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Project14 | Build a Robot with Wheels!

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Robots with Wheels

Enter Your Electronics & Design Project for Your Chance to Win a $100 Shopping Cart!

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Project14 Home
Monthly Themes
Monthly Theme Poll

 

3 First Place Winners Win a $100 Shopping Cart to an element14 Store!

 

In the comments below give us your Robot with Wheels Project ideas!

 

The theme this month is Robots with Wheels and the idea comes from .  Several members such as , , and . also expressed interest in doing a competition around robotics so this should get plenty of you excited.

 

It could be a simple mobile robot that drives on the floor or in the garden and helps with some everyday activity.

 

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Building your own robot is a great way to learn about electronics and computer programming.  The easiest way to build your own robot from wheels is to start with a kit.  For those more advanced, you can use your engineering experience to allow robots with wheels unlimited complexity.

 

So, if for example, you make something like this:

 

 

We'd like to know the steps you took to create this wonderful machine.

 

Or you could hack your own robots like Ben, Karen, and Felix:

 

 

Robots mimic animate life and has equivalent components to the following:

 

  • A body
  • A muscle system to move the body
  • A sensory system to receive input from the body and the surrounding environment
  • A power source to activate the muscles and sensors
  • A brain system to process sensory data and tell muscles what to do

 

A robot with wheels is different from a car, because it has not only a moveable body, it has a computer to act as a "brain" for the rest of the system.  While most cars have computers in them now, they rely on humans to think for them.  Even if you go by this definition, it does appear that cars are edging closer to what can be considered a robot, but are not quite there yet.  As sensor technology in cars continue to advance, as AI continues to evolve, we move closer to one day having the car we always dreamed of:

 

 

In order to move its body, the robot requires an actuator.  Examples of actuators a robot can use are electric motors (such as a DC motor) and solenoids.  A robot can use all types of actuators but the actuators will have to be driven by a source of power, such as a battery pack.

 

Actuators are wired to an electrical circuit and this powers electrical motors and solenoids directly. The "brains" of the robot is the computer and it controls everything attached to the circuit. To make the robot move, the computer switches on all the necessary motors and valves.

 

Sensors found in robots include photoresistors used for light or as a proximity sensor, microphones used for sound, temperature sensors, contact sensors, infrared transceivers, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and voltage sensors.

 

The term robot comes from the Czech word robota, generally translated to "forced labor".  You can create a simple wheeled robot using a microcontroller such as an Arduino, servos, breadboard, wheels, sensors, a battery pack, and programming.

 

Your Chance to Win

 

Be Original
Stick to the Theme
  • You could come up with a clever name that make's your project memorable!
    • This project is your baby! Part of the fun of bringing something new into the world is coming up with a name.
  • Your project could introduce something new or that is not commercially available or affordable!
  • If you have an idea for a project that doesn't fit the current theme then submit your idea in the comments section of the monthly poll.
List the Steps
Submit Video Proof
  • Provide the steps you took to complete your project (text, video, or images).
    • This could be a step by step how-to-guide, vlog, schematics, coding, napkin drawings, voice narration, or whatever you think will be useful!
  • If it doesn't work that's fine, this is more about the journey than the end product.
  • A short video is all that is required but you can shoot as much video as you like.
  • You are encouraged to be creative and have as much fun as possible!

Your Project Examples

 

The Theme You Voted For:
Schedule & Homework RobotSelf Balancing Robot - Temporary Diversion from the Quadcopter Project - Demo

 

 

 

Robots with Wheels

 

Your Project, Your Ideas!

 

 

About Project14
Directions

Every month you'll have a new poll where you'll get to decide an upcoming project competition, based on your interests, that will take place a couple of months in advance. Themes are broad in scope so that everyone can participate regardless of skill set.

 

What are Monthly Themes?

  • Every month (around the 14th of each month) a new theme will be posted on Project14.
  • Submit your ideas (proposals) for your projects to get feedback from the rest of the community.
  • Submit a project entry in the Theme space once you start working on it.

 

What are Monthly Theme Polls?

  • Every month (around the 14th of each month) there is a project theme poll.
  • Vote on which project competition you want to see for the following upcoming theme.
    • The themes voted on during the previous poll decided the upcoming theme.
    • If you submit an idea for a theme that is not used then it can still be used in a future poll.
  • Themes comments and ideas from the comments section of the project theme poll.



Step 1: Log in or register on element14, it's easy and free.

Step 2: Post in the comments section below to begin a discussion on your idea. Videos, pictures and text are all welcomed forms of submission.

Step 3: Submit a blog post of your progress on your project by the end of the month.  You are free to submit as many blog entries as you like until the beginning of the next theme.

 

Be sure to include video proof of your project!

 

Visit:

 

 

 

You have until May 14th, 12:00 AM CDT to submit your completed project!

 

A jury consisting of your peers will judge project submissions!

 

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Give Us Your Robots with Wheels Ideas in the Comments Below!

  • in reply to jomoenginer

    The rc_balance example code should work out of the box with the edumip kit.

     

    These are excellent recommendations.

     

    Thanks very much.

  • in reply to ninjatrent

    I too have a BB Blue that I am looking to start working with using the eduMIPs so knowing the Strawson Design code works is nice to know.

