Group 4 – Team TFCS – Collin, Dale, Raymond, Farhan

Short Description

We built a robot consisting of two “feet” connected by a paper towel tube. Each foot was a small breadboard plugged into a row of male header pins. The exposed ends of these pins were all bent at a 40 degree angle in the same direction. A DC motor was secured to the top of each foot, and each motor was attached to a single propeller blade with a small weight at the end. We put our Arduino in a “cockpit” which we built into the center of the paper towel tube. The motors were then plugged into the Arduino, and the Arduino was given a battery pack so that it could run without being tethered to a computer. Our group first decided that we wanted to build a robot that moved by vibration. We were motivated to make this decision because of the inherent weakness of DC motors. We didn’t want our robot to move randomly, however, so we decided to encourage the robot to move in a particular direction by angling the bristles on its feet so that the friction of moving forward would be less than that of moving in any other direction. Then, inspired by the neighboring car lab, we decided to go a step further and make our robot steerable by having two independently running feet. The concept is similar to that of a tank. The final product was viewed as a success. The robot moved as desired, and it could run on its own via battery power. However, it is a little slow. If we were going to redesign it, we would probably want to find a better way to get the feet to vibrate. This would probably involve a different configuration for the motor and its attached weights. We could also come up with a better design for the feet, perhaps using fewer bristles or some material other than metal.

List of Brainstormed Ideas

1. Toothbrush Rumble Bot
2. Three-Wheeled Vehicle
3. Hovercraft
4. Grappling-Hook Bot
5. Ladder Crawler
6. Magnetic Surface Crawler
7. Segway
8. Rudder Boat
9. Fanboat
10. Hot Air Balloon
11. Blimp
12. Hybrid Airship (Blimps connected to propellers)
13. Flywheel Car

Sketches

Arduino-powered blimp is filled with helium. Fans on either side of the underbelly control which direction the blimp moves.

Back view of Arduino blimp.

Top-down view of Arduino tricycle.

Side view of Arduino tricycle.

Arduino hovercraft consists of a plastic ring with an Arduino at its center. Evenly spaced around the ring are four fans powered by motors that allow the hovercraft to “hover”.

Grappling hook bot launches a ball with a small magnet and rope attached. It attaches itself to a magnetic surface and pulls itself upwards by winding the rope around an axle.

Grappling hook consists of magnet attached to aerodynamic ball.

Air compression tube is compressed by motor and launches the grappling ball. Rope attached to motor axle pulls chassis upward along rope.

Ladder Crawler consists of two hooks attached to telescoping arms. An Arduino moves the arms in and out, and the hooks grab onto each subsequent rung of the ladder.

The magnetic surface climber moves by coordinating its arm movements with the turning on an off of two electromagnets.

This segway consists of two motors attached back to back with an Arduino hanging down beneath them.

This boat uses a servo motor to move a rudder back and forth, producing forward motion.

This boat has a backwards-facing propeller which pushes the boat over the surface of the water.

Manny other robot ideas can be seen here, including the idea we finally selected, the rumble bot.

The Product

It’s Alive

Learning to Steer

From The Robot’s Perspective

A Cool Path

Parts List

-2 Small DC Motors
-1 Paper Towel Tube
-1 Arduino
-Jumper Wires
-Tape
-2 Small Weights (like screw nuts)
-2 Mini Breadboards
-2 Rows of Male Header Pins
-Victory Flag
-1 Battery Pack
-1 9V Battery

Instructions for Creation

a. The premise of Rumba is that its two “feet”, which consist of rows of angled wire, are designed in such a way that when they are vibrated, they move in a direction determined by the angle of the wire. Rumba has two feet connected by a paper-towel-tube body. When the left foot is vibrated and the right foot is not, Rumba pivots around its right foot. Conversely when its right foot alone is vibrated. In this way, we can control which direction Rumba moves in.

