Work
Over the course of one month, our team of three designed, fabricated, and coded three fully-autonomous robots who were able to play “robockey” (analogous to ice hockey). The size constraints and various other puck holding constraints drove the design of each of the bots. I was responsible for the design and fabrication of the robots, while my other two partners were responsible for electrical framework and artificial intelligence (coding), respectively. The project culminates with the annual robockey tournament where 28 teams compete in a bracket challenge; our team (A.K.A. “Los Bandidos”) finished in 3rd place.
The 7 minute video (below) will give you more insight into our mechanical design considerations, competition, and our fighting "robockey" players in action.
Video synopsis:
All of our three robots have a similar robust design, that consists of stacked acrylic with embedded wheels and casters for stability. The phototransistors embedded in the acrylic contribute to their puck-finding capabilities. Our goalkeeper (below) is the lightest of the three, and is primarily responsible for finding the puck and getting between it and the goal.
Our two offensive players were similar. They both feature a solenoid kicker in the front to fire the puck. Additionally, a sheet metal lance was quickly created amidst tournament gameplay to combat a team that had magnetically-conjoining robots. The design decision worked favorably in the end.
The goal of the project was to design, contruct, test, and demonstrate a small mobile robot that can be remotely navigated through a labyrinth (maze). The robots were given a size constraint and had to be able to carry a 500-gram payload. The robot was able to function quite well in the end making it through the maze with considerable speed and control.
The weight and size constraint for the robot factored into the design and placement of the payload on the robot. For balance purposes, the payload needed to be placed between the wheels and front ball caster. In order to prevent the back wheels from skidding, I used high-traction rubber wheels from legos and placed the 500g load closer to the axis of the big wheels.
As unstable as this robot looks, it has the ability to balance itself through feedback from an onboard accelerometer and microcontroller. The laser-cut battery holders take advantage of the stiff metal standoffs and wrap around the power supply. They are open on one side of the pack in order to allow for easy battery access when recharging or replacing the power supply.
Mechatronics (MEAM510) is a course which integrates mechanical design, electrical engineering, and computer information science to create robots and modules that can accomplish a wide range of purposes. This “stalker” robot is meant to follow an infrared beacon over a 360 degree arc at a distance of 50cm to 90cm. It accomplishes this task without the use of a micro controller.
The robot is set to spin until either of the front two phototransistors sense an IR source. The sensitivity of the phototransistors were being tuned by two potentiometers, and worked in a negative feedback loop; when either of the phototransistors was higher than the other it would flip direction, but if they were both similar than the robot would stop moving. More emphases was put on the electronics and function as opposed ot the aesthetic design of the robot, hence the abundance of pink tape.
This project allowed me to improve my abilities to code onto a micro controller and code in C. The goal of this project was to design and construct a battery-powered instrument capable of playing a tone for a specified duration when requested via an mRF wireless command from a host computer.
A few design considerations in this model included having an open accessible back while still maintaining rigidity in order to access circuitry. The entire structure was laser cut and assembled via pressfits and screws. The front face attaches to the speaker with screws and pressfits into the arms at the bottom and leans against them at the top, contributing to the structure's balance. Furthermore, the knobs on the front panel allow for the user to turn the device on or off and adjust the volume as well.