Figure 1: The Pennywise robot posing for the camera.
A user on our forum by the name of Macgyver has built a terrifying life-sized Pennywise self-balancing robot. Pennywise, a many of you will know, is the menacing clown from the Stephen King’s book “It” which has been adapted in to several films that have scarred generations of viewers.
The Pennywise robot is built around a wheeled base that contains a pair of NPC T64 motors with 4,00 CPR encoders on their shafts. A Teensy 3.2 and MPU 9250 IMU are used as the brains of the base. The motors in the base are controlled by one of our MCP 233 motor controllers. Above the base, supporting the body of Pennywise, is a vertical slide that is driven by windshield wiper worm gear motor with a 1,600 CPR encoder. The motor is controlled by a RoboClaw 2x30A motor controller and once again a Teensy 3.2 is used as the brains of the upper section of Pennywise.
The whole Pennywise build is remotely controlled with a RadioLink AT10 radio control transmitter and RadioLink R12DS receiver. Power for the microcontrollers and motor controllers comes from 3S LiPO and 6S LiPO battery packs. The 3S battery provides power for the base and the 6S battery is used for the upper section.
We thank Macgyver for posting the details of the build and for choosing to use our motor controllers to make an impressive robot sure to put chills down anyone’s spine. The orginal post of the build details can be found here. Be sure to check out the YouTube video below to see Pennywise in action.