Robot - Results and thanks

Tekstvak: Results Mechanical design We were able to design the smallest robot of the three teams, which made the assembly of the robot a bit more difficult. But if the margins are made wider, it will be easier to assembly the different components to their right place. We also used two battery packs with a different configuration, to let them fit into the robot. Thanks to the use of a transmission, the wheels were placed more to the front of the robot, so the rotation takes place around the ball. Electrical circuits and program The use of a lot of small boards for the different components, make the design easier. Though, another result is there has to be made a lot of the connections between the boards manually. This didn’t gave much trouble during our project, because we ‘flagged’ every cable (see the pictures on the microcontroller page). Anyway, keep in mind it will take you some hours to solder everything where it belongs (and a lot more to find a fault). But thanks to the small size of the PCBs, we were able to pile them up and keep the robot compact. Due to the bad readings of the greyscale sensors, the used program on the final was very simplified. The decision attack/defend wasn’t possible and so the robot only tracks the ball and go straight for it. If there is found a solution for the detection of the position of the robot, the other parts of the program should work as well. ’Competition’ During the final, our robot was able to track the ball, turn to it and then go for it. The choice between ‘defend’ and ‘attack’ wasn’t possible, due to the bad readings of the grey scale with the grey sensors. We were very proud over the nip of our robot: as soon as the signal of the ball was measured, the robot reacts and turns to the ball. This was quite robust, even with the presence of daylight. To show the performance of our robot, you can find some videos below: First goal Tracking the ball Final_1 Final_2: Tracking the ball Final_3 Team spirit Lost wires, broken pins on the microcontroller, (a lot of) polishing to fit everything in our small robot.... we hade our frustrations during the project. But we can say we always stayed a team, supporting each other when things didn’t go as planned. Thanks to the rotation system (we decided to fulfil the different subtasks in other teams, as you can see here) and a good communication, every member of the team knew the basics of the decisions made during the project. We also want to thank the other groups, for the support and tips, the positive competition and of course the ‘dos cervesas’moments to hold the spirit up! ;) top Thanks to: Prof. dr. ir. Bram Vanderborght, for the interesting lessons and the good advise. Ir. Victor Grosu, for checking our PCB designs and the good/critical advise. Dhr. JeanPaul Schepens, for making the PCB’s, ordering the components and all the technical support. top Download top

Matthias Borremans, Joost Geeroms, Frank Jonckheere and Sara Van Rossem

Design and building of a football playing robot

i, BallL

Project Mechatronics 2009-2010 VUB