Ant Andrew May EEL Intelligent Machines Design Lab April 18, 2006

Outline 1.Problem: Can’t reach a valuable 2.Solution: Use Ant to retrieve the valuable 3.Approach: Find valuable with sensors 4.Progress: Implement with circuit boards 5.Conclusion: Working prototype 6.Issues: Diversify

Problem NBC contamination Mold: Hurricane aftermath War zone Disabled/Injured

Solution

Autonomous retriever named “Ant” Ant’s behaviors: –Obstacle avoidance –Edge detection –Line-tracking –Color recognition Follows in “Critter’s” legacy

Approach Actuation: Hacked servos Stacked mobile platform –Lower level: Gripper, servos, line-tracker –Intermediate levels: Microcontroller and power –Upper level: Sonar, camera, and infrared detector Simple design

Approach Sensors: –Sonar Rangers –Infrared (IR) Detector –Photoreflectors –Camera Circuit Boards: –Atmel Atmega128 microcontroller (COTS) –Power and Line-tracker (In House)

Progress Ant’s power 7805s – Servos and IRs 7806 – Camera UART interface Runs up to five IRs LCD compatible Custom made

Progress LINE-TRACKER BOARD

Progress Ant’s line-tracker board Two Hamamatsu P5587 Photoreflectors Custom made Original P5587 footprint

Progress Other sensor details Camera: –Carnegie Mellon University Camera One (CMUCam1) Sonar Rangers: –Devantech SRF05 IR Detector: –Sharp GP2Y0A02YK (For long-distances)

Conclusion All my goals met! CMUCam is so easy to use, I was surprised. I have issues

Issues Enhance user-interface Make gripper more flexible Use data of the CMUCam1 better

Sponsors Matt Yoder (Sp ‘04) for circuit boards Fernando Hernandez (Su ’05) for mobile platform and software Matt Moore, Senior Design TA, for power board resource Drew, peer, for website Foley, peer, for outside tools Ken, peer, for sonar code

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