This is my second robot, and my diplome-project. My first one was ni002.
I designed the mechanics, electronics, and software. The project took 4 years (2002-2006), however its not completely finished. Now it can be used as a Bluetooth-remote-controllable half automatic vehicle, but the original plan was to make it fully automatic.
The capabilities:
-moving in a linear way,
-easy movement with caterpillars
-turning in place (easy by the caterpillars)
-sensing ground in front, 2 directions. IR. (stop at the edge of the desk)
-Catch and carry small objects with the robot-arm
-remote control through Bluetooth
-measuring and control movement by accelerometers. (path length, turning angle)
-controlled by a high performance 150 MHz TMS320F2811 DSP
-Laser radar
-measure battery voltage
-send measurement data to the host. (user control and debug)
About the laser radar: I want to keep the details in secret, because its an invention, and when it will work 100%, i will sell it. In the tests it worked, but wasnt good enough for the robot. For sensing position of obstacles to catch, and for full automatic movement control. I will not provide any more info about it.
The mechanics:
its home-made. The base is made of 0.5mm aluminum plates. The caterpillars are made of: shue-sole-basematerial, casette-player-DC motors, bearings. The robot arm: 2 DC motors, aluminum and whatever I could find.
The electronics:
5 PCBs: the baseboard, motor-control board, DC-to-DC board, Bluetooth board, and radar-board. All are 2 layer boards. 3 are made at a PCB manufacturer, the others are made by me. The baseboard contains the DSP.
Software:
Lots of c-functions (on 2 levels), called by a command-interpreter, listening on Bluetooth. The intepreter can collect and send data to the host computer.
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