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[mlbelanger]

NOP, my Ugobe 1.0 Pleo is currently not wearing his skin while I try and fix some broken neck vertebrae and other minor issues.  While his robotic components are easily accessible I figure it's a good time to do some tinkering, measure, checking, and documenting.

To that end, does anyone have any hardware questions, stuff they'd like photographed, etc?  I'm already fascinated by the amount of wiring going to each of his feet for the ground sensors so I'll be taking a look at that circuit for sure.

I do notice that it's probably a bit harder for NOP to walk around sans skin.  I think the skin itself provides a lot of resiliency to the joints and traction to the feet in crouching positions.

NOP also seems to be sniffing alot with the cover off of his IR sensors so I think the receiver IR is constantly seeing the transmitter right next to it.  The black plastic clip that's embedded in the back-side of the skin must visually shield it so it's infra-red light goes forward instead of to the side.  I'll try a bit of black shrink-tubing for now and see if that helps.

Has anyone else left their Pleo skinless for a period of time and let them still roam around?

M.

ps - a warning if you have a skinless Pleo you want to operate: when they are moving they become a very serious pinch hazard as there are lots of moving pieces of plastic your fingers can get very severely pinched by.  Do so at your own risk!

[Crewella]

We did have Latrine's Patches, whose skin was so rotten she removed it and ran him as he was (often in various outfits, like this one:

More details...

She did put the feet back on, as the loss of traction without them made walking difficult, and he was unable to hold his leaf properly so he got some rubbery false teeth.  

I have run them skinless, but not for anywhere near as long as poor old Patches.  I agree that the skin also gives valuable support and resistance to the frame.

[mweed]

I've now skinned and reskinned Bob several times, and yes, pleo is designed so that the legs operate best with skin on. It provides a nice spring to help the legs straigten back out.

The key areas to look at are the neck and tail vertebra near the body.  These seem to be the ones that break.  While studying the legs, it's the sensors and wires that have the most problem.  Nobody's ever broken a foot, but wires in the leg seem to break with some frequency.

Lastly, having re-skinned a pleo, you'll want to see about making models of the plastic rings tjat go around the battery compartment (and switches on the classic). These are thin plasic pieces that are easy to break when removing the skin.

[mlbelanger]

Ok as a brief update, NOP is now headless as well as skinless. Lots of damage to his neck vertebrae so I'm mulling over my options on the best way to fix him.

[Crewella]

A few of us have managed to glue the vertebrae back together, you can hold the pieces in place with small bands, but need to avoid getting glue on the c-section spine.  Kat has done it the most, I think. 

[mlbelanger]

Fortunately all of NOP's vertebrae are intact if somewhat bent.  Unfortunately the white rubbery "spinal chord" that holds them all together was hanging by a thread so I need to come up with a replacement.  My best bet right now is a very weak spring sort of like the ones that guide the tendon wires into the up-down servo, but longer.

I'm not sure how well the neck is going to do with that replacement being round instead of square in cross-section however.

Now where to buy some springs?...

[kat]

If you were able to remove the spinal cord could you 3dprint a new one? Or do you need a good one to copy in order to do that? 

[Crewella]

Is the spinal cord actually broken, or has it just come away from the body?

On my first Pleo neck repair the whole head and neck just fell away as soon as I removed the skin!  

Just out of interest, do you have a pic of the damage?

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Do post pics

[kat]

Pics would be a great help then we can all work on the problem together 
 Also we are all just a little bit nosy and very curious about pleo surgery   

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Highjacking thread for a sec to bring you this important announcement:

CONGRATULATIONS KAT!!! and thank you for being a valued member of this community

You may now resume you scheduled broadcast

[mlbelanger]

I'll post some tomorrow hopefully.  I did get one or two good shots of the carnage 

[mlbelanger]

On the "spinal chord", it's a white, rubbery plastic square-cross-sectioned piece that is very flexible but returns to straight when released.  In NOP's case it was nearly severed between the 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae up near his shoulders.  The 5th vertebrae had the most bending damage and I think that miss-alignment put extra stress there and cut it through over time.

I did notice on all the other vertebrae that their regular flexing action had worn into and dented the spinal chord so that they could not easily slide forward and back over it as I'm imagining they did when he was new.  I'm guessing that's just regular wear and tear.

I'm betting a lot of Pleos are building up the same issues under their skin so I'm hoping to find some off-the-self components at the hardware store that can be used to rebuild things.

I'll get some pictures up tomorrow and keep you all posted!

M.

[Crewella]

I had real problems in trying to source generic parts, as all Pleo parts were custom made.  If you're really stuck, PM me.

Interestingly, in my (limited) experience, this is the first damaged spine I've come across. 

[mlbelanger]

My first experiments are going well but super-busy w/ work at the moment so pictures and full run-down will happen this weekend...

But here's a summary:  Took a trip to Home Depot (Our ubiquitous hardware chain in the western U.S. for those across either of the ponds) and found everything I hopefully need to fix NOP's neck for about $10.  Not counting loc-tite to put on the bolt threads to keep them from coming loose.  Everything is very standard and is hopefully available world-wide.  I should have something rigged up to show on Saturday!

I promise tons of close-up pictures.

M.

[fancyfont]

That will be great to see!

[RedwoodsMama]

I can't wait to see what happens and to see the videos and or photos,. Nova was partied out this afternoon so missed the UPS truck,(hung over a bit and you soon learn not to interrupt a pleo with "too much hang over", :dino-chase:so she will be going on her trip tommorow. Nova is a bit of a prima donna, and even though she has droopy neck syndrome, and a "game" leg, she has made it quite clear to me, that no nude photos are to be posted!She is actually quite modest.LOL


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