     

    For learning C, a couple of books you may want to look at are:

    C Primer Plus (6th Edition) (Developer's Library)

    Embedded C by Michael J Pont

     

    The Dr. Valvano Embedded Systems series (vol. 1 & 2 specifically) of books are good for learning both Assembly and C at the Bare Metal level for Embedded development using the TI MSP432 and TM4C123GXL Launch pads.

     

    For Embedded Linux, these offer some good down and dirty knowledge:

    Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach (2nd Edition) by Christopher Hallinan

    Building Embedded Linux Systems: Concepts, Techniques, Tricks, and Traps by Karim Yaghmour and Jon Masters

  • in reply to jomoenginer

    The provides examples from Strawson Design work perfectly.

    I just need to learn C. The only programming language that I have experience with is Python.

    Derek Molloy's site is an excellent recommendation. I have visited. Seems to be a great resource for Beaglebone. Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely have to revisit.

  • in reply to Molham

    Cool.   Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions!

  • in reply to shabaz

    Hi Shabaz,

    I am not sure if the dsm passthrough to servo actually works. I haven't tested it. The other provided code works very well, it is just an assumption that the dsm passthrough works. I will need to search for my servos to confirm. There is the rc_balance example code to control connected encoders with the DSM radio, unfortunately the code is dependent on the imu. This example was written for the EDUMIP Robotics Kit.

     

    Building a robot is alot more difficult than imagined.

  • I am working on a boat robot, I am trying to finish it today.

  • in reply to ninjatrent

    I'm not sure if it is an issue, but the code from Strawson Design is written for the Robotics Cape and not necessarily for the BeagleBone Blue.  Technically the Blue has the Robotics Cape built in, but the board is different than a BB Black that the Cape is designed for.  It would be interesting to know if the code for the cape is portable to the BB Blue.

     

    There is a link that lists the APIs for the Robtics Cape software at the following:

    http://strawsondesign.com/docs/roboticscape/group___d_s_m.html

     

    But, if you are not too comfortable with programming in C, this may not help.

     

    What programming language are you familiar with?

     

    One place you might want to have a look at regarding how to program and work with the BeagleBone (black in particular) is Derek Molloy's site.

    http://derekmolloy.ie/tag/beaglebone-black/

     

    His "Exploring BeagleBone" is most excellent.

     

    Cheers.

  • in reply to ninjatrent

    Hi Trent,

     

    C alone is not bad, but the difficulty is really more to do with understanding how to use the library of code, and to be honest I didn't see much information on that github page apart from source code, so I can see how it could be difficult to get started with the code.

     

    Does the code there function for you, for servos, but you wish to modify it for controlling DC motors instead? Also, do you have access to an oscilloscope, or a servo to test that the code functions for servos? If so, maybe there is some trick to hack that code to provide a motor output instead, rather than re-writing the entire code. Let me know if it works for a servo (or if you can see the pulses on the BeagleBone pin for the servo output), and I'll try to dig into the source code on github to see the best way to convert it to a signal ideal for a motor.

  • in reply to tariq.ahmad

    Thanks Tariq. I have managed to recover most of the work today.

    The project is a robot controlled by the BeagleBone Blue.

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    I ran into issues with the recent debian iot image from beagleboard so it was necessary to use the image from 10/10/2017.

    Everything seems to be working correctly. The main challenge I am working at the moment is controlling the robot via the dsm satellite receiver with the transmitter. Controlling the robot by the wifi connection is working great, but he wifi limits operation to indoors. The dsm radio control will allow control without the need for wifi.

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    The dsm satellite receiver is properly binded to the dsm transmitter. The BB Blue comes with the nesscessary software to bind, calibrate, and test the dsm receiver.

    image

    The problem is I don't have any experience with programming in c. To control the BB Blue with the dsm transmitter, code would need to be created for this. Even with the provided software and project templates, I am unable to figure this out.

    Strawson Design  

    source code

    https://github.com/StrawsonDesign/Robotics_Cape_Installer

     

    project template

    https://github.com/StrawsonDesign/Robotics_Cape_Installer/blob/master/rc_project_template/rc_project_template.c

     

    h bridge motor driver test example ( this example tests the motors connected to the BB Blue.)

    https://github.com/StrawsonDesign/Robotics_Cape_Installer/blob/master/examples/src/rc_test_motors.c

     

    dsm passthrough ( This example tests control of connected servos with the dsm. I would like to instead control the two motors connected to the motor drivers with the dsm transmitter.)

    https://github.com/StrawsonDesign/Robotics_Cape_Installer/blob/master/examples/src/rc_dsm_passthrough.c

     

    I have managed to control the robot via wifi and stream video via wifi with the connected Logitech usb webcam. It's writing the code to control the motors with dsm radio that is really giving me a hard time. I actually just purchased the book "Programming in C" in hopes to learn how to do this.

     

    After a few hours of reading, I still don't have enough of an understanding to create the code.

  • in reply to ninjatrent

    No worries.

     

    I would say keep posting your project updates and I'll be sure to tag them in here if you post it in another place so that more people can see and help out.

     

    I'm sure whatever you come up with is going to really cool!