Project #2 - Team Chassis Design and Fabrication
In this project, your team will complete the design and fabrication of the chassis for your robot.Your robot must satisfy three primary specifications: (1) it will run a balancing controller on a differential steering drive system, (2) it will balance itself on two wheels, drive, and steer; (3) it will incorporate an odometry systems and use it to estimate it's position by counting wheel rotations so that it can execute a test trajectory in the Precision Challenge, and (4) it will incorporate a range sensor to detect walls and complete the Maze Challenge in which it finds it's way out of a maze.
Your goal is to fabricate a chassis with motors and wheels for a
differential steering/drive that allows the robot to balance,
move, and turn. Care must be taken to plan the size, mass
distribution, and layout of the vehicle. It will use the Arduino
Mega as the Embedded controller.
     
Arduino
IDE - tell it which arduino you're using, i.e. the Mega 2560
     
Motor Shield
             
You must build the connectors on the motor shield board. The
shield is stacked onto the Mega.
             
Motor Shield User Manual
             
Shield Software Library
                  from IDE:
                     
Sketch > Include Library > add .ZIP Library
                     
File > Examples > DualMC33926MotorShield > Demo  
(motor demo hook up your motors)
     
Maxon Motor data sheet
The 11.1 V LiPo battery pack is provided as your recommended
power supply. With the power jumper on the shield, it will
power both the shield and the Mega adequately. Later, you may choose
to use 2 batteries in series to produce a 22.2 V supply
voltage---this will exceed the rated voltage on the Mega.
Therefore, if you do this, you should remove the jumper coupling the
power for the two boards and use a separate 9V battery to power the Mega.
You must fabricate a chassis with motors
and a temporary 3rd point of contact, mount the Arduino,
batteries and motors, and fabricate and mount the motor shield for
driving the motors, and enough space to mount the peripheral
sensors and cabling for future projects.
You will also write your first embedded control application to
drive the motors so that your robot executes open-loop circular
patterns. Your robot should execute counter clockwise circles
of varying radii.
Materials:
| Final Report (one per team):
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