2011 4th Year Mechatronics Project

A Semi-Autonomous Exploratory Robot created for the 4th year Mechatronics course (MME 4487) at the University of Western Ontario by Louis Kaptur, Chris Kirk, Raphael Kopala and Andrew Mitchell.

The task was to safely extract a sample from a mysterious biochemical blob found within rubble of a collapsed building. The robot was to be remotely controlled via some form of wireless communication, have web cam operator feed back and have semi-autonomous functionality in the sample collection. The robot 'brain' was restricted to a PIC24H whilst the communication system was not.

Subsystem Details:

Mechanical:
Front arm used for lifting and sample collection is powered by a low speed, high torque DC, planetary gear box motor
Front arm contains free rolling wheels to assist in obstacle climbing and is weighted to allow for shifting of the centre of mass to assist in 'toppling' over wall obstacles.
-Front arm houses the webcam, the scoop powered by a servo and a sensor for sample detection feedback
250 x 325 mm Wheel Base, with 120 mm Wheel Diameter

Electrical:
2 Tamiya 70168 Double Gearbox's for 4 Wheel Drive
1 Low speed, High torque DC motor for arm control
3 DC Motor Control Boards

Control System:
Microstick PIC24HJ64GP502 for robot 'brains'
Arduino Uno connected to a Playstation controller and 315 MHz RF Transmitter on the operator side
Arduino Nano connected to a 315 MHz RF Receiver on the robot side for receiving and passing commands to the PIC24H

Code:
PIC24H coded in C++
Operator Controller (Arduino Uno) coded in C++ using VirtualWire library for RF transmitter and PSX library for reading the PlayStation Controller
Robot Side Arduino (Nano) coded in C++ with VirtualWire library for RF reciever

References:
VirtualWire Library: http://www.open.com.au/mikem/arduino/...
PSX Library: http://arduino.cc/playground/Main/PSX...