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Introduction to Robotics

Section 6.2 Lab: Assembling the cyber:bot

In this section we’ll assemble our robot and get some basics set up.

Subsection 6.2.1 Basic cyber:bot assembly

Practice 6.2.1.

Prepare a spreadsheet that contains the key information about your bot’s wheel mechanics, as follows:
  • The first column should contain the "signal" amount, with values starting at -200 and going up by 10 until 200.
  • The second column would be about the left wheel servo. For each signal value from the first column, set your wheel to rotate at that signal value for 60 seconds, then measure how many rotations the wheel does (use a sticker to mark a location), and record that value. This would effectively take about 45 minutes.
  • Do the same for the right wheel servo and the third column in the spreadsheet.
Keep this spreadsheet around, it will come in handy a number of times later on. For now compare the following:
  • Is the max rotation speed for each wheel the same in each direction (i.e. -200 vs +200)?
  • Is the max rotation speed the same for both wheels?
  • When we want to move straight in a direction we will need to be rotating the wheels in opposite directions. How well do they match then, e.g. how does the -50 value for the left wheel match with the +50 value for the right wheel?

Practice 6.2.2.

Estimate the speed of your robot at a given signal strength (e.g. 120):
  • Measure the radius of the wheel, in inches.
  • Multiply the radius by 6.28 (\(2\pi\)) to compute the perimeter. In theory when the wheels have done a full rotation the bot will have moved for a distance equal to this perimeter. It’s not perfect due to ground friction but it’s a good starting point.
  • Multiply the perimeter by the RPM value from your spreadsheet, for that signal strength, to estimate how much distance the bot should travel in a minute, measured in inches.
  • Convert this to feet per minute.
  • Now compare this with an actual run: Have your bot move forward for 1 minute at a given signal and from a given start point, then mark the start location and end location and measure their distance. If 1 minute is too long, use a fraction (e.g. 15 seconds) then multiply with the appropriate factor (e.g. 4). Compare your answer to the speed you estimated earlier.
To submit: Show me your spreadsheet and your work on this last practice run.