Project

#	Title	Team Members	TA	Documents	Sponsor
11	Antweight Combat Robot	Ryan Middendorf Teodor Tchalakov	Michael Molter	design_document1.pdf final_paper2.pdf grading_sheet1.pdf photo1.jpeg photo2.jpeg photo3.jpeg proposal1.pdf
	Antweight Combat Robot Team Members: Ryan Middendorf (ryanjm8), Teodor Tchalakov (ttcha2) Problem The constraints for Professor Gruev’s competition are as follows: Must weigh less than 2 lbs Must be 3D printed in PET(G), ABS, or PLA(+) Must have controlled movement Must be controlled over bluetooth or wifi by a PC Must have a fighting tool to use against other bots The main challenges involved in this are making a custom control solution and designing a combat robot that will not only survive the 2 minute matches but actually win them by immobilizing the other robot. Solution To meet these constraints, we plan to create a custom PCB that contains 3 brushless electronic speed controllers (ESCs) to control the drive and weapon motors and uses a microcontroller to communicate with a PC over bluetooth and control the robot. For the actual robot design we plan to build a vertical spinner which usually performs best in this weight class. The "tool" will be spun by a brushless motor, and so will both sides drive wheels. Subsystem 1 - Custom PCB and Power Our first subsystem will be the custom PCB. It has to contain 3 brushless ESCs and interface with a bluetooth enabled microcontroller such as an ESP32 or STM32 that will receive instructions from a PC and turn them into usable PWM signals for the ESCs. It will also have to be powered by a LiPo battery through an XC30 connector and include an integrated screw switch so the robot can be turned on and off simply and safely. Subsystem 2 - Drive train Our second subsystem will be the drive train. Our robot will be driven by 2 brushless motors, 1 on each side. Each motor will drive 2 wheels that are connected by a belt so the robot will have a simplified 4 wheel drive in a tank drive configuration. Subsystem 3 - Weapon/Tool Assembly Our third subsystem will be the weapon/tool assembly. Our tool will be a robust vertical spinner, most likely a drum/eggbeater style. This type of tool has a lot of success in combat robotics due to its ability to dissipate the force of hitting an opponent into the floor very efficiently. This will be driven by a substantially larger brushless motor than the drive system so it can deliver much more powerful hits. Subsystem 4 - Chassis Our fourth subsystem will be the chassis. The chassis has to be very robust and able to withstand all the damage that will be dealt to it throughout a match. It also has to be able to contain all the electronics and prevent them from being damaged. The chassis will be 3D printed out of one of the approved materials listed above but most likely PLA+. Subsystem 5 - Controlling from PC Our fifth and final subsystem will be how our robot is controlled by a PC. This will be a program run locally on a PC that takes keyboard inputs and transforms them into instructions that are sent to the microcontroller inside the robot to control it. Criterion for Success We would consider our project a success if we are able to communicate with the robot from our computer and successfully drive it around the arena during a match. The commands sent from the pc need to be processed by the microcontroller and the motors need to be powered properly and behave correctly during a match. The robot will also have to be able to shut itself off if the bluetooth gets disconnected for some reason.

Assistive Chessboard

Robert Kaufman, Rushi Patel, William Sun

Assistive Chessboard

Featured Project

Problem: It can be difficult for a new player to learn chess, especially if they have no one to play with. They would have to resort to online guides which can be distracting when playing with a real board. If they have no one to play with, they would again have to resort to online games which just don't have the same feel as real boards.

Proposal: We plan to create an assistive chess board. The board will have the following features:

-The board will be able to suggest a move by lighting up the square of the move-to space and square under the piece to move.

-The board will light up valid moves when a piece is picked up and flash the placed square if it is invalid.

-We will include a chess clock for timed play with stop buttons for players to signal the end of their turn.

-The player(s) will be able to select different standard time set-ups and preferences for the help displayed by the board.

Implementation Details: The board lights will be an RGB LED under each square of the board. Each chess piece will have a magnetic base which can be detected by a magnetic field sensor under each square. Each piece will have a different strength magnet inside it to ID which piece is what (ie. 6 different magnet sizes for the 6 different types of pieces). Black and white pieces will be distinguished by the polarity of the magnets. The strength and polarity will be read by the same magnetic field sensor under each square. The lights will have different colors for the different piece that it is representing as well as for different signals (ie. An invalid move will flash red).

The chess clock will consist of a 7-segment display in the form of (h:mm:ss) and there will be 2 stop buttons, one for each side, to signal when a player’s turn is over. A third button will be featured near the clock to act as a reset button. The combination of the two stop switches and reset button will be used to select the time mode for the clock. Each side of the board will also have a two toggle-able buttons or switches to control whether move help or suggested moves should be enabled on that side of the board. The state of the decision will be shown by a lit or unlit LED light near the relevant switch.

Project Videos