One face
Early versions had a physical muzzle under the screen, and that meant two faces. Now the screen draws his eyes, nose and mouth, and the head stays clean. With the screen dark, the ears, the tuft and the collar still say dog.
The robot
Spike, in the fur. Well, nearly.
A small four-legged robot for your desk, about a kilogram, whose face is a 4.3-inch touch screen. Every motor, screw and wire is hidden inside a soft two-tone shell, so he looks like a finished product, not a kit.
Prototype, building now
Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom. The 3D model is about 1.5 MB and loads only when you ask.
The design story
Three decisions that make him Spike.
The forehead tuft
His camera sits dead centre in his forehead, its lens tucked under a little caramel cowlick. It sees you face on, it never looks lopsided, and it gives him a signature you'd know anywhere.
Caramel Pup
Cream head, caramel ears and body, chocolate details, and a winking logo tag on his collar. Warm colours that look at home on a desk, printed in two colours with nothing mechanical on show.
Every angle
Awake, asleep, and from behind.
What he can do
Wheels on his paws, a wag in his tail.
Each leg has a hip, a knee and a wheel for a paw, so he drives where most small robots stumble. This list is checked against his real motors and balance; the apps never offer anything else.
Drive around your desk
Sit
Lie down
Play bow
Head tilt
Snuggle
Wag
Short spins
Back-paw lift
Walk in development
Give paw in development
Time-of-flight sensors watch the desk edge and stop him before he gets there. Those stops live in his firmware and are always on.
Engineering
Designed in code, checked part by part.
Every printed part is generated by Python scripts that drive SolidWorks, then checked: size, fit on the print bed, clearances, the load on each motor and how stable he stands. Version 3.2 has 56 printed parts and no clashes.
Specifications
Prototype v3.2
The design being built now. Numbers may change as the prototype is tested.
- Face
- 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen on an ESP32-S3 board
- Camera
- OV5640 on a second ESP32-S3 board, lens under the forehead tuft
- Hearing and voice
- Two microphones and a speaker in the head
- Motion
- 13 micro servos: 4 hips, 4 knees, 4 wheel paws and a tail
- Senses
- Time-of-flight sensors for desk edges and obstacles, a motion sensor, touch pads, a gesture sensor in his chest
- Power
- One 18650 cell with protection and a fuse, USB-C charging
- Weight
- About 983 to 1025 g
- Shell
- 56 printed parts in two colours, about 382 g of print
- Brain
- Runs on your own computer; the robot runs his reflexes and idle life on its own
- Connection
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE to the Spike apps
Build progress
Where the first Spike is up to.
Designed
Body v3.2 modelled and checked.
Firmware
Both boards: face, body control, gait and sensors.
Parts and printing
Gathering the electronics and printing the first full shell.
First assembly
Putting the first Spike together.
First steps
Tuning the walk and give paw on the real body.