Engineering Projects/BallBot/Howard Community College/Fall2011/501 BBotz2
Electronic Sections Expected
[edit | edit source]Problem Statement
[edit | edit source]Get a basketball to balance on a 3 wheeled base and then control the wheels individually to rotate and sping the basketball without allowing it to fall out from the wheels.
Team Members
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Summary
[edit | edit source]Poster
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Ballbot speaker
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Spine trigger
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Spine
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Torso
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Exposed base
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Wheel back
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Wheel front
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Rollers and wheel assembly
Story
[edit | edit source]Based on this video the goal of the project is to first build a robot upon which a basketball can be mounted and the wheels can be controlled individually to spin the basketball around without losing control or causing the basketball to fly off the wheels. Then the goal would be to make that same robot balance on the basketball and move around while maintaining balance.
Decision List
[edit | edit source]Dismantle Tribot.
Program an Arduino instead of using the boards the Tribot came with.
Material List
[edit | edit source]Arduino
Wowwee Tribot and all attached pieces it comes with from box.
Screwdriver.
Software List
[edit | edit source]Arduino
Java (to program Arduino)
Time
[edit | edit source]Estimated time spent dimantling Tribot ~4 hours with 2 focused solely on the base.
6+ hours minimum to program Arduino, this includes time spent to learn Java from scratch.
Tutorials
[edit | edit source]Free Java tutorials and lessons
Next Steps
[edit | edit source]Write a program to control the wheels individually and work with the remote of the Wowwee Tribot. The current remote and boards interface still, but the wheels cannot be controlled individually as the project stands. Also, with the physical construction of the ballbot a base is needed to mount the wheels on and the power source needs to be moved from between the wheels, probably lowered to serve also as a bridge between the base and wheel tripod where the wheels will be mounted. Also, wheels motors may have to be moved closer together, but this may not be possible as new ways to hold the motors may need to be devised(they are currently in their original base and secured solidly).