Navaratnarajah Suman
This Robot was built for a given task where the ROBOT needs to follow a line(line following) and then collect coins that will be randomly placed on the way, these coins should be collected in a vessel and then the Robot has to follow a wall and unfold a bridge over which the robot has to move and complete the task.So the Following tasks had to be achieved:
1. Line following
2.Wall following
3. Bridge unfolding
4.Coin collecting
5.Bridge Unfolding
6.Ramp climbing
Since there was a ramp climbing part, we decided to use a four wheeled ROBOT to get a hight torque and because of that,we had to design the Robot in such a way that there had to be a hinge on the front part and there were many difficulties faced due to the high torque requirement and power problems, so it is advisable to plan properly about the torque need, the motors to choose, the type of power supply to choose and other stuffs.
Used Hardware and software tools:
1.HC-SRO4 ultrasonic sensors
2.180 RPM Motors
3.Arduino Mega 2560
4.Perspex for chassis
5.2cm Electromagnets
6.Arduino Sketch
7. SolidWorks
8.Lipo battery(3 cell, 4000mah)
Before building the Robot, it is advisable to completely imagine how the final product is going to be and also in order to communicate your ideas visually with your team members , the best option is solidworks, you can draw parts and make assemblies to the exact scale,it is very easy and convenient to work with solidworks, you can even simulate the hardware in solidworks.
For this project, I have completely drawn the robot in solidworks starting from wheel, motors, nuts and bolts to the large arm. Because when you do this, not only it helps your project but also you learn a lot in solidworks which will be very useful for you in other projects.
Once your design is complete, you can choose the material with which you are going to make the robot.For example if you want to create the Robot with metal, you can show your solidworks drawing in 3d to the worker and they will find it very easy to understand what they need to do.
What I have done here, is used perspex.Once you have made your design in solidworks, here most of the parts were 2D Parts joined together, so you can give your drawing in a laser cutting shop and cut your perspex accordingly and get a perfect cut perspex which you will have to assemble manually and once you are done assembling , you will exactly see the model that you made in SolidWorks before you in real!!!
To get the solidworks file,
feel free to send an email
Building a full Robot for a required
task.
Usually before building a robot, it as better to think about the following :
1. What is the purpose of this robot?
2.How am I going to achieve those tasks?
3.What is my budget?
4.Think bout the mechanical structure for the robot, the microcontroller to be used and other task related works.