1. Introduction to Micromouse WVU IEEE Student Branch 9/24/2014 Stephen Itschner

2. What is a Micromouse?  Autonomous robot able to find its way through a maze in the shortest possible time  Maze is a fixed size, but configuration is unknown until the competition  Cannot receive any external input or control (limited to onboard hardware and processing)  Robot no more than 25cm x 25cm

3. Many Possible Designs

4. This Mouse Has Solved the Maze

5. How to Win 1 of the 4 corners is the starting block Get to the center squares in the shortest time

6. The Only Info Going In:  Maze size is 16 squares by 16 squares  Each square is 18cm X 18cm (16.8 cm between walls)  Walls are 5cm high, red on top, white on sides (IR reflective paint)  Floor is black (IR absorbing paint)  Goal will always be to reach the center 4 squares

7. Rules  The robot cannot:  Burn through, cut through, fly over, or climb over the walls  Damage the maze in any way  Leave parts of itself behind  Be powered by any flammable substance  The clock starts when the robot leaves the starting square and stops when it enters the goal square, measured from the front edge  Each robot gets 10 minutes to run the maze as many times as desired  The official time is the fastest run completed within the 10 minute period  Every time the mouse is touched after being set down is a 30 second penalty added to the fastest run  Slow robots that solve the maze place higher than fast robots that do not

8. Cash Prizes (vary by year)  Option 1: built from a commercial OTS kit  $300 1 st  $200 2 nd  $100 3 rd  Option 2: built from scratch  $600 1 st  $500 2 nd  $300 3 rd

9. An Expert Micromouse, Fast Run Only:  https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=2&cad =rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fw atch%3Fv%3DCLwICJKV4dw&ei=WRwjVMjhH4u3yATlhYKAAQ&usg=AFQjCNG2lzY Ru1DWSXm-Bf7lTsi5c8iGvQ&bvm=bv.76180860,d.aWw https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=2&cad =rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fw atch%3Fv%3DCLwICJKV4dw&ei=WRwjVMjhH4u3yATlhYKAAQ&usg=AFQjCNG2lzY Ru1DWSXm-Bf7lTsi5c8iGvQ&bvm=bv.76180860,d.aWw

10. Path Forward for WVU IEEE Scratch Team  Currently own a micromouse made from scratch  Pet project of the presenter since ~Sept. 2013  Needs to be debugged and programmed  Optimizations to hardware permissible  Full hardware and design brief available for those interested Kit Team  Order known working hardware  Program the maze exploration and solving  Pros:  Known, working hardware  Online support  Potential for finding source code online  Cons:  Lower prize  Other teams have same advantages