor Who".  I built it while I was in the 6th grade, and I think I actually won 1st place in the Science Fair with it.  (If anyone from my past remembers otherwise, please correct me.)  It was basically constructed of corrugated cardboard.

Mk2 was a much better approximation of the original K-9.  The underpowered R/C car was replaced with a much more capable 4-wheel drive R/C truck.  I added some flashing LEDs on the back console, and the ears were able to rotate (manually).  The eye panel lit up, too.  The innards were accessable by removing K-9's starboard panel.   This one was also constructed of corrugated and non-corrugated cardboard (cheap and easy to work with).  I built it when I was in 7th grade.

Mk3 was basically a revision of Mk2.  The main body and R/C truck remained the same.  I built a new head, which was a more accurate recreation of the original K-9's head.  I also built a new back panel and used incadesent light bulbs.  The back panel also looked more like the original's.  Here comes the really good stuff--I added electronic goodies:

• I mounted an old, musical calculator thing in the back panel.  (I think it was called the Wizard, or something like that.  It originally came in a blue case, and each button on the keypad was a different musical note.  It had math games and such, and would play a song when you got the answers right.)  This thing had seen better days, and would do random things each time you turned it on.  I took it out of it's case, and replaced its power switch with a magnetic reed switch.  I mounted this reed switch near one of K-9's rear wheels, then glued a small magnet to that wheel's tire.  As K-9 moved, that magnet would pass the reed switch, and the calculator would beep and show random numbers/characters on the screen.  I thought that was so cool.  :)
• I ordered some electronic sound-activated switches from the back of a Popular Science (or similar) magazine.  These switches were used to control K-9's ears, which I had motorized (built my own mechanism and everything).  The ears would "scan" back and forth in the same manner as the TV version of K-9 (though a little bit faster). I also mounted a small green LED in each ear, and those LEDs would light up when the ears were in motion.  One switch turned the motors on/off, and the other controlled the LEDs.

I still have K-9 Mk3.  Poor thing's been sitting around for years and has fallen into a poor state of disrepair--especially after I scavenged his R/C truck to make Isaac.   I tried hooking up some batteries to see if I could at least get the lights working, but that was a bust.  :(  Perhaps a restoration project is in order.   (Probably not, since I'm pressed for time as it is...)

Here are some pics I took.  (I hope to take some better pics soon.  There wasn't quite enough light in the room when I took these, and my digital camera leaves a lot of yellow "artifacts" on pictures in low-light situations.)  Each picture is a thumbnail--click on it to see a larger version.

Front 3/4 shots, side view, and front view:

Close-up of Mk3's ears.

The back panel.

(Manually) telescoping "eye probe", just like the original (except the TV version was motorized).

The insides. 

This pic is looking up into the back panel.  (Please ignore the awfully nasty wiring.)  I actually made each light housing.  You can also see the mangled musical calculater sprawled above K-9's neck, and where the tail (made from an automobile radio antenna) meets his neck on the inside.  If you look closely, you can see that the back panel was made from a Raisin Bran cereal box!

K-9's dog tag (not thumbnails).  Company logo on the front (MECR:   Michael Eugene Carlson's Robots--not terribly creative, I know.  I was a kid--gimme a break.)  Engraving on the front was done by my friend Bill Brokhof, hence the small BB at the very bottom.   The backside contains the I.D. number, and I did it with a gold paint pen.   The I.D. number indicates the model number, revision number, and completion date.   Therefore, this K-9 is model 01, revision 03, completed July 28th, 1987.

I still have the Mk2 head, shown below.  The close-up of the ears shows that they look more like the TV version.

Here's an old pic of K-9 Mk3 back when in his prime (not a thumbnail).

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