W.E.N.C.H. By Shuguang Feng Oral Presentation

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W.E.N.C.H.By Shuguang FengOral Presentation
3(7-29-03)
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Purpose

• REU ¾ experience report
• To present progress and ask for last minute demo
  day suggestions.

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W.E.N.C.H.

• Goal
• To create an autonomous pool-side food service
  robot.
• Behaviors
• Waits at base station to be supplied.
• Roams about the pool in search of its master.
• Delivers items and returns to base station.
• Detects and avoids obstacles in its path along
  the way.

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Microprocessor

• PCB for the letATWork II cut out and fully tested
• Discovered a few design flaws that had to be
  corrected

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Microprocessor

• Top Bottom

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Platform

• Prototype platform cut out and assembled.
• Motor mounts
• Sonar mounts
• LCD mount
• Cup holder cds/Food container cds
• Motor driver/Voltage regulator case
• Battery cases
• Voice recognition case
• Assorted switches

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Platform (cont.)

• AutoCAD meets Reality

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Platform (cont.)

• AutoCAD meets Reality

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Platform (cont.)
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Actuation

• Motors
• Seem to provide sufficient thrust, but have
  proven to be more difficult to calibrate than
  expected.
• Motor Driver
• Motor driver/voltage regulator PCB cut and fully
  tested.

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Motor Board/Voltage Regulator (PCB)

• Top Bottom

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Sensors

• Sonar
• Both sonars are mounted and fully functional.
• Work great at short range (3'), but seem to be
  somewhat quirky at longer distances.
• Food/Object
• CDS cells have proven to be quite dependable with
  well calibrated code.

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Sensors (cont.)

• Human Detection
• Decided against using a store bought motion
  sensor. Went against conventional wisdom and
  chose to use a voice recognition board (Voice
  Direct II from Sensory Inc).
• Accelerometer
• Sacrificed, in lieu of all the other work that
  remains to be done.

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Problems

• Software
• Rudimentary tracking behavior still has some bugs
  and needs to be streamlined.
• Hardware
• Ordered second Voice Direct II board after
  cooking the first one by giving it a 5V TTL
  signal instead of a nice 3.3V.
• Still need to figure out why sonar seems to work
  intermittantly at long range.

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REAL PROBLEM

• What do I do for demo day (both in house and
  media)????
• Do I try and set up the kiddie pool?
• Do I set up a T.V. and play a video tape of a
  test run?
• Do I demo it in the Reitz pond and risk having
  WENCH assaulted by alligators?