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Head Assembly

The head assembly serves as the head and face of our rover. It houses a 16x32 fully programmable 7 color LED matrix which we use as a display. The head can be used to show different faces and give your robot a personality, or even to show status and metrics about your rover (power, controller connectivity, battery level, etc)!

1. Features

  • 3D printed components allows easy assembly; the housing was designed to be modular and printed separately, then fit together.
  • Fully programmable 7-color LED matrix
  • Custom PCB handles the switching the digital signal level between the Raspberry Pi and the LED matrix

2. Information about module

Author/Creator JPL
Cost without 3D printer 97.80
Cost with 3D printer 84.90
Date Added 4/11
Group/Organization/School JPL
Time to build 2 hrs

2.1 Skills

  • Band Saw/Dremel
  • Drill Press/Hand Drill

2.2 Tools

2.2.1 Mandatory

  • Band saw or Dremel
  • Drill press or Hand Drill
  • Allen Key set
  • Imperial Wrench Set
  • Soldering Iron

2.2.2 Optional

2.3 Dependencies on Other Modules:

  • None

2.4 Mechanical Interface/Attachments to Rover:

  • None

3. 3D Printing

There are a few components that need to be 3D printed to make the head assembly. You can find the STL files necessary for these prints in the mechanical/head_assembly/3d_printed_parts folder of the repository.
Figure 1: 3D Printed Parts

If you do not have a 3D printer there are a number of online 3D printing services available, an example of which can be found at:

Print the "head base.STL" piece from the 3d Printed head

4. Laser Cutting

There is an acrylic plate which mounts the arduino into the head, as well as a back plate for the panel of the head. The 2D cutout files are the .DXF files and can be found in the GitHub repository at Laser cut parts. If you do not have access to a laser cutting there is an online service in which you can order these from below:

To get the above parts from Sculpteo, go to Laser cutting and then upload the .DXF files (make sure you select mm as units!). Hit Next. Make sure scale is set to 100%, change the material to Acrylic, set thickness to 1/8 inch, and then select whatever color you wish.

5. Machining/Fabrication

Item Ref Qty Image
1" PVC Pipe S29 1
Metal Hacksaw or Bandsaw D4 1
Vice clamp or C clamps D5 1

5.1 Cutting the PVC Pipe:

Take the PVC pipe S29 (this will be the ”neck” of the rover) and cut it down to 4.5 inches long.

6. Mechanical/Structural Assembly

Item Ref Qty Image Item Ref Qty Image
3D-printed Clamping Hub for 1" PVC Pipe S24 1 #6-32 x 3/8" Button Head Screw B2 4
PVC Pipe (Modified ) S29A 1 #4-40x 1/4" Button Head Screw B8 12
Laser Cut Head Back Panel S42 1 M2.5 x 6mm Socket Head Screw B10 8
3D printed Head S43 1 M3 x 6mm Socket Head Cap screw B14 6
Laser Cut Arduino Plate S44 1 Arduino Shield PCB E2 1
#4-40 Heat set insert I1 8 #6-32 Heat set insert I2 6
Arduino Uno E24 1 #6-32 x 5/8" Button Head Screw B4 2
M2.5 x 10mm Standoff T10 4 LED Matrix E37 1
#6 Washer W1 2

6.1 Assemble the Arduino Stack

Begin by stacking together the Arduino Uno E24, Arduino Shield E2, Standoffs T10, Screws B10, and Arduino Plate S44 and fastening them as shown in figure 2 & figure 3.
Figure 2 Figure 3

6.2 Inserting the Heat set inserts

6.2.1 3D-printed head

Insert the # 4-40 Heat Set Inserts I1 into the 3D printed head (using a Solder Iron at 460 degrees F) in the locations shown in Figures 4 and 5. For more information on using heat set inserts, see:
Figure 4 Figure 5
Figure 6 Figure 7

6.2.2 3D-printed PVC clamping hub

  • Insert the #6-32 Heat Set Inserts I2 into the 3D-printed clamping hub S51 in the locations shown in Figure 8. The inserts on the side of the clamp should go in from the left side as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8

6.3 Assemble and Mount the PVC clamping hub

6.3.1

Using washers W1, insert screws B4 into clamp part of the clamping hub and screw part of the way into the brass inserts. Inserting these screws now simplifies inserting the pipe later.
Figure 9

6.3.2

Using screws B2, attach the completed PVC clamping hub to the bottom of the 3D printed head.
Figure 10 Figure 11

6.4 Attach PVC Pipe

Slot the PVC pipe S29 into the clamping hub and then tighten down the screws on the clamping hub
Figure 12

6.5 Attaching the LED Matrix

Attach the LED Matrix E37 to the front of the head assembly using Screws B14.
Figure 13 Figure 14

6.6 Mount the Arduino Stack

Take the Arduino Plate assembly and mount it using screws B8 to the heat set inserts on the posts inside the head as shown in Figure 15
Figure 15 Figure 16

6.7 Back Plate Attachment

Attach the Laser Cut Back Plate S42 onto the back of the head assembly using screws B2.
Figure 17 Figure 18

The head is now finished!