We
are the Daydreamers! We come from UM-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (UM-JI), which is established jointly by both University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. This page is written to describe our Arduino robot created for the class VG100 (Introduction to Engineering), and it’s able to shoot balls to the other side of the battle field.

Our score on the Game Day is 5 small balls and 1 large ball, 9 points totally.

The link of the video which records the performance of our robot car on the Game Day is listed as follow.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzEwMTE3Njc0NA==.html?spm=a2hzp.8244740.0.0

Step 1: the Joint Institute

Shanghai Jiao Tong University is located in Shanghai Minhang District, and is one of the best Universities in China. The Joint Institute is among its most competitive institutes, which is famous for its international education and faculty.

Step 2: Description of the Competition

In this project, named Naval Battle, we are required to create a robot which can shoot balls to the other side of the battle field, and there are 4 large balls (wooden) and 8 small balls (ping-pong ball) on the field. At the first round, the robot needs to shoot the balls without competitors. According to the number of the balls the robot shoots within limited time, 8 teams with the highest score will participate in the second round, where teams compete with each other. Finally, the group with the best score wins.

P.S. the picture is drawn by the instructors of vg100.

Step 3: The Rules

a. Game time is 3 minutes

b. Only the motors provided by the teacher can be used.

c. The size limit of the robot is 350mm*350mm*200mm.

d. The score is related to the number of balls and counted in the end.

d. The ranking depends on the score, then the number of big balls.

e. There will be an additional 1-minute competition if ranking is same.

Step 4: Grading Details

a.The small ball counts 1pt

The large ball counts 4pts

b. For balls knocked out of the field:

Deduction of 2pts for each small ball

Deduction of 5pts for each large ball

Step 5: Concept Diagram

The above is the concept diagram of our design. The center thing is the Arduino uno microcontroller. A wireless PlayStation 2 joystick is used as the remote control. The L298N is used as the motor controller which can control the speed and the election.

Our method to catch the ball is using a hopper which is controlled by the steering engine. Two screws connect the car and the hopper. A wooden slope at the front of the hopper can help to let the ball in. While two clamps play the same role as well, collecting the little ball. If the balls are collected in the hopper, the car will get close to the barrier and overturn the hopper to pour the balls into the opposite region. Two small wooden holders are used to support and fix the board which is stuck with a steering engine.

Step 6: Material List

Step 7: Step-by-step Process: Step1 Designing the Circuit Diagram

The main controllers of the circuit are the motor driving board and Arduino UNO, which controls two motors through the motor driving board. Arduino also controls two servo motors directly. Besides, two batteries act as the energy supply.The motor driving board is supported by a 12V-battery. It can receive the signals from Arduino which is supportes by a 9V-battery and send them to the motors and determine the speed and the direction of the motor.

Step 8: Step2: Making the Base

The position of the holes are shown on the drawing

a. Cut a 4mm-thick acrylic board for a shape of 16cm*33cm rectangle base.

b. Drill four 4mm-holes on each side of the board for angle irons.

c. Fix the angle iron on the holes with nails.

d. Fit a steering engine on the inside of each angle iron

e. Fit a clutch on the outer side of each angle iron

f. Fix a wheel on each clutch

g. Drill two 4mm holes at the other side of the base.

h. Fix the universal wheel on the holes.

Step 9: Step3:Arranging Controllers and Wires

a.Place the controller parts as picture 1

b.Fix them and wires with electrical tape

c.Fix the TCB battery on the right of the base.

Step 10: Step4: Making the Car Hopper

a. Cut a 1.5mm-thick wooden board for a 16cm*30cm rectangle as the baseplate.

b. Cut two 20*190*4mm acrylic bars and two 20*180*4mm acrylic bars.

c. Drill holes on the bars as the drawing.

d. Drill two 4mm-holes at two of the corners of the wooden board.

e. Cut a 4*21mm rectangle hole near each hole for the bars.

f. Fix the longer bars on the holes with angle ions.

g. Put long nails through the holes on top of the bars to connect the longer bar with the shorter one.

h. Cut two rectangle holes on the acrylic base.

I. Put the shoter bars through the holes to fix them.

j. Place some wooden bars to support the shorter bars.

k. Fix the servo motor, which has a shaft, on the top of one short bar with hotmelts.

i. Use an 84*14cm cardboard to encircle the wooden base plate with glass glue.

m.Stick one 5*9 wood chip on each side of the cardboard.

Step 11: Final System View

Our robot car is simple to make, but has a high efficiency. I hope the car you make following the steps above can win your naval battle. Thank you for watching our instructions, and hope it’s useful for you. More details are available through our E-mail: Ophelia@sjtu.edu.cn.