b. Thus, in order to make a Rumba, we have to find a way create vibrations. To do this, attach an asymmetric servo horn to the axles of each of two small DC motors. We then attach a very small weight (like a nut for a screw) to the end of the servo horns. When the asymmetric horns turn, they continuously move the center of mass of the system. The result is that the motor vibrates. Securely attach each motor (with strong tape) and servo horn to two mini breadboards so that the servo horn hangs off the side and can rotate freely.

c. Now we must create the angled bristles for the feet of our Rumba, which will be attached to the bottom of the two breadboards. These will be made out of male-to-male headers. For each breadboard, measure one row of headers with enough pins to line the long outer edge of the breadboard. Attach the headers to the breadboard. Bend the pins that are now sticking out of the breadboard to be about 40 degrees from the breadboard. These are the breadboard feet.

d. Rumba’s body consists of a cardboard paper towel tube. Tape both breadboards to either end of this tube so that the angled feet face down, making sure to avoid the feet when taping the breadboard.

e. The brain of Rumba is an Arduino. Load the code below to the Arduino. It is programmed to turn each motor so that Rumba moves in an “interesting” way. To attach the Arduino to Rumba, first create a square tray chassis from the box that Arduino comes in. Cut a hole in the chassis where the round power plug will attach to a battery pack. To attach the chassis, we cut a square from the *top* of the center of paper towel tube, so that the bottom half of the tube is intact and the chassis can securely slide into the opening  Attach a battery pack (we used a 9V battery pack) to the Arduino and place it along with the Arduino in the chassis. Tape the chassis to the paper towel role.

f. Now we attach the motors to the Arduino, by connecting the power wire to ports 3 and 5, and the ground wire to ground.

g. Turn on the power. Your Rumba should now be functional!

h. Optional: Add victory flag.

i. Karena
Stephen
Jean
Eugene

ii. Group 14

iii. Short Description

We built a catapult that detects when something is nearby. Upon sensing something, the catapult will launch a small object in the direction of where the thing was sensed. We wanted to make something that reacted to a proximity sensor mounted on a rotating arm, and we thought a catapult was a fun and creative way to have a system that reacted to a nearby object. An inspiration for our project was defense mechanisms, that may be employed in preventing unwanted people or objects from nearing a certain range. Our original plan was to make a robot that moved in the direction of an object that it detected, but after multiple iterations, we could not get the robot to move forward effectively.  The forward motion was not effective because the motors weren’t powerful enough, and the servos would resume to their original position after moving, which canceled the forward motion. In the end, we ultimately decided to launch something at the target instead of moving towards it. With additional motors or materials, we might have been able to achieve our original idea. We thought we were successful in creating a robot that moved in reaction to its surroundings. The catapult accurately launched an object at considerable speed towards the target, and the proximity sensor responded immediately to targets it touched. One improvement we would have liked to make to our project would be to make our proximity sensor more powerful.  Because we didn’t have a 10 MegaOhm resistor, the catapult would only detect an object that was touching the proximity sensor. We would be able to improve our catapult if we had access to this resistor.

iv. Brainstorm
– smart window-blind motor (more light lowers blind using motor, less light raises blind using motor)
– flying robot that increases the motor speed depending on it’s proximity from the ground
– catapult; propels an object at different speeds
– tilt the arduino controller to move the robot
– a segway (with a servomotor fowards/backwards movement controller)
– mono-segway (hard)
– impulses depending on acceleration from accelerometer
–  temperature-sensing fan
– linear sensor with FSR – fsr controls speed, linear controls turning
– line follower/wall avoider
– moves towards light in its field of vision (servomotor wiggles the light sensor from side to side to get the max light reading)
– disk-shooting robot
– sweeping robot – spins around and pushes dirt around
– a top robot – spins around and balances itself
– a two stage system – first catapults itself using a heavy weight controlled by a servo (wires detach from the force), and then moves around
– a paddling robot for land and water
– kicking robot using proximity
– a monocycle – aka hamster bot
– hopping robot
– throw out a bunch of stuff on the robot to push it backways
– advances the lead on a mechanical pencil to push it forward
– inchworm robot (servos)
– underwater propeller
– a rocking robot
– hovercraft – propeller downwards, then another propeler sideways

v. photos of design sketches

vi. video of final system

http://youtu.be/R2p-HGOnCgA

vii. list of parts

• two servomotors
• proximity sensor (using tin foil)
• arduino uno
• breadboards
  • •  
• a lot of tape
• wires
• some cardboard
  
