ROBOCON BOTS

About the project

DJS robocon is the robotics team of dwarkadas j sanghvi college of enginering which focuses on the design and construction of robots based on the theme given by ABU Robocon

DESIGN DETAILS 

Messenger robot 1 is a semi-autonomous robot. It travels from KhangaiUrtuu to Line 1 of Khangai Area autonomously using the LSA08 line following sensor module for feedback. This decision was taken to reduce human error and make the locomotion efficient. The commands for Shagai lifting, Shagai throwing and Gerege transfer are sent by the PS3 remote to the microcontroller via the USB Host Shield. Since the arena of red and blue team is mirror image of each other, MR1 is made symmetrical about its central axis so that it can adapt to both sides. MR2, on the other hand, is a completely autonomous quadruped robot that employs image processing-based path tracking algorithms and self-balancing corrections with respect to the structural mechanics for navigation throughout the assigned arena. 

MESSENGER ROBOT 1 

1. TYPE OF DRIVE

The Messenger Robot 1 has a plus-holonomic drive wherein 4 planetary geared DC motors, each having a power rating of 100W and peak speed of 41.89 rad/sec (450 RPM), are used. This type of drive uses Omni directional wheels for minimizing the drag generated due to varying speed and hence provide seamless and effective locomotion. The wheels are placed within the outer edge of the base frame so that they are protected from any external damage. This also minimizes the overall dimension of the robot thereby making it more agile and allowing ease of movement through the forest area. 

2. PICKING AND PLACING MECHANISM The Shagai is placed near Line 1 having silver side on the top. The Shagai picking mechanism employs a gripper with integrated pneumatic actuator. This gripper is mechanically coupled to motor actuator. 1) Mass of gripper mechanism = mass of {pneumatic actuator + link mass + Shagai + couplings} ≈ 1 kg 2) Gripper arm length = 0.4m 3) Required torque for motor actuator to lift mechanism at pivoted end = 4 Nm  Motor parameters → 12v, 100 Watt, planetary geared, 2 rad/s max speed (includes buffer torque) 

Throwing platform is inclined at an elevation of 18° approx. On actuation, the motor rotates link, accurately placing the Shagai on the throwing platform. The inclination in the platform facilitates in proper landing of the Shagai (Golden side upwards). Pneumatic piston specifications: 100mm, 16mm Ø, 72N output force (4 bars) double acting miniature cylinder for picking of the Shagai. 

3. THROWING MECHANISM The throwing mechanism makes use of a double acting pneumatic actuator. The pneumatic actuator is mounted on an aluminium frame which is kept at the same inclination as the platform. The point of contact lies on the centroidal axis so that maximum force is transferred to the Shagai and its angular deviation is minimized. After performing drag analysis on STAR-CCM+, it was decided that the impact lies on the bigger arc giving an aerodynamic advantage. Pneumatic piston specification: 250mm, Ø32mm, 434N output force (6 bars) double acting Cylinder for launching the Shagai.This cylinder, coupled with Quick exhaust valves provides maximum acceleration which can throw the Shagai as far as 3 meters. 

4. GEREGE HOLDING AND PASSING MECHANISM Abiding to the rules, Gerege is placed at a height such that the top of the Gerege is above the main body of MR1. A pneumatic piston is used for gripping the Gerege firmly. A provision is given to rotate the holding mechanism in horizontal plane using a servo motor so that the Gerege is always aligned in the plane perpendicular to the motion of the MR1. This also facilitates the easy transfer of Gerege to MR2. Pneumatic piston specification: 25mm, Ø12mm spring return cylinder. 

The Messenger Robot 2 perceives its surroundings with the help of image processing. Considering advantages of both, a mammalian quadruped and a hexapod, an optimal solution to the given theme was designed. An android device mounted on the robot is used to capture the image at a higher resolution, compute the algorithm using self-developed application and then send the control signals to the microcontroller via Bluetooth which makes the robot respond accordingly. Sensors such as Gyroscope and Accelerometer available in the android device, are used for providing feedback for balancing the robot. 

1. MR2 DRIVE MECHANISM The MR2 consists of four legs, each leg having 3 revolute joints and 3 degrees of freedom which gives us considerable freedom for movement as well as correction. The actuators are servo motors which are selected after detailed analysis and calculations. The knee, shoulder and hip joints are actuated in different sequences for walking, turning right, left and climbing the mountain as well as crossing the sand dune and tussock. The highlight of the MR2 problem statement was in choosing the appropriate gait for locomotion. After testing the dynamic stability of the robot in different gaits,walk gait was selected. 

2. MR2 DRIVE MECHANISM(CONTROLLING) MR2 is simulated in MathWorks Simulink using Simscape Multibody and Simscape Electrical Libraries to test the initial conditions under gravity. Path planning algorithm is verified using forward kinematics and the required angles for the displacement are found by inverse kinematics. The actuation to the joints of the MR2 is provided by ‘Torque’ method and the input is provided by the Servo subsystem modelled using Simulink blocks. Various movements are defined using Stateflow Chart to tackle different obstacles in MR2’s path. MR2 sensing and navigation is divided into 2 parts: 1.   White Line detection 2.   Sand dune and Tussock detection White Line Detection: The camera captures the images of arena with a pixel resolution of 1920x1080p. The light sensor besides the camera senses the intensity of light. If the intensity of light is within the tuned values, the captured image is further processed. The RGB captured image is converted into the HSV colour space for noise reduction.The Colour Thresholding app of MATLAB is used to separate out the white colour from the remaining colours and a highly contrast BW image is obtained as output. Dedicated functions including bwAreaOpen and imfillof Image Processing and Computer Vision Toolbox are used to reduce noise from the output image. Sand Dune and Tussock Detection: Colour detection technique is used to identify Sand Dune and Tussock regions. As the robot approaches these regions, more and more pixels will be detected, and a value is set at which MR2 take the required action to cross the Sand dune or Tussock. This algorithm is deployed on hardware using Arduino Hardware Support Package and Android Hardware Support Package. 

WHY SPONSOR US?

 The contest aims to create friendship among young people with similar interests who will lead their countries in the 21st century, as well as help advance engineering and broadcasting technologies in the region. The event is broadcast in many countries through ABU member broadcasters.

Last year also we participated in this competition and have shown tremendous result.The national competition of Robocon that is the DD Robocon was held at IIT Delhi

.It had three round first was technical paper in which we stood at 2nd position then was the video submission in which we stood at 14th position after which in final round we stood at 21st position

This year we have stood first in the 1 st stage of abu robocon and we are aiming to achieve the 1 st position in next two rounds also.

We first participated in DD Robocon in 2016 after which we have showed a good amount of growth in terms of technical knowledge,mechanisms and various other fields.One of the things that hindered us the most is Printed circuit boards.We are not finding the quality of PCB that we are looking for.So having heard from many people that you manufacture PCB that are of great quality we would like to get our pcb manufactured from your company(PCBWAY manufacturers).

We are all looking forward to more innovation and enhancement of our team at competitive levels but it is not possible without the financial assistance and support from companies like yours. Sponsorship from your company is going to help us achieve even higher in the coming year.

Since this competition is on a huge scale we have a good level of public support such as that on the social media platforms and a huge institutional level support.

We, promoting your company on the social platforms will surely help boost your business. Our college has a lot of other technical teams who also are in need of your pcb's and might choose you as an option.

The team also has its own t-shirt on which we promote our sponsers.

The competition being a national and international level your company gets the attention from all the top colleges from the country.