Skip to main content

Blog 3

Blog 3

I have built a prototype for a tank-based robot which I am going to test out: 


It was made from spare parts which included foamboard, Raspberry Pi 3B+, L298N motor controller, battery pack, an aluminum tank chassis and two 300rpm dc motors. I controlled it over SSH via my laptop however I hope to soon control it via a PS4 controller or something similar to that. 

I decided that I would make both a tracked tank robot as well as a 4wd robot and compare them both to see which one I prefer. The robot that I do not choose will be used as a backup as it will be useful
if anything bad happens to my primary robot (ie big mechanical failures). Next, I will build my 4wd robot using the ThunderBorg motor controller.

Currently, I believe that the 4wd robot will be more useful this year in the challenges and one major drawback of using this tank is that the tracks are very fiddly and are hard to get right.  I have still have a long time until Pi Wars 2020, but I assume that I will have a good working chassis done by the end of November.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Coronavirus update

Coronavirus update  Today we got some really sad news as PiWars was decided to be postponed to a later date. Despite this being unfortunate, it was definitely a well thought out choice and was made for good reasons.  However...... This could also be pretty useful as well because this means that I get (a lot) more time to work on my robot and further develop it. Below is a to-do list of my new ideas: - Get the flywheel mechanism working ASAP - Tweak all my code and do further testing - Work on further autonomous code (to gain more points) I am very excited to accomplish these goals!

Flywheel

Flywheel  For the 'Zombie Apocalypse' challenge, I am going to be using a flywheel from the 'Nerf N-Strike Elite Stryfe Blaster'. This flywheel will be controlled via an l298n motor controller (as they are fairly cheap) and I will also be using a linear actuator in order to push the bullets (from the cartridge) into the flywheel. Aiming is also very important so I will be using a laser pointer as well as a servo based mechanism (similar to the one used in the camera attachment) which will allow for pan and tilt so that I can shoot down the targets at all locations, thereby allowing me to gain more points. This is an image of what the stryfe flywheel looks like: A linear actuator is simply a component that creates motion in a straight line. I could use a push and pull solenoid instead, however, I have more experience using a linear actuator so it should, therefore, be generally easier for me to use one. I will send a video (hopefully by tommorow) with the fi...