I am a student in electromechanics and not a native english speaker. We have an assignment to build a robot. It would be a cleaner. The original idea was to make it a street cleaner, but it is too dangerous, considering our very limited budget, IMO. Therefore, I thought of limiting the operating area of the robot to schoolyards. It would have an easy access to plugs, garbage disposal… and be still during breaks, working during the lessons.
We have had no formation on robotics, with the exception of one member of the team, so I have no idea how to dimension the device and components…
The automatician told us we will need a position module, a sim module, three captors to check the filling of the can, an ultrasound captor and an optical captor to navigate, and a server. He says he will seek the adapted materials.
But then, he asked us to determine what we should use for : engine, batteries management system, vaccum cleaner, directions (step motor) and for the brush; as these are more electromechanical components…
I already studied a little the question of the batteries and NiMH seem to be the safest, but I am still clueless about the voltage of a robot, the current it uses… or anything about making robots…
Have a nice day and thanx for any reply to these questions.
Hi Zakharia,
My first suggestion is that you look at similar types of robots. Robotshop sells quite a few:https://www.robotshop.com/en/personal-domestic-robots.html
You can get an idea of how yours should be built. I would look at the ones for outdoor use since they will be bigger and more powerful than the indoor ones. But yours should not need to be as large and powerful as a robot mower.
Second, I recommend you look at the robot projects posted here. You will find quite a few that are similar to what you are doing. You can get some good ideas from them.
Most of the motors of the size you will need will be intended for use between about 12 and 24 V. You should calculate for yourself how powerful the motor needs to be since that is probably the point of the project. However, there is a tutorial and even a calculator on this site for exactly that. I won’t point you to it: even if you cheat I’ll make you do some of the work!
There is no cheating in asking for advices from specialists or confirmed amateurs. I do not even know the vocabulary of robotics, so searching by myself is very inefficient. It would be more appropriate to speak of humility. I am not an engineer : more of an electrician/mechanics who can understand the language of an engineer, at most, and be a relay between the engineers and the technicians. And I’m not in charge of calculating the power needed for the engine, actually : I have to solve the question of the BMS and the direction for a step motor… but I’m affraid the two other electromechanics will have trouble solving their questions, since they do not speak English and are too young to understand the added value of participating in a forum.
The point of the project is actually not to make a robot, but to sell it. It is part of a management course and we will not spend much time on designing the item, as we have no time or budget for that (2 months). Most of the work will consist in making a business plan. the robot will remain a very simple device, a prototype for a theoretical introduction on the market.
So, as I said, you should look around at similar robots and see what they use. You will need to determine some things about your robot, such as size and weight, the size of wheels you will need (rather large for outdoors to go over rough terrain), speed desired. Then you can use the motor selection tutorial and calculator to find appropriate motor size. If you need to actually specify motors you can look on Robotshop.com or various other suppliers on the web. No one can specify exactly what you need without the same information and without going through essentially the same procedure. https://community.robotshop.com/tutorials/show/drive-motor-sizing-tool
As for a vacuum, I, personally, would probably go with something like a car vacuum. I don’t know if you can buy similar vacuums in production quantitity.
NiMH batteries are a good choice, but LiPO is a more modern, more efficient type. They have more energy per weight and usually charge faster. But that doesn’t necessarily make them a better choice.
