Below we will give step-by-step instructions on how our team created the Roomba Speaker Robot! Max, Toufiqul, Kong, Carlos, and Sara are students in ME 608 (Introduction to Mechatronics) at the University of Kansas. We created a robot utilizing 3D printed parts and various sensors that are compatible with an Arduino circuit and breadboard. This car follows 4H Robotic Competition Guidelines and showcases three different modes that can be controlled through an IR remote: Roomba Mode (which prompts the car to freely move around and avoid obstacles by utilizing the Ultrasonic Distance Sensor), Line Following Mode (which prompts the car to move along a line by utilizing 3 line sensors), and Remote Control Mode (which prompts the car to move based on the buttons that are being pressed on the IR Remote). The top of our Roomba Speaker Robot has a place for us to place your phone and play music so the party can follow you wherever you go! (you just need to walk at a moderately slow pace along a clearly visible line that is roughly 3/4" wide.)

Supplies

Here is a list of supplies we used to construct our car:

Arduino Uno
Arduino Breadboard
Ultrasound distance sensor
3-line sensors
2 Gear motor
Motor Driver
IR Remote
IR Receiver
3 AAA Batteries
Battery Holder
4 Arduino SparkFun Wheels
~50 Wires (including male-male and female-female)

(These can be purchased at SparkFun Electronics)

We also created the following 3D printer parts to supplement our construction:

Base of the Car
Front half of Phone Holder
Rear half of Phone Holder

Step 1: Planning

Before we initiate any coding or construction it is important to plan out what we need to do and what we want our project to accomplish.

For the design aspect, we brainstormed how we wanted our car to complete our objectives and how it would look. Along with being able to successfully accomplish the 3 modes of our car we also wanted to add a more fun aspect to it by being able to place your phone on the top and be able to play music. We also decided that we wanted our car to be FWD using the two-gear motors and designed our car accordingly.

Step 2: Creating SOLIDWORKS Parts

After planning, we had an idea of what we wanted to construct and got to work on SOLIDWORKS. We designed a base plate that has 3 sections on the top which hold the Arduino Uno Circuit, Arduino Breadboard, and the battery pack. On the bottom, two sections hold the gear motors in place which is where the wheels will be placed.

We also created the top portion that would consist of the curved walls that hold the phone in place, the hole that allows for the IR sensor to be visible, a platform for the 3 line sensors to be able to point at the ground, a platform for the Ultrasonic Distance Sensor to sit and face the front. Keeping in mind the size of the 3D printer, we split the top plate in half before submitting the parts to be printed.

Step 3: Coding & Wiring

In this step what you want to do is to connect the various different parts up to the breadboard and arduino as shown in the picture. Take careful notice of which wire goes to which pin as this can cause big issues later on if done incorrectly. The following files contain the code we utilized for our car.

me608_group_revised.ino
Download

Step 4: Wiring/Assembly

After completing the code and receiving our parts 3D-printed parts, we placed the battery, circuit, and breadboard on the bottom plate. We then proceeded to wire in the IR sensor, motor driver, both the gear motors, all line sensors, and the ultrasonic distance sensor. After everything was wired, we used skewers to hold the rear wheels in place and the gear motors to hold the forward wheels in place. Then using electrical tape, we connected the two halves of the top portion to the bottom portion and then the top halves to each other.