2011

Micromouse

Minji Kim, IEEE UCSD President Team Leads: Li Pi, Aurel Gunterus, Anton Valencia, Jeffrey Wurzbach, Matias Altman,

Matching Funds Proposal

Shant Bayanduryan 2/10/2011

Overview
Micromouse is an annual competition, held at the IEEE Region 6 spring meeting, in which an autonomous robot must find its way to the center of a maze. This project requires a variety of skills including mechanical design, circuit design, microcontroller programming, PCB layout, PCB assembly, and maze algorithms. The UCSD Micromouse project was founded in fall 2006, and this will be our fifth consecutive year participating in the competition. We have placed first in competition twice and second twice in the last four competitions we have participated in. This year is the first year we have multiple sub teams taking independent design approaches. The goal of this change is team structure is to increase the number opportunities for students to participate in design activities. Additionally, we are starting California Micromouse Competition (CAMM), our own Micromouse competition, to foster a wider field of competitors for our teams.

Student Benefits
Students working on Micromouse have to apply knowledge acquired inside the classroom and learn a number of skills not taught at UCSD. This project requires a number of skills including: Circuit design PCB layout Electronics assembly Mechanical design Mechanical fabrication and assembly Embedded programming

Students assemble the PCBs.

TJ and Jeff cut hundreds of metal pegs for the maze.

The electronics package, featuring a 55Mhz ARM processor and 4-output switching power supply, custom designed by Alex Forencich.

A SolidWorks rendering of an initial chassis design.

The Competition
The mice are completely autonomous robots that must find their way from a predetermined starting position to the central area of the maze. The mouse needs to keep track of where it is, discover walls as it explores, map out the maze and detect when it has reached the goal. Having reached the goal, the mouse will typically perform additional searches of the maze until it has found an optimal route from the start to the center. Once the optimal route has been found, the mouse will run that route in the shortest possible time. Mice can run at up to three meters per second, with current world records around 6~7 seconds. The first competition we are attending this year is being held at the IEEE Region 6 Southwest Area Meeting. The SWA meeting will be held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on April 10, 2011. The meeting is held at a different university in the southwest area every year. Two years ago, we built a to-spec maze and hosted the competition. This year we are starting our own supplementary competition, California Micromouse Competition (CAMM), open any collegiate team. CAMM will be held at UCSD on May 22, 2011. The SWA rules are available at: http://ieee.ucsd.edu/projects/micromouse/rules.php The CAMM rules are available at: http://ieee.ucsd.edu/micromouse/rules.php

History
In 2006, Chris Aprea built the first UCSD Micromouse. He used an OOPic processor board, Sharp distance sensors, and two stepper motors. The processor did not have enough resources to perform the calculations necessary to actually solve the maze. The distance sensors failed shortly before the competition causing the robot to spin around in circles. In light of the failures of the first robot, a redesign was necessary. Alex Forencich joined the team after the 2007 competition and designed a custom ARM processor board replacing the underpowered OOPic board and shoddy motor drivers. The new robot performed much better, but still had several major problems. The mechanical frame of the robot allowed the robot to get stuck in the maze after only traveling a short distance. The design was difficult to debug due to the lack of useful debugging interfaces and the single-board construction. The robot was completely redesigned for 2009 and it was largely successful at eliminating the problems of the past designs. It demonstrated the ability to travel at least twice as far in the maze as the previous design, but it did have one major flaw, the clearances between its frame and the maze wall left little to no room for error in the control system of the robot. A smaller base was installed for the 2010 competition and the software was

rewritten. The 2010 revision nearly solved the maze at the region 6 Southwest Area Meeting, but still won the competition, and successfully solved the maze at an informal competition held at UCLA, earning a second place finish. In 2009 we also built a full size, to-spec maze for practice and competition.

