Team Hans
A rag-tag team of engineers brought together by our love of mechatronics (and Hans Zimmer).
A rag-tag team of engineers brought together by our love of mechatronics (and Hans Zimmer).
For our project, we decided to implement the bug algorithm with object following. As a high level overview, this algorithm starts by following a straight line path towards the destination and upon detecting an obstacle, follows the edge around until the robot has returned to the original straight line path on the other side of the obstacle.
To do this, we used the optitrack data to direct the robot through the required destinations and checked the LADAR sensor data to determine if an obstacle was in the way of our path. From there, we would navigate in a counter-clockwise fashion, using right wall following to circumvent the obstacle. Data on the robot’s position is sent to a Labview program that tracks its movement along the course.
To handle ball collection, we chose a simplistic mechanical design comprised of splitting the front panel into two, equal sized compartments and a corresponding door for each side. The software would take in camera readings and check it against thresholded HSV values for the detection of blue and orange.
If the number of pixels within the range of either blue or orange exceeded a certain minimum amount, we would flag that a ball was detected and estimate the distance between the robot and the ball. This information is sent to the Labview program and is used to depict the location and color of the ball on the course.
Depending on which color ball we were detecting, we would orient the robot to line the ball up with the corresponding side, drive forward, and rotate the door to open and close to allow the entry of the new ball while simultaneously minimizing the chances of releasing other balls. Upon completion of the course, we would drive to the drop-off locations, stop to allow the balls to settle, open the corresponding door, and reverse to move the robot out of the way.
