Our goal was to design an autonomous mobile robot that competes in a game of speed, skill and strategy. The implementation of the robot mainly involves designing the wheel locomotion system and the shooter, building circuits capable of sensing the magnetic field and IR light, and establishing wireless communications between the robot and the Logistic Operations Coordinator (LOC) module.
For the locomotion system, we built a drive train with two DC motors resting on a laser-cut platform. The two motors were controlled independently by two motor driver circuits that receive PWM signal from the TI TIVA Launchpad and get power from a battery set.
To shoot balls, we designed a catapult shooter system that uses a servo and a spring to initiate shooting. A servo holds the catapult in the firing position and quickly releases it to fire the ball. Each time after a ball is shot, the servo brings the catapult back to the firing position and awaits another ball to be reloaded.
The circuits mainly consist of the wire resonance, the IR beacon detection, and the hall effect sensing. The wire resonance feature is achieved with a LC circuit that gives resonance to a matching magnetic field frequency. The signal goes through filters and peak detection circuit and finally outputs an analog response with highest voltage value at the wire and lowest value away from the wire. The IR beacon circuit uses a phototransistor that senses IR light and outputs a clear square-waveform digital signal with a frequency that matches the IR emitter frequency. The hall effect circuit uses a hall effect sensor to sense the magnetic field at a designated area. Filtering and amplification features were added to the circuit to ensure a clear, reliable signal.
The wireless communication was established with the LOC module, which acts as a gateway to the field infrastructure to allow the robot to request information about the state and the progress of the game. We integrated the LOC using Serial SPI communication.
For the locomotion system, we built a drive train with two DC motors resting on a laser-cut platform. The two motors were controlled independently by two motor driver circuits that receive PWM signal from the TI TIVA Launchpad and get power from a battery set.
To shoot balls, we designed a catapult shooter system that uses a servo and a spring to initiate shooting. A servo holds the catapult in the firing position and quickly releases it to fire the ball. Each time after a ball is shot, the servo brings the catapult back to the firing position and awaits another ball to be reloaded.
The circuits mainly consist of the wire resonance, the IR beacon detection, and the hall effect sensing. The wire resonance feature is achieved with a LC circuit that gives resonance to a matching magnetic field frequency. The signal goes through filters and peak detection circuit and finally outputs an analog response with highest voltage value at the wire and lowest value away from the wire. The IR beacon circuit uses a phototransistor that senses IR light and outputs a clear square-waveform digital signal with a frequency that matches the IR emitter frequency. The hall effect circuit uses a hall effect sensor to sense the magnetic field at a designated area. Filtering and amplification features were added to the circuit to ensure a clear, reliable signal.
The wireless communication was established with the LOC module, which acts as a gateway to the field infrastructure to allow the robot to request information about the state and the progress of the game. We integrated the LOC using Serial SPI communication.