The Beacon Finding Robot The robot that searches out beacons in a hallway By: Brian Merchant & Richard Acuna

The Project & It’s Purpose The project consists of a tank, four beacons, and obstacle objects inside an open hallway. The tank’s job is to find a beacon, get close to it, and to shut the beacon off. Since there are four beacons and obstacle objects in the area, the tank will need to avoid the obstacles, and turn of each beacon one at a time.

Constraints The demo must be in a non-infrared polluted environment. This means that direct sunlight, light from fire, or any other infrared light will cause the project to not work correctly. The hallway must be at least 2 meters wide and 5 meters long and have a maximum width of 10 meters and a maximum length of 30 meters. The hallway must be level for the area of demo. The surface of the hallway must be carpeted. The carpet must be the same as found in the CE hallways. There cannot be any foreign objects in the hallway at the time of demo. A foreign object is anything other than the tank, the beacons, the dummy obstacles, and the walls.

Constraints (Cont.) The dummy obstacles can be as big as the base of the beacons. It is crucial that these dummy obstacles are shorter than the bases of the beacons. The demo will take a maximum of thirty minutes to complete given that the maximum hallway specifications are in place. The robot will stop somewhere between 24 cm and 5 cm from any obstacles. The data sheet specifies that the sensor can detect as close as 2 cm. We are adding 3 cm to allow for error tolerance and momentum.

The Tank (Overhead View)

The Tank (Side View)

The Tank (Actual Picture)

The Tank’s Functionality The tank will travel through the hallway, trying to find each of the beacons and to shut them off by sending out a 56.9 kHz infrared signal to a targeted beacon at close range. The tank will have to maneuver around stationary and shut off beacons by using an infrared proximity sensor to get close to the active beacons.

Tank Algorithms General Algorithm Obstacle Avoidance

Tank Parts The Motors – GWS SO3S Servo Motors modified for continuous rotation Min Torque 47 Oz-in Min speed.23 second / 60° Motorola HCS12 Sharp GP2D15 – Proximity Infrared Sensor Detects objects within default 24 cm Digital Output – 0V or 5V outputs

Tank Parts (Cont.) Panasonic PNA4612M – Infrared Detector Sensitive to 38 kHz Infrared Signal Will be shrouded to reduce the sensing scope Panasonic LN64PA – Infrared LED Will be adjusted to emit a 56.9 kHz Infrared Signal Will also be shrouded to reduce the beam width of the emitted signal

The Beacon

The Beacon’s Functionality The beacons are responsible for emitting an infrared signal at 38.0 kHz to signal its presence to the tank. Once the tank comes close to one of the beacons, the beacon will receive a 56.9 kHz infrared signal. This signal tells the beacon to shut off, or to stop emitting the 38.0 kHz signal.

Beacon Parts Panasonic PNA4614M – Infrared Detector Sensitive to 56.9 kHz Infrared Signal Panasonic LN64PA – Infrared LED Will be configured to emit a 38 kHz Infrared Signal

The Dummy Obstacles When a beacon is turned off it doubles as a dummy obstacle – Other dummy obstacles will be randomly placed on the course – The other dummy obstacles will be the same height as the bases of the beacons

Tank, Obstacle, and Beacon

An Example Scenario Step 1: Start Position Step 2: Search – Start scan looking forward, then search clockwise Step 3: Face first beacon Step 5: Stop and turn off beacon Step 4: Move towards first beacon Step 6: Search – start scan looking forward, then search clockwise Step 7: Move towards second beacon. Step 8: Stop and Turn off beacon. Step 9: Obstacle Avoidance Step 10: Move towards last beacon Step 11: Turn off last beacon Step 12: Cannot find any “On” beacons, task complete …

Cost Estimates Part Name:Quantity:Cost: Sirius-Tank Base with Heavy-duty Treads SKU Number: KIT-M $69.95 PNA4612M00YB-ND (PNA4612M) PHOTO IC INFRARED 38.0KHZ W/HLDR 10$11.46 for 10 LN64PA-ND (LN64PA) INFRARED LIGHT EMITTING DIODE 10$7.56 for 10 PNA4614M00YB-ND (PNA4614M) PHOTO IC INFRARED 56.9KHZ W/HLDR 80( 10 per beacon)$11.46 for ND (GP2D15) SENSOR DIST MEASUR 24CM DIGI 1$12.18 Motorola HCS12 Board1Hopefully we can check this out from Rick. LM555CN Timer IC’s each TI 78L05C 5 volt Power Regulator 5Free from samples

Milestones Major TaskCompletion Date Build all 8 beacons (RA)September 17 Build basic robot that moves forward and turns (BM) September 17 Add sensors to robot (BM)September 24 Add sensors to beacons (RA)September 24 Test Beacon Functionality (RA)September 24 Code the logic of the search algorithm into the HCS12 September 30 Integrate single beacon and moving robot October 5 Simulate the search algorithmOctober 12 Verify the functionality of the final project October 19 Demo RobotOctober 26

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