Week 2

For the start of week 2 we submitted our design proposal which can be viewed by clicking on the design proposal button in the nav bar above this post.

Now it's time to get started on the fun stuff!  Robot building time!!  We received our two Lego NXT kits and began working on our physical design.  Before diving too deep into building a robot we really had to think about what we wanted our robot to do and how we wanted it do that.

Navigation:

We'll be using two Lego NXT bricks to build this robot.  A single brick wouldn't offer enough sensor/motor inputs to accomplish everything we want this robot to do.  One of these bricks will be utilized strictly for navigation purposes and will utilize the following sensors:

Ultrasonic Sensor:  This sensor will send out an ultrasonic pulse that will bounce off of objects in front of the robot and return to the robot.  This will allow the robot to know when there is an obstacle or wall in front of it.  This will be useful for navigating around the building floor plan.

Color Sensor: Each main room in the building will have a different color; red, blue, green, yellow.  The robot will utilize a color sensor to determine which room it is in and to know if it has already explored that room.

Light Sensor:  This sensor will be used to help the robot find its way back out of the building.  At the entrance to the building will be a stationary light.  The robot will then use a combination of the light sensor and ultrasonic sensor to make its way back out of the building once the mission is complete.

Motor Usage:  Two motors will be used for navigation to control each wheel independently.  Independent wheel operation is key to having the robot be able to perform zero point turns in order to navigate the building more efficiently.

Collection and Elimination:

The second Lego NXT Brick will be used to control the collection and elimination mechanisms on board the robot and will make use of some additional sensors and motors to help with these tasks.

Color Sensor:  A second color sensor will be used to determine if an object is to be either collected for extraction or destroyed on site.

Motor Usage.  Two additional motors will be used here to control the collection and elimination mechanisms.

Now for the hands on!

Once we had a general idea of how the robot was to function while inside the building we had to start assembling the robot.  We needed to make use of two Lego NXT bricks while being conscious of it's dimensions   Too wide and the robot would have a difficult time navigating the halls and rooms of the building.

The preliminary robot design is still under construction.  Expect some media (photos/video) once completed.