S’18 Project and Mission Objectives

The mission profile and expectations per project for the Spring 2018 season.

Stakeholder Expectations

Mission Objectives
  • Design and fabricate a remote controlled, competitively priced, toy robot that is capable of memorizing and traversing a path.
  • The child “teaches” his/her robot by guiding it through a maze. Once the child and robot team solve the maze. The child returns the robot to the entrance of the maze and quizzes the robot to see if it has learned the maze.
  • Additional robots may be introduced into the maze while the robot is moving through the maze. The robot should avoid collisions with the other robots.
  • Parents and friends may remotely view the progress of their child’s robot.
  • Our game testers will be given the robots on the day of the final. The test room is ECS 316. The maze will be located in the front of the room (about 8 ft x 18 ft).
Mission Constriants
  • Teaching the robot how to navigate the maze shall be done using the ArxRobot Android or iPhone application (the App). The App communicates using Bluetooth v4.x (BLE)  
  • Video support during autonomous navigation of the maze shall be provided from the Arxterra control panel.
  • The customer has indicated a preference for a complementary live VR feed.
  • To keep the cost of the robot competitive in the market, assembly times shall be minimized. The customer is looking to us to define this time.
  • To further keep the price down (i.e., FREE), the maze will be printed by AoSA Image.
Encountering Robots
  • (Was mentioned in class, rules were beginning to be formulated but were not executed or tested. (Rules 1 and Rules 2)
Fabrication/Materials Used – 3D Printing
  • For prototyping, all parts fabricated must not exceed a maximum print time of 2 hours per part. The total print time of all parts cannot be more than 6 hours. The print material must be PLA plastic with the minimal amount of infill and supports (can specify the values or leave it ambiguous).
  • For the final version of the robot, all prints are to be high quality. There is no limitation on the print time for parts and the material used is ABS plastic with an acetone vapor smoothing finish. The amount of infill and supports will be determined by what is needed for a high-quality print.
Tracked, wheeled, and walking toy robots

Tracked, wheeled, and walking toy robots shall be capable of learning and then autonomously navigating a maze. All robots shall use a v6.43 3DoT board with a custom SMD I2C shield. All 3DoT boards shall be powered by a single 3.7v RCR123A battery.

  • Wheeled vehicles include the 6-wheel Sojourner Mars Rover with rocker bogie suspension and differential gearbox (not differential bar) and 4-wheel Sandblaster Sand Buggy with servo steering. It is recommended that LEGOs be used to fabricate Sojourner’s differential gearbox. In addition to requirements above, the Sojourner will include an operational solar panel.
  • Tracked vehicles include the Goliath Tank, Trinket Red Rover, Snowcat, and Rosco (Robot Scout).
  • Walking robots include BiPeds based on the Theo Jansen Biped Walking Kit. Six legged Hexapod walking robots shall use DC motors. Mechanisms include Jerry Mantzel, Joe Klann, Theo Jansen, and many more.
All Projects
  • All projects shall demonstrate good system engineering practices. For example, cable routing is an integral part of the design with the minimum use of zip ties, all wires are soldered with joints protected with shrink tubing. In addition, adhesives such as tape and glue are not used to “patch” together with the design. Adhesives and tape may be used as required by the “system” design of the robot.
  • Good construction techniques. All moving parts (hinges, wheels, ….) shall not be janky. Rotating parts shall use bushing or bearings. Hinges shall be interlocking and include latching a mechanism.
  • Cables will use grommets as a minimum with pass-through connectors preferred. A USB pass-through connector is available from the customer.
  • The professor will refer to these engineering best practices as making the project “look cool.”
  • All 3D printed robots shall be printed in less than 6 hours, with no single print being longer than 2 hours. This is known as the 6 (2/2/2) Print Time Requirement.
  • All robots that use the Arxterra control panel shall display the current battery level as well as all sensor data.
  • Use lowest price option for shipping all project components.
  • The USB port will be easily accessible for charging and programming. NEW
  • In order to minimize manufacturing costs, the Robot shall be able to be constructed from subassemblies (electronics, motors, cabling,…) by one factory worker within 10 minutes. NEW

Game Development Team

  • Game surface (Paper, Cloth, Baltic Burch tiles, other) TBD
  • Matrix Composition (UV Ink)
  • Maze Definition (Two different size designs) TBD
  1. The Robot will drive on TBD surface.
  2. The Robot shall be able to operate over the duration of the mission TBD hours with a safety margin of 2x.
  3. The Robot shall complete the game. The game is completed when TBD.
  4. The Robot should do a celebratory dance.
  5. The Robot shall not crash into other robots within 0.5 meter radius.
  6. The Robot should be capable of reading UV lines in order to navigate the maze.

Robot Specific Customer Expectations

Goliath
  • The robot will be a scale replica of a Goliath 302 Tank. The scale factor will be TBD with a mean square error (MSD) over all three axis (x, y, z) of no greater than TBD.
  • Will use the v6.43 3Dot Board powered by a single 3.7v RCR123A battery.
  • Shall contain and use a custom designed PCB.
  • Control panel should be customized for robot use, includes custom commands and/or telemetry
  • Should be deigned to fit the 3Dot board “snugly”.
  • Budget shall be less than $200.
AT-ST
  • Will use the v6.43 3Dot Board powered by a single 3.7v RCR123A battery.
  • Shall contain a custom PCB (that incorporates all or most of the peripherals).
  • Should be controllable through the Axterra App.
  • Should appear similar to a AT-ST
  • TBD
  • Budget shall be less than $250
Pathfinder
  • Will traverse a course/route TBD on upper campus.
  • Will use a Rocker-bogie suspension.
  • Shall control motors independently with a slip differential (Motors shall stop running when they leave the ground).
  • Should deploy and retract entire solar array.
  • Shall use custom commands and telemetry to control movement using the Arxterra App.
  • Should charge on board batteries to TBD using solar array.
  • Budget shall be less than $300.