NOT TO SCALE :-P
Out of town right now, and was inspired by vince to model the project I'll be working on when I get back.
This is Murr, will be a quick and dirty robot that will do the job simplistically. What's the job? Well, maze navigation is a common challenge in robot contests, so I figure murr would be an excellent prototype to test the waters.
I'm too lazy to get a servo so murr can turn his sensors side to side. It takes a little too long and murr has no time to lose. It's funny, I got this idea when watching the chair challenge videos, even though those robots were spinning for a different reason.
Here's how he'll work:
1) His motors will basically be running all the time.
2) When he comes to an obstacle his left wheel will be switched to turn backwards. (leaving him spinning counterclockwise)
3) He will make one round first to check his surroundings, specifically to the left, back and right of the original direction he was facing.
4) He will make a decision on which direction to go based off on direction availability. That is: first priority is to turn left, if left is not available, then turn right, if right is not available turn back.
This is based off of what I'd do if I were in a maze and I was too lazy to draw a map. I'd always make left turns if they were available. This way he always follows the left wall which should eventually lead to his goal, as long as the maze is planar.
Features:
1) Round shape to avoid getting stuck while spinning in a circle.
2) Side bumpers to encourage murr to run parallel to the wall.
3) Front bumper is slight larger, so side bumpers won't hit the front wall while he's spinning.
3.5) Slider thingy under it to keep it balanced.
4) Control with only two motors on full speed all the time, cheap and simple.
5) Might replace front bumper with impact sensor, so he can react as soon as he hits the wall (if he does), no need for ultrasound to decide when to start spinning sequence.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/murr-maze-uni-rotational-robot
