Figure 4: DC Motor Driver UMS 2.3 SOFTWARE DESIGN (PROGRAMMING) The flow chart of the whole system is laid out in Figure 6. Figure 5: Overall Movement Flow 45
3.0 PRESENTATION OF DATA ON ROBOT TESTING The performance of robots on the last day of training before announcement of postponed entry to campus due to COVID-19 was recorded. Table 3 shows the achievement of successful attempts out of total 5 attempts. Table 3: Performance of Robots During Testing Task (Each ball) Functionality Approximated Time (s) Gripping 4 3 Pass 4 5 Try 5 8 Kick 3 20 4.0 DISCUSSION During testing, it was observed the robot is not moving fast enough as expected. This is due to the material used is heavy and thus, even setting up maximum PWM, TR used longer time to travel from the receiving zone to try spots. Therefore, it is suggested to implement carbon fibre for the next ROBOCON as per international standard. On the other hand, a very interesting observation is that the surface of the game field did affect the travel path of robots. This needs further investigation from the team to resolve this issue. 5.0 SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING PRACTICES The fabrication of robots has fully complied with sustainable engineering practices where all the electronics and batteries were reused from previous robots for ROBOCON as well. Moreover, certain structures of the robot such as kicking mechanism structure were also fabricated from used aluminium bars. UMS 6.0 CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS To conclude, UMS ROBOCON Team have fabricated Pass Robot (PR) and Try Robot (TR) for ROBOCON Malaysia 2020. The two robots are able to complete all tasks within the design basis. It could be said that the first objective is achieved successfully. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the team was prohibited from entering the campus until further notice and this fine-tuning process was halted. Therefore, the second objective could not be achieved. There are a number of limitations while executing this project. First of all, financial support was again insufficient and some mechanical elements could not be purchased on time. Furthermore, the fabrication process had definitely been altered severely by COVID- 19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the team members have learnt and sharpened their technical skills in respective fields. This is indeed a fruitful journey to us. 46
Acknowledgments This technical report has been completed successfully with the help and support of many individuals. We would like to express my profound gratitude to every single one of them. Firstly, we thank God for keeping us safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic and allowing us to continue the robot fabrication during this unprecedented time. We also thank God for the opportunity, peace, strength, and wisdom He bestowed upon us to accomplish the industrial training. Besides, we profusely thank Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Student Affair Department (HEPA) UMS for the financial and management support. The support to our lab has been helping us a lot for this year's preparation. Besides, we owe a deep sense of gratitude to the Faculty of Engineering, UMS for providing us with necessary space as a game field. On the other hand, we also thank Assoc Prof. Ir. Dr. Muralindran Mariappan. As the lab principal investigator, his advice on robot fabrication has been crucial to us. Last but not the least, we would like to thank all who have directly and indirectly lent their helping hands to us throughout this venture. The constant support and continuous encouragement provided had enabled us to accomplish the robot fabrication. References [1] T. Terakawa, M. Komori, Y. Yamaguchi and Y. Nishida (2019). Active omni wheel possessing seamless periphery and omnidirectional vehicle using it. Precision Engineering. 56, 466-475.Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S0141635919300479 [2] Oliveria, H.P., Sousa, A.J., Moreira, A. P. and Costa, P.J. (2008). Dynamical Models for Omni- direction Robots with 3 and 4 wheels. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256089847_Dynamical_Models_for_Omni -directional_Robots_with_3_and_4_Wheels [3] Adnan Aqeel (2018). Introduction to Arduino Mega 2560. Retrieved from https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/2018/06/introduction-to-arduino-mega- 2560.html 47 UMS
INGENIEURS INGENIEURS FROM UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA BATU PAHAT 2 Budiman.A,B, Abdalla.I, Zarith.Z, Aifian.A, Luqman.K, Abrar.S, Aziz.A, Syamsuri.K, Idriss.M Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik & Elektronik, Universitiy Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. ABSTRACT This project consists of two robots which are the Passing Robot (PR) and Trying Robot (TR). Each robot has different mechanisms attached as they must complete a different task. PR has the kicking and passing mechanism while TR has the trying mechanism. The kicking mechanism allowed the ball to travel 20m on average while the passing mechanism can pass the ball to other robots approximately 3m and it has a high rate of accuracy in completing the tasks when done in succession. The Passing Robot used a swerve motor mechanism to allow a fast and precise motion in receiving the ball. The Try Robot has two grippers to hold the tee and the rugby ball allowing the ball to be kicked faster and much more accurately. Based on the Bill of Material (BOM), around 80% of the robot is made from aluminium, plywood, and PLA-designed material which can be easily recycled and disposed of safely without harming the environment some electronic components can be reused for other projects or can be safely disposed of. The possible application is the gripper can be used as a throwing mechanism in the truck dumpster to unload rubbish from the trash can into the dumpster. 48
