Naval Battle Robot

We are VULCAN from UM-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint institute which locates in Shanghai Minhang district. Joint Institute was jointly established by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Michigan, which has an educational philosophy of “Internationalization, Interdisciplinarity, Innovation, Quality”.

This is a manual for project one of our Vg100 course, in which course we learn the principle and operation of a basic robot. Project one is called the “Naval Battle”, aiming at moving two kinds of balls (8 large balls and 4 small balls with the diameter of 70mm and 40mm respectively) of different points to the opponents’ territory with a robot in certain time and field. The size of the field is 2000mm*1500mm, and the wall in the middle is 120mm high from the ground and 18mm wide. There’s a 50mm gap between the middle wall and the ground. In the first round, each group finish the match alone. The eight highest-ranking groups can enter the second round to play against each other. The group that scores highest wins. Our group gets 15 points and ranks 9th.

Step 1: Competition Regulations and Grading Rubrics:

The picture of the battle field above is drawn by the instructor of VG100.

Below is a bulleted version of rules:

·Time within three minutes.

·Size limit: 350mm*350mm*200mm.

·No additional motors.

·Balls moved from the opponents’ territory can be moved back.

·The score will be counted when the game is finished.

·The total score first determines the ranking. Then the number of the large balls on the opponents’ territory is considered.

·If two groups rank the same, there will be an additional 1-minute match.

Below is the video of our performance on the game day:

http://player.youku.com/embed/XMzEwOTg5MTk0NA

Step 2: Designing Concept:

Above is our concept diagram. The robot has an elevator in the front. When it moves directly towards the big ball and push the big ball to the nearest wall, the ball will automatically be pushed onto the elevator. Then the elevator goes up. When the ball reaches the height of 120mm, it will go down to the other field because of the slope on the elevator. When the wall is not the wall in the middle, the elevator will just lift the ball but less than 120mm so that the ball is stored in the elevator. The robot then moves toward the wall in the middle of the field and lift the ball to the height of 120mm to release the ball. The elevator, with rack on its back, is driven by a set of wheel gears, which are connected to the servo motor. The small balls are simply pushed by the board placed at the bottom of the robot.

Step 3: Materials List:

Step 4: Circuit Diagram:

In the circuit diagram, the red lines are 11.1V power lines supplied by the battery and the blue line is the 3.3V power line. The orange lines are the digital data lines. The yellow lines are the PWM controlling data lines. The black lines are the ground lines. In the middle of the diagram there is the arduino uno board, which is the main processor and controller of the system and is powered by the battery. The arduino board directly controls the PS receiver and the servo motor, both of which are powered by the arduino board in 3.3V and 5V respectively. For the two DC motors, they need a driver module L298N to drive. L298N is directly powered by the battery and can control the rotation direction and speed of the DC motors according to the data from the arduino. When the player presses the buttons on the PS pad, the PS receiver will receive the signals and transmit the data to the arduino board. The arduino board will process the data according to the program, output the commands and eventually control the rotation of the DC motors and the servo motor. The rotation of the DC motors will turn into the movement of the car and that of the servo motor will turn into the ascent and descent of the elevator.

Step 5: Step by Step : Main Parts

At the beginning, we’ll show all the main parts of our car and name them.

Above are LEGO bar 1, LEGO bar 2, LEGO bar 3 and LEGO gears respectively.

Step 6: Step by Step 1: Get the Car Tires Ready

Get the two DC Gear Motors and the connecting parts ready and fix them together, also connect two wires to it.

Then fix the tire to the motor.

The diagram is shown above.

Step 7: Step by Step 2: Finish the First Layer of the Car

Get the two finished products done in step 1, a PS-2 receiver, an Arduino UNO and a L298n driving module.

Fix all these on the mother board like the diagram shown above.

Step 8: Step by Step 3: Build a Baffle to Push the Small Balls

Get a strip-like acrylic board, two small pieces of strip-like acrylic board and use the L-shaped connector to connect them together.

Then stick two LEGO bar 1 and LEGO bar 3 to the middle of it.

The diagram is showed above.

Then use the hot-melt adhesive to stick two small pieces of acrylic board on both sides.

The detail is shown above.

Connect the whole product to the motherboard.

The diagram is shown above.

Step 9: Step by Step 4: Add a Second Layer to the Car

Get some LEGO bars to support the second layer of the car.

The supporting bar consists of three LEGO bar 1 or a LEGO bar 2 and a LEGO bar 1 as the diagram shown above.

Step 10: Step by Step 5: Build a Gear Drive to Lift the Lifting Equipment

Get some LEGO gears, axis and bars and assemble them as the diagram above shows.

Step 11: Step by Step 6: Add a Fixing Equipment to Pad the Control Actuator

Get a supporting component and stick it to the second layer.

We use a cylindrical item and three LEGO bar 1 to make it.

The diagram is shown above.

Step 12: Step by Step 7:Finish the Second Layer of the Car

Fix the control actuator on the finished product in step 6 and fix the finished product in step 5 to the second layer.

Make sure that the control actuator can be connect just to the LEGO axis.

And connect the control actuator to the LEGO axis with the product shown on left side below.

Then stick the breakboard and the model battery to the second layer.

The diagram is shown above.

Step 13: Step by Step 8: Build a Part of the Container of Big Balls

Stick two L-shaped connectors and a runner to an acrylic board like the diagram above.

The runner consists of a LEGO bar 1, two LEGO bar 2 and a LEGO bar 1.

Step 14: Step by Step 9: Add a Acrylic Board to Make the Lifting Equipment Slide Smoother

Add a narrow acrylic board to the LEGOs to make sure that the lifting equipment will not get stuck.

While sticking the board, ensure that the bottom of the LEGO is covered.

The diagram is shown above.

Step 15: Step by Step 10: Finish the Container of the Big Balls

Connect the two parts finished in step 8&9 with an acrylic board.

Then connect the whole part to the front of the car.

The diagrams are shown above.

Step 16: Step by Step 11: Build a Lifting Equipment to Lift Big Balls

Get an acrylic board and stick two rolls of pinions in the middle of it.

Besides it stick two rolls of LEGO bar 2. Then connect a perpendicular acrylic board at the bottom of it.

Also, stick three board on the bottom board.

Finally, add an extra acrylic board on both sides which fits the runner.

The diagram is shown above.

Step 17: Step by Step 12: Finish the Whole Car

Put the lifting equipment into the runner. And the car is done!

The diagrams of the car are shown below.

Thank you for reading our manual. We really hope that it’s of great help to you.