Robot Report“Emerson”

Crawford HampsonEEL5666: IMDL

April 8, 2010

Robot: “Emerson”

Autonomous robot capable of using wall outlets to recharge itself

Sensors

• Bump sensor plates– Radio Shack switches

• IR sensors– Sharp medium-range

sensors (obstacle avoidance)

– Sharp short-range sensors (wall-following)

• Battery voltage– Voltage divider

• Electromagnetic– Op-amp detector circuit

with signal conditioning

Actuators

• Y-Z stage– Linear actuators

• Bipolar stepper motor• Hacked servo

Behavior

• Obstacle Avoidance– Bump sensors

• LS, LF, RF, RS differentiation

– IR• Detect obstacles

• Fuzzy logic speed control• Wall following• Detect wall outlets

Conclusion

• Problems with linear actuator fabrication slowing things down, but should be running by Demo Day

• Left to do: – Finish actuator– Integrate software behaviors– Refine

Questions?