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My Weekend Project: Making a Robot Fetch a Toy Dog

So, I had this idea buzzing around in my head for a while. My actual dog, bless his heart, isn't always in the mood for fetch, but I still wanted something to retrieve toys. Yeah, I know, sounds a bit weird, but hey, keeps me busy. I decided I'd try and build a little robot thingy specifically to fetch one of those small, fluffy toy dogs.

First things first, I needed parts. I rummaged through my old project boxes. Found a basic wheeled robot chassis I bought ages ago, you know, the kind with two motors and a caster wheel. Dug out a Raspberry Pi Pico I wasn't using and a simple ultrasonic sensor for obstacle avoidance – didn't want it crashing into furniture right away.

Getting Started with Assembly

Putting the basic robot together was pretty straightforward. Screwed the motors onto the chassis, popped the wheels on. Attached the Pico and a motor driver board. Then came the sensor. I mounted the ultrasonic sensor on the front, hoping it would be enough to stop it bumping into walls. Wiring was a bit messy, lots of jumper wires going everywhere. Looked like spaghetti for a bit, not gonna lie.

Making it 'See' the Toy

Now, the tricky part: how to make it find the specific toy dog? I didn't want anything too complicated like actual computer vision. Too much hassle. I thought, what if I attach something simple to the toy? I ended up sticking a small, brightly colored piece of cardboard – bright orange – onto the toy dog's back. Then I got a basic color sensor. My plan was simple: roam around until you see orange, then go towards it.

Coding the Brains

I fired up my computer and started coding the Pico using MicroPython. It's pretty easy to pick up.

• First, I got the motors working – forward, backward, turn left, turn right. Simple stuff.
• Then, I integrated the ultrasonic sensor. If distance reading is too low, stop, back up a bit, turn, and try again. Basic wall avoidance.
• Next up, the color sensor. I programmed it to just wander randomly until the color sensor detected orange. When it saw orange, it was supposed to stop wandering and just drive straight towards it.
• Finally, I needed a 'fetch' mechanism. Again, keeping it simple. I attached a little scoop thing to the front, hoping it would just push the toy dog along or scoop it up slightly when it drove into it. No fancy grippers here.

Testing and Tweaking (Lots of Tweaking)

Okay, first run. Placed the toy dog in the middle of the room. Turned the robot on. It started moving... and promptly drove straight into a table leg. The ultrasonic sensor needed adjusting. Lowered the trigger distance.

Second try. It avoided the table this time, wandered around a bit. The color sensor wasn't very reliable at first. Lighting in the room made a big difference. Had to tweak the color detection values quite a bit. Sometimes it thought my beige carpet was orange-ish.

Eventually, it started working more consistently. It would roam, spot the orange tag on the toy dog, and head towards it. The 'scoop' wasn't great, honestly. It mostly just bulldozed the toy across the floor rather than 'fetching' it cleanly. But hey, it did move the toy!

Final Thoughts

So, after a weekend of tinkering, I have a little robot that can, somewhat clumsily, find and push a specific toy dog around. It's not perfect. The scoop needs a redesign, and the color detection could still be better. But it was fun to build! Just messing around with sensors and code, seeing it slowly come together. It mostly pushes the toy rather than fetches, but it kinda sorta works. Good enough for a weekend project, I reckon. Now, what to build next...