1.0 INTRODUCTION INGENIEURS The theme of ROBOCON 2020 is a rugby game. A team will have two robots competing with the opponent’s robots in terms of achieving higher scores within the given timeframe by following the game’s rules. Participating teams are required to design two robots to complete the game tasks, where any mechanism and arrangement can be used as long it is within the given restrictions. The chosen strategy is to use the PR to kick the ball while the TR performs the try task. The key point is to successfully finish the four tries and one kick faster than the opponent to secure the next three balls to kick. To win the competition, the previous strategy must be performed, achieving that requires a mechanical design capable of overcoming the presented challenges by the resources available versus the team’s goals Referring to the industry's latest technologies and the robotic expertise opinion and creations, was one of the solutions followed by the team to overcome the presented challenges. In the next chapters, the methods will be discussed in detail and the results will be presented. 2.0 DETAILED DESIGN (a) (b) Figure 1: (a) completed PR. (b) fully assembled TR The detailed design was divided into two parts which are mechanical and electronic design. The mechanical design discussed the mechanical part of PR and TR while the electronic design discussed the schematic circuit and electrical circuit diagram of each robot. Figure 1(a) shows the completed PR while Figure 1(b) shows the fully assembled TR. 49
INGENIEURS 2.1 MECHANICAL DESIGN The mechanical design will be discussing the mechanism used in PR and TR. The mechanisms that will be discussed in detail are kicking, gripping, throwing, passing, and motion mechanism for each robot. (a) (b) Figure 2: (a)Throwing and gripping mechanism. (b) Gripper design via Solidworks Figure 2 shows the gripping and throwing mechanism for PR. For the throwing mechanism, a 24 V DC motor pulls the arm downward until a limit switch detects the downward position of the arm and magnetizes the magnet to hold the arm position. The gripper gripped the ball and when the magnet demagnetized, the force released from the spring caused the ball to be thrown to TR. A linear motion gripper was applied to minimize grip space, avoiding any mistake during the process of picking up the ball. Figure 2(b) shows the gripping mechanism in detail. It used two servo motors for the gripper and one servo motor as the wrist joint to adjust the throwing angle. The kicking mechanism is shown in Figure 3(a) consists of ratchet, freewheel, spring, shaft, crank, and kicking arm. The mechanism has two-step which are hold and kick. A 24 V DC motor starts to move the chain and the arm moves via the freewheel gear. The sensor's purpose is to ensure the arm position is 90° while the ratchet holds the current position. The leg starts to move again until the spring pushes the crank to make a powerful kick to the ball. Figure 3(b) shows the gripping of tee and ball into position before the kicking mechanism started. This was done to increase the accuracy of the ball entering the goal. Figure 3(c) shows the ratchet wheel mechanism. 50
INGENIEURS (a) (b) (c) Figure 3: (a) Freewheel kicking position, (b) ball kicking position; (c) Ratchet position Figure 4 shows a try mechanism in PR which consists of two stepper motors, try holder, belt, limit switch, and rotating gear. Try mechanism is applied when the stepper motor receives an instruction to pull the try ball holder. Limit switch is pressed as the try holder reaches its position and the limit switch triggers the next instruction for the stepper push back at its original position as in the figure above. (a) (b) Figure 4: (a) Try mechanism without cage (b) Try mechanism with cage 51
INGENIEURS (a) (b) Figure 5: (a) Swerve mechanism (b) mecanum drives part. Figure 5(a) shows the swerve mechanism in PR while Figure 5(b) shows the mecanum drive mechanism in TR. The swerve mechanism consists of four wheels, four servo motor, four 12 V DC motor, and four rotational gear. The servo motor was used to control the direction of the robot from left to right while a 12 V DC motor was used to control the forward and backward movement of the robot. The mecanum mechanism consists of four mecanum wheels and two 12 V DC motors which allow the robot to move in any direc- tion. 2.2 ELECTRONIC DESIGN The electronic design of this project includes schematic circuits for PR and TR. The schematic diagram will consist of the printed circuit board for IR-EIO-03, IR-EIO-04, IR-ICB- 01, and IR-CP-01. IR-EIO-03 and IR-EIO-04 boards responsible for managing the external input-output of the robots. 52
