TRM Navigation Robot

Let's Make Robots Robots
1

Updated on 2/15/09.

I've added a couple new pictures. Its running, but not optimized. Testing will follow, then I'll post some navigation video's, etc.

 

This is my navigation robot named TRM.

 

 

 

 

The game plan here is a simple small scale navigation robot.

But also to look visually interesting to promote robotics/science/technology.

I taught some of my local robotics group members with this robot build, as some of them have not built a robot before. So its construction wasn't as fast as I'd like it to have been.

The basic parts list is:

1 or 2 Wright Hobbies controllers - Atmel Mega 32

2 or more Sharp Long Range IR sensors (I've removed the sensor servos from the design, not needed)

Sensor mounts and switch mounts are hand made from aluminum sheet

1 Devantec Compass

1 Ashtech GPS module and antenna

Battery's, I've switched to NiMH "D" cells instead of the LiPo packs for servo power

Controller battery's are parallel NiMH 9v cells

Servos - 6 Steering Hitech brand HS-311, 6 Drive GWS brand S03NXF

Servo mounts are hand made from Delrin blocks

Chassis is made from Lexan sheets, and hand made Standoffs

Wheels are Dave Brown Lite wheels 3" tall

General attachment - Servo tape is a wonderful invention (even better than duct tape!!!)

Programming - I prefer to use Bascom for Atmel microprocessors

 

Its running, but I'll add more later on.....

 

autonomous navigation

  • Actuators / output devices: 12 Servos
  • Control method: autonomous
  • CPU: Atmel Mega32
  • Power source: 7.2V NiMH from 6 D cells
  • Programming language: Bascom Basic
  • Sensors / input devices: Long Range Sharp IR
  • Target environment: indoors/outdoors/small areas
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/trm-navigation-robot
2

Very cool design. I didn’t
Very cool design. I didn’t know we had a St Louis robotics club.

3

Yeah its been around about

Yeah its been around about 15+ years. I’ve been in it for over 10.

Look up the webpage and come to a meeting, don’t forget to bring your robots!!!

 

This TRM robot is my robot, but I’m trying to get other group members involved in its construction.

The goal is the same as with this site, to get people building robots, supporting the hobby, progress technology, etc.

 

 

 

4

i can’t believe i never knew

i can’t believe i never knew there was a stl robotics club

i lived in edwardsville for 3 years

oh well

5

what is the age range at
what is the age range at said event? Will I be surrounded by high school kids? :slight_smile:

6

I was just thinking the
I was just thinking the other day how nice it would be to have an active robotics club in the area, looks like I’m in luck.

7

Nice design… I wonder how

Nice design… I wonder how strong are those servos in some terrain? Could you post some test video, please? Just a MCU which sends commands to servos :slight_smile:

8

We’ve got all ages, but the

We’ve got all ages, but the older people come to the most meetings. The younger members tend to miss meetings here and there from doing other stuff. We also have weekly build sessions on Friday nights. There’s typically 30-50 people per meeting, and around 10-15 per weekly build session. There’s always a minimum of 3 robots per meeting/build session, and typically there’s more.

The May meeting isn’t going to be held at the library, we’ve got a special event that day, so check the forum and home page before going to that meeting.

9

I’m still building it, but
I’m still building it, but I’ll post a video as soon as I get it running.

10

May is a busy month maybe
May is a busy month maybe Ill go in June. I need to finish a robot I’m working on so I can show it off. I started it about 4 months ago. This will give me a target date!

11

Here’s a few updated
Here’s a few updated pictures of this project. I’ll add more as construction continues…

12

madness that will be great

madness that will be great to see doing it’s thing!

I was just wondering why a compass is used as well as a gps?

don’t gps’s tell direction better than compas’s, not that I know anything about it :slight_smile:

13

That’s a GREAT question.Yes

That’s a GREAT question.

Yes mine does. And both could tell the micro what heading its going.

But I’ve never made a robot with gps before. So I’m gonna use proven methods first. Then tweek it till I get it to run as planned. So down the road I’ll remove the compass, if I can make the gps give me the heading direction in a usable form.

I also plan to make a better designed Magellan robot from a wheel chair base, later on. I just needed a smaller, more cost friendly platform to learn the basics of robotic navigation before building one on that scale.

14

Just showing updates
Just showing updates

15

Awesome!

This is very cool! Seems like programming all those servos would be a nightmare. Seems like you opted out of using a servo controller and instead controlled them straight from the MCU. Did you think about using serial servo controller, or do you think that would just complicate things?

Also, I just saw something similar to this on youtube, I’ll try and find the link…

(a few seconds later…)

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuzYJBDZnzg

Yeah it’s different, but similar concept.

16

RE:

I really didn’t look too far when it came to choosing a controller. My parts list pretty much created itself from the parts/language I like to use, and the concept picture the kids wanted to base this robot on.

I was more concerned about running all those servos on one controller and still having enough processing ability to do navigation. So I added the “plan” of using duel processors. Which may, or may not, be the final way I get this robot completed.

 

There are aspects of this project that has been evolved from my original design after actually seeing how this robot drives. And the completed robot won’t likely be the exact drawing shown above.

But that’s the great part about building robots from scratch.

Design Evolution till it becomes a Reality.

 

 

P.S. I like that robot video. Whoever built it created a truely unique design.

17

GPS heading
Actually, GPS will only give you a heading when you are moving, the compass is constant. We use both in a previous career of mine for that exact reason. You want to know which way you are pointing before heading down the runway.

18

I’ve just worked out a

I’ve just worked out a routine to crop the usable bits from my gps 32 bit serial string. I’ll be soldering up a few new boards to interface the gps hardware. I’ll also be making a powersupply as part of this. I’m going the standard 7805 route. The compass, IR’s, LCD, and GPS will be running off the 7805.

 

19

Thanks for the tip. As I
Thanks for the tip. As I said I’ve never built a navigation robot before. So I’d have tried to get its heading from only the gps had you not suggested against it. Hopefully this will save some “trial and error” time in its construction.

20

Why did you change from lipo

Why did you change from lipo cells to D cells? Safety? Please share your build decisions!