Our two strikerbots, Cosmo and Wanda, and our goalie (center), affectionately referred to as "Guardbot"
Our striker-bots had a ring of strategically placed phototransistors to detect the puck. We programmed the ADC (Analog to Digital Conversion) subsystem of our micro-controller to cycle through them, updating our drive control accordingly.
From left to right: myself, Becky Abramowitz, Julia Lin, Professor Jonathon Fiene (Instructor), Eli Gottlieb and Brian Wright (our coach)
Our two strikerbots, Cosmo and Wanda, and our goalie (center), affectionately referred to as "Guardbot"
One of our matches from Competition Day. We're Team 6.
Robockey
(Autonomous Robots That Play Hockey)
The final project in my graduate-level Mechatronics course (MEAM 510) required a semesters worth of mechanical, electronic and embedded-systems programming skill. I worked with Eli Gottlieb, Julia Lin and Becky Abramowitz over 5 weeks to design, build and program three fully-autonomous robots that played hockey.
The challenge of the project was to create fast, powerful robots that could localize and navigate a rink, find an IR-emitting puck, and maneuver past opposing robots to reach a goal. The process of localization involved using a sensor from a Nintendo Wii remote to detect a constellation of IR lights above the rink, in order to determine the robots position on the rink. Our robots detected the puck using a ring of phototransistors around their circumference.
I took responsibility for the electrical design of both the designated "Striker" bots, and worked with Julia to produce our "Guardbot"'s circuitry. I worked in tandem with Eli and Julia to laser-cut, 3D print and machine parts for the assembly of the robot chassis. I also wrote logic in C for the interactions between the micro-controllers' Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) and our ring of phototransistors, as well as code for using timer circuits to interact with our motor-controllers for drive control.