INGENIEURS Figure 6: Electrical circuit diagram for PR 53
INGENIEURS Figure 7: Electrical circuit diagram(continued) Figure 6 and 7 shows the electrical circuit diagram for PR which using three units of LiPo 11.1 V with 2200 mAh. The power distribution of this robot is separated into two parts which are 12 V and 24V. One of the LiPo is used as 11.1 V and another two units are combined in series connection to produce 22.2 V. These separate sources are controlled by using one 20A toggle switch which switched the 11.1 V while the 22.2 V is switched by using the 12 V relay module. 54
INGENIEURS Figure 8: Electrical circuit diagram for PR 55
INGENIEURS Figure 9: Electrical circuit diagram(continued) Figure 8 and 9 shows the electrical circuit diagram for TR which using one unit of LiPo 11.1 V with 2200 mAh and one unit of LiPo 7.4 V with 4500 mAh. The power distribution of this robot is separated into two parts which are 12 V and 7.4 V. One of the LiPo is used as 11.1V and the 7.4 V LiPo is used to power all of the servo motors. These separate sources are controlled by using one 20A toggle switch which switched the 11.1 V while the 7.4 V is switched by using the 12 V relay module. 56
INGENIEURS Figure 10: Schematic circuit for IR-EIO-03 board 57
INGENIEURS The IR-EIO-03 and IR-EIO-04 have the same schematic circuit design as shown in Figure 10. Both used three microcontrollers which are Arduino MEGA 2560, Arduino UNO, and Play Station 2 (PS2) shield but have different pin assignments. The PS2 shield was used to receive an input signal from the PS2 controller and send it to Arduino UNO. Based on the input signal, Arduino UNO will send specific instructions to Arduino MEGA to utilize various connected output devices to do specific tasks. The reason MEGA was used to provides many digital pins that can be used to assign to various output devices. In PR, the IR-EIO-03 board was used to control seven servo motors, two 24 V DC motors, and four 12 V DC motor. The servo motors are used to grip the ball for kicking and throwing mechanism, controlling the wrist angle in throwing mechanism, and holding the tee in kicking mechanisms. The DC motors were used in the kicking and throwing mechanism of the arm. Limits switches were used to ensure the correct position of the arm before the kicking and throwing mechanism was executed. The four 12 V DC motor was used to move the magnum tire mechanism. IR-EIO-04 board was used in TR to handles the movement and the trying mechanism. A swerve motor mechanism was applied in TR for the robot’s movements. The swerve mechanism uses four servo motors and four DC motors which provide fast and precise movement. The try mechanism utilizes two stepper motors with an additional limit switch for pull and push position. Figure 11: Developed control panel Figure 11 shows the developed control panel which can be used to select the field mode either left side, right side or manual mode. Besides, the control panel will indicate the position of the robot using the seven segment and LEDs. 58
INGENIEURS Figure 12: Schematic circuit for IR-CP-01 board Figure 12 shows the schematic circuit for the IR-CP-01 board. CP is the acronym of control panel. The control panel consists of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) 16x2, 7 segment display, battery indicator, and three push-buttons. The push-button is used to control the modes created by the program and the LCD used for displaying the current modes of the program. 7 segment purposes are to display the robot movement speed. Push-button and the battery indicator used 12V DC to operate and the 7 segments and LCD only used 5 V DC. 59
INGENIEURS Figure 13: Schematic circuit for IR-ICB-01 board 60
Figure 13 shows the schematic circuit for the IR-ICB-01 board. The board was INGENIEURS designed and fabricated in the UTHM laboratory. The main function of this board is to convert voltage level from 24 V to 5 V and 5 V to 24 V by using an optocoupler integrated circuit (IC) which use as a transfer medium between Arduino and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The board consists of four ports encoder connector which can easily power the encoder in the DC Motor. The board was used TR since the robot is using a swerve mechanism in which the movement of the robot is affected by the encoder. For this robot, PLC is selected since it has a high-speed counter to count the pulse of the encoder during the operation. 3.0 EVALUATION OF ROBOT TESTING Two methods are used to test PR and TR which is the distance travel by the ball and the accuracy of all the mechanisms. The robots are tested ten times to find the average maximum distance the ball travels and the accuracy for both robots to complete the given tasks. Table 1 shows the recorded data for the distance travelled by the ball for the passing and kicking mechanism. For passing, the ball travelled for a maximum distance of 3.28-meter while the maximum distance travelled for kicking is 10.37m. In passing, the distance travelled is affected by the gripper’s grip on the ball where if the gripper grips the ball too tight the distance will decrease. Table 2 shows the accuracy and precision of the robot to complete the task. Each task that succeeds was given a tick while if the task was not completed an “X” was given. Table 1: Show distance travelled by the ball for the passing and kicking Test Passing (m) Kicking (m) 1 3.14 10.35 2 3.17 10.31 3 3.23 9.82 4 2.96 10.26 5 3.28 10.37 average 3.07 9.62 Table 2: Show distance travelled by the ball for the passing and kicking Task Accuracy Passing ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓X✓ ✓ ✓ Catching ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓X✓ ✓ ✓ Try ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Kicking ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓ 61
