Video games and board games are great way of spending time with friends and family. Sometimes you feel like spending time offline and putting all of your electronics away, another time you dive into the virtual world of sport, arcade or fighting games.

But what if we connected virtual and real world together? I want to present to you the robo-knight - self-balancing telepresence robot with a lance.

How does it work? You remotely control your robot and try to make another robot controlled by your friend fall over (yes, using a lance). It’s quite a lot of fun (speaking from experience).

Just take a look:

Step 1: Tools & Materials

● A self balancing robot platform - make your own using Arduino, or get a development kit, like this one (telepresence feature working out of the box, setting up takes 5 mins ) . Alternatively you can create your own mechanics based on Husarion CORE2 or CORE2mini. Source code for the self balancing robot is avaiable here or at cloud.husarion.com (for web programming)

● 1 x servo, eg. TowerPro MG995

● 2 x long servo screw

● 3D printed servo holder (3D model in STL) - alternatively you can use a glue gun or a tape.

● 3D printed knight lance (3D model in STL) - alternatively you can use a wooden stick and a tape

● 2 x M3x16 screw

● 2 x M3 nut

● 2 x M4x20 tapered head screw

● 2 x M4 nut

● A screwdriver

Step 2: 3D Print a Servo Holder and a Lance (optional)

Print two halves of the lance and one adapter. Deburr any imperfection and glue up lance using flexible cement or epoxy.

Step 3: Screw a Lance

Prepare lance, two long servo screws and an arm.

Start by screwing two screws into the lance from round side. Stop when screw tips reach the other side of holes.

Center the servo arm between screws and tighten them up.

Step 4: Screw a Servo Holder

Part list containing M4 screws and nuts, servo motor and printed holder is needed for this step.

Start by forcing M4 nuts into properly sized slots in the printed parts. Align servo with the prepared printed element (see picture below). Push bolts through and tighten them loosely. Check if everything fits, then finish screwing bolts.

Step 5: Prepare Robot

Using two last screws mount the servo holder to the robot empty slot. Then, put assembled lace on the servo shaft. To finish you only need to connect the cable from the new servo to CORE2 board, to the 2nd servo slot.

Lance should be attached loosely on the shaft to avoid damages during the fight. Screwing arm to the shaft is not recommended.

Step 6: Modify Default Robot Firmware

First download the dedicated firmware, attached to this article. Then log into cloud.husarion.com, connect your robot with your account, click IDE and create a new empty project for Husarion CORE2. Choose File from the top menu, click on "Upload ZIP" and find the previously downloaded file. Reload the window, then click on cloud symbol in the upper left corner to compile and upload modified firmware to your robot.