Susan the Line-Following Pig – MakerSpace Edition

You may remember that a while ago I introduced Susan the line-following pig in this blog post. Since then, Susan has garnered a lot of interest from her appearances at ASEE and in various other blog posts. A couple of weeks ago, we held a hardware MakerSpace featuring Susan. We had employees from sales and engineering together putting together the kits. Susan is built off of the MRK + Line Robot Kit that you can view or purchase here, if you’re interested in making a line-following robot of your own.

I found a lot of the parts for the kits around the office. Here is where I was putting together kits.

The MRK + Line Kits, you can see the 3D printed kits all put together. — The MRK + Line Kits–you can see the 3D printed kits all put together.

I even included a few kits made entirely out of 3D parts. I learned a lot about practical use of 3D printing and how shrinkage can affect pieces fitting together. If you’d like to view or print my 3D parts, you can find them here on Tinkercad or here on Repables. Be forewarned–they are still in progress. Below are some images of the parts.

The 3D printed Double Motor Mount next to the original metal one. — The 3D-printed double motor mount next to the original metal one.

The 3D printed version of the Base Plate from the MRK + Line kit next to the metal version. — The 3D-printed version of the Base Plate from the MRK + Line kit next to its metal counterpart.

This is the 3D printed version of the Angle Bracket in the MRK + Line Kit next to the metal version. — This is the 3D-printed version of the angle bracket in the MRK + Line Kit next to the metal version.

This provided a great experience for everyone to get to know the parts and hardware required in the MRK + Line kit and valuable feedback for kit and the instructions that go along with it. I had a great time teaching and getting to know part of the sales team. This week, we will be covering the code for to run Susan and make sure she follows her path.