Project Proposal

Video Lecture

Video, Slides

Description

The proposal outlines your project's motivation, design, requirements, ethics, and safety. The project proposal is an expansion on the information provided in the RFA. Use the following format (Word template):

  1. Introduction

    • Problem: In a few paragraphs introduce the problem and why it is important. Discuss briefly how it relates to societal concerns such as public health, safety and welfare as well as to global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors. Include any relevant references to justify the existence or importance of the problem.
    • Solution: One to two paragraphs describing the solution. Give a high-level idea of what your solution is, then delve into detail as to how it is implemented. You do not have to commit to a particular implementation at this point, but your description should be explicit and concrete.
    • Visual Aid: A pictorial representation of your project that puts your solution in context. Include other external systems relevant to your project (e.g. if your solution connects to a phone via Bluetooth, draw a dotted line between your device and the phone). Note that this is not a block diagram and should explain how the solution is used, not a breakdown of inner components.

      Sample visual aid for project which remaps GameCube buttons on the fly.

    • High-level requirements list: A list of three quantitative characteristics that this project must exhibit in order to solve the problem. Each high-level requirement must be stated in complete sentences and displayed as a bulleted list. Avoid mentioning "cost" as a high level requirement.
  2. Design
    • Block Diagram: Break your design down into blocks and assign these blocks into subsystems. Label voltages and data connections. Your microcontroller can live in multiple subsystems if you wish, as in the example below.

      Sample block diagram for electric longboard + remote

    • Subsystem Overview: A brief description of the function of each subsystem in the block diagram and explain how it connects with the other subsystems. Every subsystem in the block diagram should have its own paragraph.
    • Subsystem Requirements: For each subsystem in your block diagram, you should include a highly detailed block description. Each description must include a statement indicating how the block contributes to the overall design dictated by the high-level requirements. Any interfaces with other blocks must be defined clearly and quantitatively. Include a list of requirements where if any of these requirements were removed, the subsystem would fail to function. Good example: Power Subsystem must be able to supply at least 500mA to the rest of the system continuously at 5V +/- 0.1V.
    • Tolerance Analysis: Identify an aspect of your design that poses a risk to successful completion of the project. Demonstrate the feasibility of this component through mathematical analysis or simulation.
  3. Ethics, safety and societal impact
    As engineers you have ethical and professional responsibilities in making design decisions. Assess the ethical and safety issues relevant to your project. Consider both issues arising during the development of your project and those which could arise from the accidental or intentional misuse of your project. Specific ethical issues should be discussed in the context of the IEEE and/or ACM Code of Ethics. Cite, but do not copy the Codes. Explain how you will avoid ethical breaches. Cite and discuss relevant safety and regulatory standards as they apply to your project. Review state and federal regulations, industry standards, and campus policy. Identify potential safety concerns in your project. Discuss the impact of your engineering solution in relevant societal, economic, environmental, and global contexts.

Submission and Deadlines

The Project Proposal document should be uploaded to My Project on PACE in PDF format before the deadline listed on the Calendar.

Antweight Battlebot Project

Jeevan Navudu, Keegan Teal, Avik Vaish

Antweight Battlebot Project

Featured Project

# Antweight Battlebot

Team Members:

- Keegan Teal (kteal2)

- Avik Vaish (avikv2)

- Jeevan Navudu (jnavudu2)

# Problem

In order to compete in Professor Gruev’s robot competition, there are many constraints that need to be met, including:

- Maximum weight (2lbs)

- Allowed materials (3D-printed thermoplastics)

- Locomotion system and fighting tool

- Wireless control via Bluetooth or Wifi

The main goal of this competition is to design a Battlebot that is capable of disrupting the functionality of the other Battlebots with our fighting tool while maintaining our own functionality.

# Solution

For the project, we plan to build a battlebot with a custom electronic speed controller (ESC) that can independently control three brushless motors: two for the drive system, and one for the fighting tool. This ESC will be controlled by an STM32 microcontroller, to which we will add a Bluetooth module to connect to it and specify how much power we want to send to each motor. To communicate with our robot, we will use a laptop that can connect to Bluetooth.

# Solution Components

## Vehicle Controller

The main subsystem of the robot will be a combined vehicle control board and ESC. This subsystem will contain an STM32 Microcontroller that will serve as the brain for the whole robot. With this MCU, we’ll be able to flash our whole software package that will be able to control the speed and direction of the robot, the robot’s weapon, and the Bluetooth communication.

## Power Module

This subsystem includes the battery, the voltage regulators/converters needed to power the electronics, and the necessary battery monitoring circuitry. Specifically, for the battery, we will use a 14.8V 4S2P LiPo pack to power all the components. There will also be a voltage short detection circuit for the battery that will shut down the robot in case of a short to ensure safe practices. This subsystem also contains a 5V linear regulator and 3.3V linear regulator to power the low voltage electronics.

## Drivetrain/Powertrain

This subsystem includes the motors and H-bridges needed to control both the wheels and weapon of the robot. The H-bridges will be made with regular N-MOSs that will be controlled by a PWM signal sent from the STM32 MCU. This H-bridge setup will be able to control the voltage and polarity sent to the motors, which will be able to control the speed of the wheels or weapon. This subsystem will also include the mechanical wheels of the robot and actual hardware of the weapon, which will be a spinning object. Since all the wheels and the weapon have the same mechanical motion, they can all use the same hardware and software electronically, with minor adjustments in motor selection and the actual mechanical hardware/peripheral.

## Bluetooth Module

One big requirement for this project is the ability for the robot to be controlled wirelessly via laptop. The STM32 MCU has bluetooth capabilities, and with additional peripheral hardware, the robot will be able to communicate over bluetooth with a laptop. The goal for the laptop is to be able to control the speed, direction, and weapon of the robot wirelessly and also have a display for live telemetry.

## Mechanical Design

The last part of our project would be the mechanical design of the robot chassis and weapon. For the chassis and weapon material, we decided to go with PLA+ as it offers a blend of being strong and robust but not being too brittle. The drive system will be a 2-wheeled tank style drive with one motor controlling each side of the robot. For the weapon, we are looking to utilize a fully 3D-printed drum that will have a 100% infill to maximize the rotational inertia which can lead to bigger impacts.

## Criterion for Success

We would consider our project a success if we are able to communicate with the robot from our computer as in sending throttle and steering commands to the robot, if those commands are then processed on the robots microprocessors and the motors are sent the according power needed to move and behave in the way that we want during a match.

## Alternatives

The most commonly used electronics in current antweight battlebots consist mostly of RC drone parts. We plan to create a very similar ESC to those on the market but it will have an integrated Bluetooth wireless capability as well as telemetry monitoring. We also want to focus on minimizing packaging size to lower weight and increase flexibility as much as possible.

Project Videos