Team Rosters
Name Team 1 Li Pi Nathaniel Delos Santos Team 2 Matias Altman Ryan Gibbs Steven Shaginyan Team 3 Anton Valencia Alexey Voronin Cody Murray Andrei Granada Alexander Ming Hom Team 4 Shant Bayanduryan Team 5 Aurel Gunterus Stephen Hamann Bhaskara Rao Rupakula Team 6 Jeff Wurzbach Andrew Kubal Peter Hetzel Kyle Johnson Role Lead Software Lead Software Software Lead Software Software Hardware Hardware Lead Lead Software Hardware Lead/Hardware Software Software/Hardware Software

Progress So Far
Team 1 (Li Pi) o Using existing hardware (fully functional and proven 2009/2010 design), to focus on software development o Replaced damaged batteries o Robot is driving straight o Plans to add some additional sensors Team 2 (Matias Altman) o Bought 3pi robot platform off-the-shelf o Using atmega328 MCU

o Custom sensor system designed, tested and fitted to the 3pi chassis o Robot drives straight Team 3 (Anton Valencia) o Robot frame built o Schematics completed o Pref boards made of custom circuitry o Using LPC2148 Team 4 (Shant Bayanduryan) o Robot frame built o Using an OMAP3350 Hybrid ARM/DSP processor. o Sensor system based on computer vision system o Sensor hardware assembled o Writing code to process vision system data Team 5 (Aurel Gunterus) o Robot frame built o Using atmega328 o Schematics completed o Writing motor control system Team 6 (Jeff Wurzbach) o Rapid prototype of robot frame built. o Robot drives, but crashes into walls, using atmega328 based system o Plans to layout custom circuit PCBs, changing to the LPC2148, and implement a custom sensor design.

Work to be done
Team 1 (Li Pi) o Implement expansion interface for additional sensors o Create schematic for added sensor systems o Rework Maze solver code o Optimize control algorithm so that it allows faster movement Team 2 (Matias Altman) o Implement turning algorithm o Layout and fab custom PCB for sensors o Implement maze mapping algorithm o Implement maze solving algorithm o Test and optimize robot Team 3 (Anton Valencia) o Implement turning algorithm o Implement maze mapping algorithm o Implement maze solving algorithm o Optimize control parameters Team 4 (Shant Bayanduryan) o Create motor control algorithm

o Create turning algorithm o Create maze mapping algorithm o Create maze solving algorithm o Optimize control system and vision system Team 5 (Aurel Gunterus) o Create memory management scheme o Complete motor control system o Implement turning algorithm o Create maze mapping algorithm o Create maze solving algorithm o Test and optimize integrated system Team 6 (Jeff Wurzbach) o Create schematic and layout for custom PCB o Port code from atmega328 to LPC2148 o Complete custom sensor design/testing o Write turning method o Implement maze mapping method o Implement maze solver

Budget and Fundraising Efforts

The total budget for Micromouse and California Micromouse Competitoin (CAMM) this year is $7,030. Our Micromouse teams compose $3,030 of the total budget. CAMM accounts for $4,000 of the budget. Qualcomm made a cash donation of $4,000 to Micromouse this year. We are requesting the Jacobs School to match $3,028.44 of Qualcomms donation.

Item Parts Team 1 PCB Fabrication Custom IR reflectance sensor assembly 3S1P - 11.1V Li-Po Battery Arduino Pro Mini Sharp GP2Y0D810Z0F w/ carrier board Misc Electronic parts 2" Wheels with hard rubber tread Team 2 3pi Robot Various Parts PCB Fabrication Breadboard Tools Various Parts LCD screen Team 3
Header Board LPC2148 Sharp GP2D120XJ00F Analog Distance Sensor 10:1 Micrometal Gearmotor HP Pololu 5" Robot Chassis RRC04A TB6612FNG Dual Motor Driver Carrier Pololu 42x19mm Wheel and Encoder Set Pololu Robot Chassis RRC01A Ball Caster with 3/8 Metal Ball Rechargeable NiMH Battery Pack, 8.4V Voltage Regulator 3.3V Voltage Regulator 5V Connectors and Electrical Components

