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Archive for the ‘Balanduino’ Category

Full size DIY Balancing Robot

July 6th, 2014 124 comments

It has been quite a while since my last blog post, but I am finally ready to reveal what I have been working on the last months. Ever since I made my first balancing robot: http://blog.tkjelectronics.dk/2012/03/the-balancing-robot/ and the Balanduino I wanted to build myself a full size version which I would be able to ride just like a regular Segway.

Finally I decided to make one together with a good friend of mine Mads Friis Bornebusch in a course at my university DTU (Danish Technical University/Technical University of Denmark).

Video demonstration

Mechanical construction
The main frame is an aluminium checker plate that is 500x360x7mm which the motors are bolted onto. This width was chosen, so it would be able to go through a normal door opening. The motors used are two MY1020Z 500W, 24V, 12.6Nm brushed DC motors.

I ordered them from Germany, as I needed them right away, but you should be able to get them much cheaper by ordering them directly from China.

Below is an image of the aluminium checker plate after we have drilled the holes for the 8mm steel bolts. Note that these are countersunk, so they are flush with the surface. I would recommend using lock nuts to ensure that the bolts will stay in place – you can also use Loctite instead.

Aluminium checker plate - ready to mount the motors

Motor with hub


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Year 2013 for Thomas

January 25th, 2014 7 comments

thomasIt has been quite a while ago since my last post here at the Blog which is due to a lot of new things and changes that happened in the past year. So with the following post I would like to tell a bit about myself and why I haven’t been writing post so frequently.

“Who am I?”

Most of you probably don’t know a lot about either me or Kristian, but I thought it would be the right time now to give a better introduction about me and myself. I have mainly been keeping these details about myself private, due to my age and the difficulty in freelance work and consultancy when being a newly started company and now with an age of only 20 years.

“My name is Thomas Kølbæk Jespersen. I’m 20 years old and a keen electronics enthusiast, entrepreneur, R&D ‘engineer’ and now being a student at Aalborg University studying Electronics Engineering.”

A lot of things happened for me and my company TKJ Electronics in the past year, which are but not limited to:

  1. Gap year
  2. Sales manager for solar panels
  3. Balanduino project
  4. Travel adventure
  5. Moving to Aalborg
  6. Aalborg University
  7. Employment at Create It Real
  8. General TKJ Electronics consultancy

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Kickstarter successfully funded

April 19th, 2013 4 comments

We are very pleased to announce that our Kickstarter for the Balanduino balancing robot has successfully been funded by $13,494 which we are very happy about.

We have just received stickers from our printing company and have decided to give a little bonus in form of a signed Balanduino post card. We will be shipping this post card and stickers to all of our backers who have pledged $10 or more, within next week.

All the source code including the firmware, schematic, PCB layout and mechanical drawings for the frame is available at Github: https://github.com/TKJElectronics/Balanduino.

If you are not a backer, but are still interested in the project, you should checkout the Kicstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tkjelectronics/balanduino-balancing-robot-kit and our previous blog post: http://blog.tkjelectronics.dk/2013/03/balanduino-balancing-robot-kit/.

That’s all for now. Please let us know in the comments below if you got any questions or comments regarding the project.

The Balanduino

The Balanduino

Balanduino Kickstarter almost finished

April 13th, 2013 6 comments

Hello to all of our followers. This is just a short reminder that the Kickstarter of our Balancing robot, the Balanduino, is nearly finished.
We have already reached our goal of $10.000, but of course it would be great to get even more backers and pledges.

In the meanwhile we have recorded a new video of the robot with a GoPro mounted on the top.

For more information check out the prevouis blog post: http://blog.tkjelectronics.dk/2013/03/balanduino-balancing-robot-kit/ and the Kickstarter page.

Balanduino – Balancing Robot Kit (Kickstarter)

March 18th, 2013 4 comments

Hello all fellow blog readers.
Most of you might be aware of the Balancing robot project we have been working on for quite a while, if not please have a look here: The Balancing Robot.

We have now been working on this project in over a year, fine tuning the balance and stability of the robot and adding even other features and control options.

And NOW we are ready to announce this Balancing robot to be sold as a kit, named Balanduino.

The Balanduino

The Balanduino


The Balanduino kit consists of an Arduino compatible main board with the necessary sensors to keep the robot balanced automatically.

Furthermore the main board contains a USB Host controller, the MAX3421E, which library for the Arduino we have been expanding a lot recently, adding support for many of the most popular game controllers.
This USB Host controller together with a USB Bluetooth dongle enabled you to remotely control the Balanduino with your Android phone, PS3, Wii or Xbox controller and even your Windows, Linux or Mac PC.
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Categories: Arduino, Balanduino, Bluetooth Tags: