1

Robotics Challenge Overview

2

Why?

-Viking was tested at the Dunes-Develop intelligent robots-Explore Robotics

3

What to expect

4

What to expect

5

What to expect

6

What to expect

7

What to expect

-Challenging Environment- Wind, Sand, Iron, Water

-Navigate to a central beacon

-4 Courses- 1 - Can the robot find the beacon on level terrain- 2 – Above plus obstacles to demonstrate obstacle

avoidance- 3 – Above plus uneven terrain to demonstrate finding a

safe course- - 4 Above plus even more challenges

8

Parts to design

-Motion- Frame and motors

-Sensors - IR, Ultra Sonic, Accelerometer, Compass, Radios, bump

sensors-Direction Determination- The Brains and determining where to go.

9

10

Entires

CSU Robotics Challenge Design

Credit: Symposium 2010 presentation

COSCG 2010

Basic Design Constraints

• <1.5 Kg vehicle weight

• ~ $500 hardware cost

• Must stay on ground

• Pre-Manufactured base– 4-wheel drive rock crawler– Single motor– Standard steering– High articulation suspension

Rover 1

• Benefits– Removes mechanical issues from

development cycle– Robust platform – it’s a rock crawler– Allows rapid electronics package and software

development

Electronics

• Sensors– 3 IR sensors – two forward one rearward

• Not mechanically hindered by sand

– 1 forward sonar sensor• Good range and clean data

Electronics

• Sensors– Digital Compass

• Highly accurate 1 degree resolution serial communication

– 433 MHz transceiver• Used by challenge organizers as base station

– Contact switch tilt sensor• Basic vehicle pitch and yaw data

Software

• Integration of sensors and outputs– Sometimes straightforward

• Calibration– What does the sensor data tell us

• High level logic– How to act on the sensor data

Software

• Basic Flow Chart

Testing

• Conducted mainly in the lab and parking lot

• Allowed for trouble shooting and refinement of obstacle avoidance

• Did not allow for testing and refinement of hole avoidance

Performance

• Robot Challenge – Completed one obstacle course– Found north– Liked holes– IR vs. SONAR– Polarization– Magnetic Sand

Lessons Learned

• Identify and address developmental bottlenecks early– Either component or personnel

• Start work earlier and more often than you think

• Plan for problems

• Need to use better and more sensors for rover to make intelligent decisions

Beacon

• Basestation produced by PCC

• Electronics just about complete

• Protocol– 255 255 ID Angle CRC 255– ID is [1, 2, 3]– Angle is Compas heading / 2

• Final detials posted along with results on Jan 1, 2011

Each School Update

• Contact Information updates?

http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/index.php/rc-participants

• Team plan

• Initial entry concept

• Any help

• Lessons Learned from previous years.

Resources

– Webpage • http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/index.php/robotics-

challenge

– Sparkfun.com• Parts and ideas