Building a reliable mobile base

A simple and reliable mobile base for a robot is an incredibly useful thing to have as you start building your own, increasingly complex robots. There are many good designs and starter kits available for this purpose, but to solidify what we have learned about building robots, we will build ours from scratch. The design is focused on simplicity, low cost, and flexibility. It has two driven wheels and a passive caster, and it will serve you well as a base for many further experiments and robot designs.

Building the frame

The T-shaped frame is made of nothing but two pieces of construction-grade wood, cut to length. We will refer to the part that forms the top of the T as the front, but for other applications, that might just as well be the back. Construction-grade wood is cheap and sturdy, as well as easy to source. It is also easy to work with using common tools, and it makes it easy to attach boards, batteries, sensors, and other additions with...