The final Phase 2 robot design followed our Phase 1 robot proposal and further develop the robot arm and refine the hopper. Initially, the design was to spear and flip loops into a top hopper on the robot. However, as we started to consider collecting loops placed in any orientation, the robot arm design soon [...]
In anticipation to collect loops that were placed in any direction, a double claw robot was built. This design was later discarded due to concerns with its efficiency and maneuverability, but the robot was such a massive and impressive creation, its design concept is documented here for the record. The Claw Robot Design was divided [...]
The Robot Proposal is divided into couple design components: End Effectors: fork flipper and cable claw Motors: 2 Power Function and 3 NXT motors Drivetrain: rear wheel drive, 2 wide flat rubber tires, 1 tank tread, 2 front skis Sensors: EOPD, compass, ultrasonic sensors Accessories: IR Link, Magnets, Video Camera
Posted in Drive Train, End Effector, Renderings, Robot Design, Robot Proposals, Sensors, Videos 
1 Comment »Camera (Karlin) Our camera is a key fob spy camera which is the size of a car remote control key. It is small and light enough that we can mount it almost anywhere on the robot without affecting the overall performance. This will let us record and take pictures of the heritage sites in the Phase 2 [...]
Ultrasonic Sensor (Brian) The Moonbots field has black foam walls around the perimeter of the field. Although the robot can’t push against the wall because it is too weak, we can use an ultrasonic sensor to wall follow and navigate without actually touching the wall.
Since there are more types of sensors that can be used in this competition than FLL, we continued to experiment with different ones to find which sensors are most feasible for our robot but we are limited to how many sensor ports are available without the HiTechnic sensor multiplexor.
Crater Detector (Brain) The EOPD sensor is already being used to detect loops location, but it can also be used to detect the crater ridge. When the crater ridge is at a close proximity, the EOPD sensor’s output spikes. This is how robot knows it is at the crater ridge and at the start ramp.
Inclinometer (Brian) We came up with another use for the ultrasonic sensor by turning it into an inclinometer. By using a weighted pendulum with the top passing in front of the ultrasonic sensor we are able to detect pitch change of the robot as it climbs over the crater walls.
The accelerometer sensor (which senses G-force) was tested by making a robot controller. The controller used the forces acting on the x, y, and z axis. This sensor can be used to detect the tilting of the robot and tell the robot how to right itself. I used NXT-G to program the accelerometer because LabView [...]
Compass Sensor (Stanley) The compass sensor worked like a regular compass; it detected north, but it also measured the degrees away from north the compass sensor was pointed at. The sensor had to be completely straight and not tilted up or down so it could provide accurate measurements. The compass sensor informed the robot which [...]