EE 296-Micromouse Spring 2008 Team: CheeHeePono! Members: Mitchell La Puente Travis Suemori Travis Suemori William Chang William Chang Ashley Tomita Ashley Tomita

Mission Impossible-MicroSP08  To create a Micro- mouse (autonomous robot) that can navigate itself through a maze.  The mouse should be able to determine the quickest path to the center.

Design  FLOPPY-BASE  Top-Down sensors  Stepper motors  Right wall hugger  FAILING random  Messy wires

Design  Initially: Move long distances in the mazeMove long distances in the maze track within the mazetrack within the maze map the maze.map the maze. Just make it “work”Just make it “work”

Design  Final Design In our final design we omitted the mapping.In our final design we omitted the mapping. Rebuilt for easier assemblyRebuilt for easier assembly  Rebuilding helped debugging  Made it easier to ship to competition

Design  Tower-like design Bottom level holds the motorsBottom level holds the motors Second level has the sensorsSecond level has the sensors Third level has the batteries and rabbitThird level has the batteries and rabbit Top level has the motor circuitTop level has the motor circuit  Used RC batteries  Sensors Right, left, and inside tracking sensors are connected in “OR” logic.Right, left, and inside tracking sensors are connected in “OR” logic.

Problems  Motor circuit We got it working, then it broke down several times and took several hours to figure out what was wrong with itWe got it working, then it broke down several times and took several hours to figure out what was wrong with it  Had to change diodes  Had to change MOSFET’s  Had to rebuild the circuit on a new board  Changed one of our motors

Problems  Sensors Initially we had 5 sensorsInitially we had 5 sensors It had trouble turning and tracking so we kept adding moreIt had trouble turning and tracking so we kept adding more Finished with 17 physical sensorsFinished with 17 physical sensors The sensor board was too low so we had to raise itThe sensor board was too low so we had to raise it Initial circuit was incorrect, so we had to add resistorsInitial circuit was incorrect, so we had to add resistors

Problems  Programming Had difficulty organizing code to determine when to turn/track.Had difficulty organizing code to determine when to turn/track.  As a result it would track when it should’ve turned or turned when it should’ve tracked Code was unorganized so we had to rewrite itCode was unorganized so we had to rewrite it  Consisted of magic numbers and unnecessary modules Hard time programming with serial cablesHard time programming with serial cables

Outstanding Problems  Mouse doesn’t map  Tracking is not perfect  Body bounces when it moves  Can only find the center as a right wall hugger  Sometimes crashes when code does not get to sensor reading fast enough

FLOPPY-BASE Transformation

FINAL FLOPPY-BASE