TGIMBOEJ for DIY Roboticists Launched!

Posted 20 Nov 2008 at 17:33 UTC by steve

The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronic Junk (aka TGIMBOEJ) has left the building! As promised in our earlier story on migratory junk boxes, robots.net has launched one especially for robot builders. There are now are a dozen or so TGIMBOEJ boxes moving around the world but ours is the only one designed by and for roboticists. The first recipients of the box will be Kris and Carly, those robot-savvy girls from Iowa who developed an award-winning iRobot Create robot painter for the 2007 Austin Maker Faire. They'll get first choice of all the interesting junk and will adding in some of their own. Who will get the box next? Maybe you. To be considered as a recipient, you need to add your name as well as a link to your blog to the TGIMBOEJ wiki box request page. Please also add a note by your name saying you're requesting the robots.net box to make it easy for us to find you. We'll be posting updates as the box reaches new recipients and you can also following it's progress at the TGIMBOEJ wiki tracking page. Our box is designated robots.net-box1. (pretty catchy name, eh?) So, you're probably wonder what useless junk, er, I mean valuable electronic and robotic components, made the final cut and got included in the box? Read on for a partial list and more photos.

Most of the contents of robots.net-box1 were scavenged from Steve and Rog-a-Matic's personal junk boxes, with a smaller amount coming from the vast robot junk treasure troves of the Dallas Personal Robotics Group. We've tried to throw in some useful, good stuff and not just total junk. For example, there's a working MCORE microcontroller from New Micros, a local Dallas company. You'll need to come up with power and documentation for it but for a free find from a box of junk, that's pretty good.

A few of the items came from two well-known Dallas surplus outlets, Tanner Electronics and BG Micro; items we collected over the years with high hopes they'd be used on a robot someday.

There are a few dead items like a deceased CD-ROM drive and some retired trackballs. These items have some good optical and mechanical parts that could be scavenged and reused in a robot. Give it a try.

There are also motors. Tiny pager motors, bigger Pittman motors, at least one stepper motors, and several DC motors with assocated gearboxes from assorted toys. We threw in an RC servo and other mechanical components from RC trucks, cars, and airplanes that you might find useful.

What else? Battery holders, alligator clips, ball bearings, a prototyping board, and an ancient solar cell. There's lots more in there but to be honest, I can't even remember it all now. Anyway, each recipient will take a few things out and put a few things in, so by the time you get the box, it may have a totally different collection of parts. To see more photos of the loot, check out the robots.net TGIMBOEJ photo gallery.

Still curious? I managed to compile this partial inventory list that names a lot of the major goodies that went into the box. I got tired of typing before I listed everything but it'll give you a good idea...

Motorized Reversible toy car transmission (made in Taiwan)
Mitsumi 6x CD-ROM drive (dead)
Generic Chinese Trackball
Kensington Trackball
(2) 2" black rubber RC airplane wheels
(2) 3" black rubber RC airplane wheels
black plastic 10 AA cell battery holder
black plastic 4 AA cell battery holder
(2) large red insulated alligator clips
(2) large black insuslated alligator clips
(7) small rubber insulated alligater clips (3 black/4 red)
(2) small silver pager motors
(2) small black pager motors
metal 2 D cell battery holder
(4) white metal right angles
Metal 4" lazy Susan bearing
Koss 6V 500ma AC adapter (wall wart)
CyberHome DVD player remote
(2) black plastic RC model servo trays (bagged)
Bag of misc RC truck hardware (screws, u-joints, etc)
(2) 2 13x5mm ball bearings
Sunon KD1204PFS2 12vdc fan
Blue anodized aluminium heat sink with attached 12vdc fan
roll of colorful braided wire
Generic USB pocket MP3 player 16MB with battery & earphones (bagged)
(4) metal suspension springs from RC truck
Conexant Systems PCI modem card
New Micros NMIS-5000 ACAI v1.2 board w/65C51
Misc electronic components (chips, resistors, diodes, LEDs, etc; bagged)
Hobbico Command CS-61 Standard servo
Misc servo wheels and horns (bagged)
black keypad and possibly matching rubber overlay
Optrex PWB 20261-CEM LCD display (DMC20261) bagged
(5) Omron IR proximity sensors OR501-ND
(2) Pittman 24 VDC motors (9414B378) w/extra long shafts
NMB Stepper motor PM55L-096-TI01
1 ancient steel erector set gear with set screw
(4) Cole cones (aluminium cone framework with optical component at small end)
(4) small aluminium hubs with center holes
(2) solonoids (metal frame w/black fabric over windings)
white RJ11 patch cord
adapter cable from PS/2 like connector to 4 discrete connectors (unkown use, bagged)
PS/2 to 9 pin serial adapter (used with very old mice)
Archer 5x10cm Silicon solar cell .55v at 1a (cat no. 276-126)
Archer Experimenter 300 prototyping board (cat no. 276-174)
Toy motor drive with DC motor, gears, and blue battery pack
Warner Electric 24vdc motor with linear motion ball/screw gizmo attached
2x16 black plastic screw terminal strip
(2) antique light pens w/cables
New Micros NMIN-2107 Motorola MCORE CPU microcontroller board (bagged)

Wow!, posted 23 Nov 2008 at 15:32 UTC by jeffkoenig » (Master)

There's some really good stuff in that box! I look forward to tracking its migration.
If it ever makes it back to the Dallas area (hopefully with completely different contents), I'll be happy to supply some robot parts.