INGENIEURS 4.0 SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING PRACTICES Both robots consist of various electronic components, parts designed using polylactic acid (PLA) filaments such as gripper while the frame consists of plywood and aluminium. The aluminium frame can be recycled or reused while the plywood and PLA designed part can be safely discarded into the trash can. The reason is both materials are biodegradable. Hence, based on the Bill of Material (BOM) around 80% of the body can be safely recycled and removed without harming the environment. The electronic components such as the microcontroller can be reused for other projects while other smaller components and PCB can be disposed of as e-waste to avoid contamination to the environment. 5.0 CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATION, AND RECOMMENDATION In conclusion, the PR and TR were able to complete the given tasks within the time frame. A swerve motor mechanism was used TR to have faster and higher accuracy in receiving the ball while a 24V DC motor was used to drive the arm in the throwing and kicking mechanism. This provides substantial force in achieving the team’s strategy. The limitation of the completed robots is TR needs to be as light as possible as the weight of the robot affects the robot’s speed. In addition, the spring used in PR will lose its strength if it is used repetitively for a prolonged period and it requires replacement. The recommendation for future work is to change the tire in swerve mechanism to an AGV tire which allows for better control and is able to withstand much more weight. Acknowledgments This work was conducted under the approval of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn and the Faculty of Electric and Electronic. 62
References INGENIEURS [1] Z. u. Hassan, W. u. Rahman and U. Farooq, “Implementation of Velocity Control Al- gorithm on a Swerve Based Omni-directional Robot,” 11th International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology, pp. 195-198, 2013. [2] J. Pakkanen, D. Manfredi, P. Minetola, and L. Iuliano, “About the use of recycled or biodegradable filaments for the sustainability of 3D printing: State of the art and research opportunities,” Smart Innov. Syst. Technol., vol. 68, no. July 2019, pp. 776–785, 2017, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-57078-5_73. [3] P. Steinle, “Characterization of emissions from a desktop 3D printer and indoor air measurements in office settings,” J. Occup. Environ. Hyg., vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 121–132, 2016, DOI: 10.1080/15459624.2015.1091957. 63
UTM A UTM A FROM UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA Mohd Ridzuan bin Ahmad1, Chin Cheng Hui1, Eslam Tarek Safwat Sayed Abdalla2, Esther Kee Mei Ting1, Khor Chee Yong1, Ng Jia Sheng1, Ong Wei Han1, Sherif Khaled Elhossiny Mohamed Abouelmagd3, Tan Jun Jie1 1School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM A), 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. 2School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM A), 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. 3School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM A), 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. ABSTRACT This report summarizes the mechanical, electronic and software design considerations of the two robots, i.e. Pass Robot (PR) and Try Robot (TR) of the University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) ROBOCON Team A that fits the winning strategy in ROBOCON Malaysia 2020. The design of the robot to carry out each task in the games, e.g. ball picking up, passing and receiving of try balls from PR to TR, scoring try balls in the try spot by TR and kicking the kickball over the conversion post by PR, is discussed. An electronic circuit block diagram and algorithms of the robots are also described. The approaches for overcoming the game challenges and some recommendations which can improve the robots in the future are shared in this report as well. 64
