Autonomous Drones

1
Autonomous Drones

• Group C
• Dominique Ross
• Chris Brunson
• James Sexton
• Ceceile Vernon- Senior

2
Administrative Introduction

• Our goals for this project are for the three
  robots to work together intelligently to complete
  a maze faster than an individual robot would be
  able to.
• Not only did we want a cost effective robot we
  wanted to make the whole process of an autonomous
  robot solving a maze more efficient and faster.

3
Project Goals

• To build 3 robots that work together to navigate
  a maze
• The robots must communicate wirelessly and
  analyze information intelligently
• The robots must use each others information to
  gain information on how to solve the maze
• The robots should be able to figure out where
  and how far the walls are from them and record
  which routes have been taken to learn the maze
• We want it to seem as if each robot can see
  through the other two robots eyes and as if they
  were working with one mind

4
Specifications and Requirements

• 3 robots that communicate through a wireless
  connection
• The base of the vehicle should be able to rotate
  360
• The code should execute immediately and the
  robots should not pause longer than 10s
• Robots should be able to measure their distance
  from the wall to a degree of error not greater
  than 4 cm
• Robots should be able to store maze information
  and send it
• The robot should be able to identify dead ends in
  no more than 5s
• Each robot should cost less than 150 to
  construct

5
System Design Diagram
6
Microcontroller Choices
7
Microcontroller Arduino Duemilnaove

• ATMEGA328
• USB Interface
• Cross-platform
• Open source
• 32 KB Flash Memory
• Well documented

8
Printed Circuit Board

• PCB123 software
• 100 student credit from sunstone
• Prototyped on the Arduino board
• 2 layer design
• Using through hole and surface mount techniques

9
Batteries
10
Power Needs
Volts milliamps
Ultrasonic Rangefinder 2.5-5 2
DC Motors 3-6 30-60
Bluetooth Module 3.3 30
11
Voltage Regulation

• All parts can run off of 5 volts DC
•  Stepping Down 7.4 volt battery
• LM317 regulator-adjustable output with two
  external resistors

12
H-Bridge

• The SN754410 Quad Half H-Bridge
• Capable of driving high voltage motors using TTL
  5V logic levels
• Can drive 4.5V up to 36V at 1A continuous output
  current

13
Texas Instruments Voltage Regulator Advantages

• 3 Terminal Regulator
• High Power Dissipation Capability
• Output Current up to 1.5 Amps
• Internal Short Circuit Current Limiting
• Input Voltages up to 40 V

14
Testing

• DC Motor/H-Bridge wheels test
• Chassis/Locomotion test with wheels turning on
  axis
• Rangefinder test
• Bluetooth test

15
Base Vehicle

• In deciding the body of the autonomous robot a
  number of concerns came into play.
• The robot needs to be sturdy yet lightweight in
  order to mount all the additional parts
• The robot must be able to turn on a dime and
  navigate corners in order to travel the maze
  effectively
• The platform of the robot should be a disc like
  shape

16
Base Vehicle

• Frame of vehicle
• Motor
• Navigational system

17
Frame of Vehicle

• The considered materials for this robot was
  polycarbonate plastic and aluminum
• The final choice was the plastic
• light weight
• Easy to use
• Cost effective

18
Servos

• DC Motors
• RC Motors
• Stepper Motors
• For our robot a dc motor was
• chosen

19
Navigational system

• The navigational system we look at was
• Two wheel
• Three wheel
• Four wheel

20
Four Wheel System

• Pros
• Better stability because its center of gravity is
  in a rectangular form
• The four wheel provides extra balance
• Its turning ability is just like a car
• Cons
• Its much harder to build and much more costly

21
Three Wheel System

• Pros
• Greater accuracy when fast turns are required
• Cons
• Center of gravity is in a triangular shape which
  makes it very easy to fall
• Does not perform well on any form of rough
  terrain
• Not as efficient or cost effective

22
Two Wheel system

• The two wheel system is what was chosen for our
  design in the autonomous robot mainly
• It meet our desire specification
• Its will be light weight
• Able to turn on a dim
• More effective in maneuvering the maze
• Cost effective

23
Labyrinth
24
Simply Connected Maze
25
Disjoint Maze
26
Tremaux's Algorithm

• If you encounter a new junction
• Pick a direction at random
• If you are traversing a new path and you
  encounter an old junction
• Turn back
• If you are traversing an old path and you
  encounter a old junction
• Take a new path if available, otherwise take an
  old path
• If you encounter a dead end
• Turn back

27
Graphs
28
Mazes as Graphs
29
Mazes as Graphs
30
Graph Traversal

• Search (Vertex startV)
• List vertices empty List
• Set visited empty Set
• Add startV to vertices
• while (vertices is not empty)
• Vertex V remove element from vertices
• if (visited does not contain V)
• // Handle V here
• // (e.g. check if destination Vertex)
• Add V to visited
• for every Vertex X connected to V
• if (visited does not contain X)

31
Constructing the Maze
32
Bluetooth Successes and Difficulties

• Successes
• Maximum distance is up to 100m
• Has an indicator LED
• Supports Windows Bluetooth stack
• Windows automatically links with Bluetooth
• Difficulties
• None to date

33
SeedStudio Ultrasonic Range Finder Successes

• Successes
• Breadboard friendly
• Arduino library ready
• The size is light weight
• Wide range from 3 cm 400 cm

34
SeedStudio Ultrasonic Range Finder Difficulties

• Difficulties
• Efficient communication between the
  micro-controller
• Best if used in a 30

Practical test of performance, Best in 30 degree
angle
35
Project Budget and Financing

• The Budget to Date

Part Name Vendor Quantity Price
SeeedStudio Ultrasonic Range Finder Robotshop 2 38.25
Bluetooth USB Module Mini Sparkfun 2 33.58
Base Vehicle Robotshop 2 60.00
Micro-controller Amazon 2 30.00
Total 161.83
36
Project Budget and Financing

• The Budget to the End of the Project

Part Name Vendor Quantity Price
SeeedStudio Ultrasonic Range Finder Robotshop 3 53.25
Bluetooth USB Module Mini Sparkfun 3 44.58
Base Vehicle Robotshop 3 80.00
Micro-controller Amazon 3 50.00
Total 227.83
37
Current Progress

• Research
• 100 done
• Design
• 95 of the design is done
• Parts Acquisition
• 80 complete
• Prototyping
• 20 complete
• Testing
• 10 complete
• Overall
• 25 complete

38
Questions?