• straw
• foil

viii.instructions

Attach two servo motors to the arduino, and attach these to the straw by attaching one servo to the straw, and the second servo is attached to the first servo. The first servo acts as the “turning servo” which will turn the straw around to look for an object within its proximity, and the second servo  acts as the “shooting servo” to fire the catapult when something is detected.

ix. source code

Members of the Illustrious Group #21: “Dohan Yucht Cheong Saha”

• Miles Yucht

• David Dohan

• Andrew Cheong

• Shubhro Saha

Short Description

This week we were in a Southern mood in anticipation of Spring Break, so we initially decided to build a LassoBot. This robot throws a lasso in a circle until an object in the lasso’s path is grabbed on to. At that point, LassoBot reels itself closer to the object it caught. Late in development, we realized that making LassoBot hook itself onto stationary was extraordinarily difficult given the weakness of the DC motor. At that point, we switched to building a StruggleBot that constantly rotates a lasso in an effort to move forward in a particular direction. The final product was a great success. The StruggleBot is amusing to watch, as it struggles, and it’s a creative means of locomotion. There were a few initial difficulties while creating our robot.  Our initial plan to create a lasso bot did not work because the DC motors are too weak to reliably pull the robot along (although it did work in some cases).  Additionally, it was difficult to spin up the lasso without it tangling with itself.  Other plans for the “tumble weed” robot fell through because we found that the Arduino is incapable of adequately powering four servo motors simultaneously as required.

Idea Brainstorm

1. A snake like robot that moves by curling and uncurling

2. Attach random objects to it and watch it go berzerk

3. Flying robot that has rotor blade attached underneath

4. Moves with caterpillar treads made of… banana peels? Newspaper?

5. Two-wheeled robot, kinda like a segway, but without the balancing complexity

6. A robotic “hand” that drags itself across the table, as in Toy Story

7. A robot that throws a lasso rope and rolls the rope to pull itself closer to the hitched destination

8. A motorboat! Moves across water, obviously

9. A robot that pulls itself up a table/wall by raveling a spool of rope hanging from a point… like a cliffhanging robot… even attach a person to make it look creative

10. Slinky robot, that can move up a staircase by throwing a hook onto the next stair

11. Window-climbing robot… give it suction cups to go up a window

12. Shufflebot… by design, it rolls 2 steps forward, 1 step back

13. Tumbleweed bot.  Looks like a hamster wheel, but has servo motors attached around the edges to roll it forward.  Alternatively, have a single servo motor and a counterweight at the center.

Design Sketches

Final Schematic of Strugglebot

Final System Video

List of Parts

1 AC motor

1 330-ohm resistor

1 potentiometer

1 zener diode

1 PN2222 transistor

2 jumpers

1 6-inch length of string

1 inch of wire

1 Arduino UNO

Electrical tape

Assembly Instructions

1. Set up the potentiometer element to control the rate of rotation of the motor. Connect pin 1 with +5V, pin 2 with A0 on the Arduino, and pin 3 to ground.

2. Set up the motor circuit. To pin 3 on the Arduino, connect a 330-ohm resistor, and connect this to the base on the transistor. Connect the emitter to ground. Connect the motor in parallel with a Zener diode, and connect both of these elements in series with the collector.

3. Mount the motor on the bottom of a circuit board using electrical tape, and use two jumpers in the circuit board to elevate the circuit board off of the ground, face down. Make sure the motor is inclined at 45 degrees.

4. Attach a thread to the motor using tape, and to the other end of the thread attach a piece of wire bent into a hook shape.