Description/Justification

Amount

Fabricate PCB for additional Sensors Fills in range gap left by current sensors on robot Replace worn out batteries Interface new sensors to current CPU Sensor to improve relibilty of maze mapping routine Cables, connectors, screws, standoffs, etc Replacement wheels to improve traction on Maze
Subtotal

$125.00 $85.00 $125.00 $19.00 $42.00 $50.00 $55.00

$501.00

Central kit to the micromouse robot Components to prototype the sensor board Fabricate the sensorboard that takes lateral input from the side Used in sensorboard prototyping Necessary for final assembly of the sensor board Necessary for final assembly of the sensor board necessary for debugging
Subtotal Microcontroller Unit To determine the distance from the maze walls. For movement Chassis to build bot on Motor Driver to control motor direction and speed Wheels and encoders to tell distance travelled Chassis to build bot on Balancing the bot Powering the bot Adjust power supply Adjust power supply Miscellaneous components such as connectors and wires, also including costs for replacement parts. Subtotal

$109.43 $36.69 $110.00 $56.00 $120.00 $60.00 $20.00

$512.12

$81.90 $77.94 $63.80 $7.95 $25.35 $79.90 $17.85 $11.96 $34.35 $5.85 $3.75 $60.00 $35.96
$506.56

Shipping Fees Team 4

Beagleboard xm TReX Jr Dual Motor Controller DMC02 19:1 Metal Gearmotor /w encoder Wheels + mounting hubs Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera Batteries D15V35F5S3 voltage regulator Chassis manufacturing Components, connectors, hardware Team 5 IR distance & proximity sensor Stepper motors and connectors Arduino Uno Battery and Charger Motor driver Wheels Easy Driver Electronic parts Copper Plate PCB Fabrication Team 6 Header Board LPC2148 Sharp GP2D120XJ00F Analog Distance Sensor 30:1 Micrometal Gearmotor HP Custom PCB Pololu 42x19mm Wheel and Encoder Set Ball Caster with 3/8 Metal Ball Rechargeable LiPo Battery Pack, 7.4V, 850mA-h Motor driver chip (TB6612FNG) on carrier module Connectors and Electrical Components OPA3250 Shipping Fees California Micromouse Competition $250 Grants, qty 10

System on module (SOM) for DSP, realtime computer vision. Connects to camera and motor controller For controlling the motors, interfacing to SOM To turn the wheels, provide information about speed and direction Wheels and the necessary hubs to mount them to the motors Provide vision to the robot 2 separate battery packs for powering the motors and the SOM Step down voltage regulator to power SOM and motor controller Custom laser cut chassis cables, connectors, screws, standoffs
Subtotal

$179.00 $59.95 $80.00 $30.00 $20.00 $40.00 $15.00 $50.00 $30.00

$503.95

Sensor for detecting distance and walls used for heading correction to drive the mouse microcontroller to control mouse to power up the mouse L293D backup to drive the stepper motor regular and caster wheels An easier to use driver for the motors Misc parts, resistors, caps, voltage regulators, etc For PCB prototype PCB layout and fabrication
Subtotal

$70.00 $46.85 $30.00 $76.93 $17.87 $43.89 $59.80 $60.00 $15.00 $80.00
$500.34

Microcontroller Unit To determine the distance from the maze walls. For movement PCB fab Wheels and encoders to tell distance travelled Balancing the bot Energy Storage control the motor Miscellaneous components such as connectors and wires, also including costs for replacement parts. Op Amp used in custom Analog Sensor design
Subtotal

$81.90 $51.96 $31.90 $155.00 $39.95 $5.98 $14.00 $16.90 $40.00 26.88 $40.00
$504.47

Entice Other schools to come and compete

$2,500.00

Food for competition Prize Money Total Blue shaded cells indicate parts that have already been purchased.

$500.00 $1,000.00 $7,028.44