1.0 INTRODUCTION UTM A UTM ROBOCON Team was established in 2002 and our focus is on developing robots and active in ROBOCON activities. Participating in ROBOCON Malaysia 2020, it requires the team to develop two robots, i.e. Pass Robot (PR) and Try Robot (TR). How the two robots collaborate to score Try and the Goal Kick are the highlight of the game. To win the game, the team needs to score at least four tries and four goal kicks from kick zone 3 and since a maximum of three kick balls can be requested at the same time, the time taken to secure four tries and one goal kick is critical in determining victory. With this condition, the speed of TR is the limiting factor. Thus, TR has to be designed in lightweight for navigating fast and to be precisely positioned at try spot for scoring tries without delay while PR is designed to be able to grip and pass the ball without flipping and synchronize with TR to reduce waiting time. Another challenge of the game is Goal Kick because of the unique shape of the ball, angle and position of kicking. Hence, PR is equipped with a kicking mechanism since the path travelled is shorter and easier for a precise position. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, all physical R&D activities at the laboratory are forced to be stopped. The team adapted to a new norm by restructuring their internal operation and introduced work that was fully dependent on software simulation. The capability of the mechanism is tested via CAD simulation [4] while robot algorithms being constructed, tuned and trained online in the virtual game field thus resulting in building better robots. 2.0 DETAILED DESIGN 2.1 MECHANICAL DESIGN (TRY ROBOT) Try robot (TR) is a four-point omni-wheel base with a minimum dimension of 770 mm x 790 mm x 1130 mm and a maximum dimension of 770 mm x 1130 mm x 1130 mm. The weight of the robot is 21.0 kg. TR consists mechanism of 4-points navigation, receiving and try. Figure 1 shows the drawing and the actual image of the TR robot. The robot is navigated with the assistance of external encoders, limit switches and analog sensors attached for feedback in precise positioning. The omni-wheel base is chosen because of fast movement through the obstacles when moving from the receiving zone to the try spots. 65
Receiving part is a frame made up of a light aluminium bar and covered with a net and cushion that stop and absorb the force and impact of the ball launched by PR. A curtain-like cloth is attached to absorb the impact and direct the ball to the Try mechanism. The try mechanism is located inside the receiving mechanism and tied with a net to hold the ball after the ball is received and covered with a cushion to minimize the bouncing of the ball. UTM A Figure 1: CAD Design of the Try Robot The Try mechanism is actuated by a power window motor to perform the try task while two cylinders are used to clamp the ball to prevent it from falling to the ground that causes violation. 2.2 MECHANICAL DESIGN (PASS ROBOT) Pass robot (PR) is a four-point omni-wheel base with a minimum dimension of 820 mm x 676 mm x 660 mm and a maximum dimension of 980 mm x 920 mm x 750 mm. The robot weight is 28.6 kg. PR consists of a mechanism of 4-points navigation, ball picking, passing and receiving. It has an exact width of 676 mm to prevent flipping of the passing mechanism when running on both zones. It navigates with the assistance of external encoders, limit switches, analog sensors attached for feedback in precise positioning. Figure 2 shows the drawing and the actual image of the PR robot. To perform passing, the robot moves alongside the try ball rack and once the ball is sensed by the analog sensor, the gripper will be actuated by pneumatic cylinders for gripping and rotated by the power window motor until 225° from the initial position to place the try ball on the passing platform. Therefore, the constant try ball orientation can be obtained. A 50 degree passing mechanism which is actuated by parallel-connected pneumatic cylinders will be initiated for passing out the try ball to TR located at the receiving zone. 66
In the kicking mechanism, the kicking leg that is designed with 150 degrees and flat UTM A contacting surface is actuated by two parallel-connected pneumatic cylinders for kicking the ball. For autonomous kicking, precise positioning and navigating are required. PR navigates autonomously, to a position where a kickball is placed by operators, using encoders and analog sensors. With the distance travelled, it resolves PR to rotate till a precise angle for quick kicking. Figure 2: CAD Design of Pass Robot 2.3 ELECTRONIC DESIGN Figure 3 shows a distribution of sensors and architecture of the processing units within the TR and PR robots, respectively. Since TR and PR are both wheeled robots therefore, they have an almost similar electronic block diagram, the only difference is the number of sensors used. The mainboard with an ARM microcontroller is used to run the logical algorithm of the program while the Robot Navigation System is used to drive four navigational motors. An H-bridge power distribution module is connected to the mainboard to control power window motors and navigation motors through motor drivers that are equipped with an emergency button enabling power cut-off. Besides, a mode selector is used for mode switching on the mainboard. Several sensors such as analog sensors, limit switches, encoders and inertial measurement units are used in the robot for accurate positioning. All sensors' feedback will be sent to the mainboard or Robot Navigation System for processing. A PS4 module is designed and communicates with the mainboard for controlling the robot using a PS4 controller. 67