5. Upload the code, and use the potentiometer to control the rate of rotation.

Final Source Code

Names: Abbi Ward, Dillon Reisman, Prerna Ramachandra, Sam Payne

Group Number: 9

Description

For this lab we built a robot with four legs that pulls itself along a string. Its four legs are the tips of ballpoint pens, allowing for a smooth gliding motion on relatively frictionless surfaces. Our original inspiration for the robot came from an idea we had to build a robot that opened and closed window shades according to how much light was in a room. This robot would move vertically rather than horizontally, doing so by using a motor to pull itself up a string. We decided to test this method of locomotion horizontally first. We were very pleased with the success of our robot- we did not imagine that it would move so well over the table surface, and in future iterations of this robot we could have it do interesting things in how it moves. The ballpoint pen tips were extremely useful tools for motion along a surface. Unfortunately we do not think the method we used to collect the string once the robot pulled it worked well (we simply wind it up on the end of the motor), and in future iterations we think that the robot should have a way of going one direction on the string, then reversing the motor and going the other direction. In total, however, we think that this method of motion could have many applications.

Brainstormed Ideas: 

1. Helicopter using paper/cardboard blades
2. Vibrating robot, moves by vibration
3. Robot on wheels which uses a fan to propel itself
4. Arms which rotate similar to single blade propellers to promote movement
5. Three-legged omnidirectional single plane robot
6. Worm robot, uses a single joint to contract and move forward
7. Robot that hits the ground hard enough to “jump” forward
8. Move the motor foward and reverse direction to hit limbs against ground and propel forward
9. Use servo to wiggle from side to side and move forward
10. Robot which eats tape/line of string to move forward
11. Robot which dances to a beat
12. High five Robot – moves up to you and gives you a high five if you bring your hand close to it
13. Acrobat robot – does flips at regular intervals as it moves around in a circle

We chose to prototype Idea 10, a robot which eats a line of string to move forward.

Design Sketches

Assembling the robot, use of the string and using pencils to reduce friction

Using only pencil tips to minimize ground friction, instead of rolling pencils

Demo of our System

Parts list

• Arduino
• motor
• PN2222A transistor
• Diode (1N4001)
• electrical tape
• 4 disposable ballpoint pens (plastic)
• breadboard
• 330 ohm
• battery pack to power the Arduino

Instructions to Recreate System

1. Build the schematic on the breadboard

2. Attach the motor to the breadboard with electrical tape

3. Break open one of the disposable pens into the following parts

   1. the outer tube

   2. inner tube (holds the ink)

   3. tip

   4. ink

4. Cut off about a 1/2 inch of the inner tube that doesn’t have any ink

5. Use thinly sliced strips of electrical tape to make ridges on the edges of the tube. This will be used to help keep the thread on the axle so that the robot pulls itself and the thread will not rub against the base of the motor.

6. Push this tube+tape combo onto the axle of the motor so that it fits snugly.

7. If leads are showing on the bottom/sides of the battery pack, put electrical tape over them so that loose wires don’t accidentally short power and ground.

8. Tape the Arduino to the battery pack (the batteries should face the floor)

9. Cut up the outer tube into ~1 inch pieces and place them on the Arduino.

10. Tape the breadboard+motor on top of the pen pieces such that the axle of the motor is centered on the robot.

11. On each of the four pens, take off the tips (with the ink cartridge removed) and tape them to the side/bottom of the battery pack such that the assembly balances and can slide easily across the floor or table.

12. Use a small piece of electrical tape to attach the thread piece

13. Hold the spool, upload the code, and the robot will traverse towards the spool

Source Code for the Robot

/*
Names: Dillon R, Prerna R, Sam P, Abbi W
Group 9, Varpex
COS 436 S2013

Our robot code. 
This was just for walking across the table. 
*/

int motorPin = 3;

void setup() 
{ 
 pinMode(motorPin, OUTPUT);
} 

void loop() 
{ 
 int motorspeed = 254;
 //walk a little bit
 analogWrite(motorPin, motorspeed);
 delay(3000);
 // stop
 analogWrite(motorPin,0);
 while(1); 
}