UTM A Figure 3: Electronic Block Diagram of TR & PR Robots 2.4 SOFTWARE DESIGN At the start of the game, PR picks up one Try Ball from the Ball Rack and passes the Try Ball from the Passing Zone to TR located in the Receiving Zone. Once TR receives the Try Ball from PR, it goes along the Obstacles and scores the Try in the one of the five Try Spots. After four successful tries by TR, a kick ball will be requested, and PR will perform a goal kick from Kick Zone 3. The algorithms flowchart of TR is shown in Figure 4 and PR is shown in Figure 5. Software design of TR and PR is based on autonomous mode. However, the operator still can switch to semi-auto mode to complete the tasks. In case of an emergency, the operator can stop the robot using the controller for safety purpose. 68
UTM A Figure 4: Algorithm flowchart of TR 69
UTM A Figure 5: Algorithms Flowchart for PR 70
3.0 SIMULATION OF DATA UTM A 3.1 DISPLACEMENT & STRESS ANALYSIS Before the fabrication process, displacement and stress analysis on the base of the robot was done as shown in Figure 6. The result helps to determine the critical breakpoints, the maximum stress that the base can withstand before deformation and the minimum tensile strength of the material should be considered and used. Figure 6: Displacement and Stress Analysis of the Robot Base 3.2 PASSING & KICKING SIMULATION Simulation is done for testing the capability of the passing and kicking mechanisms before the fabrication. Graph of the velocity of the cylinders versus time for the passing mechanism is plotted as shown in Figure 7 and for the kicking mechanism as shown in Figure 8. From the result obtained in Figure 7, the velocity of the try ball being shot and the time taken is determined. With the predetermined passing angle and the passing platform initial height, passing distance and receiving height can be calculated which helps to ensure the capability of TR to receive the ball. 71
UTM A Figure 7: Graph of Velocity versus Time for the Passing Mechanism From the result obtained in Figure 8, the velocity of the cylinder at the specific moment is known. With the predetermined horizontal distance and the height of the ball for passing the conversion post, the hitting angle and the distance of the kickball should be placed from the un-actuated kicking leg can be analysed. Figure 8: Graph of Velocity versus Time for the Kicking Mechanism 3.3 TUNING ANALYSIS Tuning data of TR and PR is taken and analysed the robot stability and time used to complete each task for the progression of the date as shown in Figures 9(a) and 9(b). From the result, PR achieves 95% of passing and 84% of kicking successful rate and both robots got the best stable match of 34.67 s which is the time scoring four tries and one goal kick. 72
(a) UTM A (b) Figure 9 (a) and (b): Tuning Analysis Dashboard The result almost reaches the design limitation because TR needs to resolve forces acted by the motors when changing the direction of navigation. PR takes time for precise positioning during kicking and time is required for the ball to fly on air during the passing. To improve the result, path planning of TR and PR need to be further optimized for reducing waiting time by either robot. 4.0 DISCUSSION Due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, research and development work is forced to be virtual and the situation pushed the team hard to be innovative leveraging benefits of simulation software to keep pursuing development. This is what makes our design seamless and unique through working virtually and we are happy to share the findings. 73
UTM A First, robot path planning software as shown in Figure 10 is developed to test and determine the suitable strategy with the optimized running path. The result generates the position coordinates and ensures the synchronization of both robots. To have an autonomous kicking, the kicking position is pinned which gives distance travelled for x and y axes and thus determines the rotational angle of the robot via trigonometry. Second, the PID of the navigation motor is tuned using the software as shown in Figure 11 until the graph of velocity against the time is raised perfectly. Third, tuning of the robot is done through a virtual game field as shown in Figure 12 where the algorithms and path planning can be tested. It helps to simulate the real environment of the game field that trains operators to familiarize themselves with the operation of the robots. Figure 10: Robot Path Planning Software Figure 11: PID Tuning Software 74
UTM A Figure 12: Virtual Gamefield 5.0 SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING PRACTICE Our team culture promotes sustainable engineering practices and applies 6Rs which include recycle, reuse, reduce, replace, reinvent and refuse. We cultivate members to be environmentally conscious and their actions are driven by environmental sustainability. By separating items such as aluminium bars, 3D printing filaments, electronic waste, we reclaim the raw materials from these items which would have otherwise been thrown away. It diverts them away from landfills through recycling. We would love to extend the components’ life by reusing it. For instance, we collect unwanted carbonated bottles from hawker stalls that store gas for pneumatic cylinders, broken badminton net from university sports hall for receiving mechanism, curtain and cushion from college office that absorbs ball impact. Besides, we practice mechanism simulation via software before fabrication to reduce producing undesired metal waste. Items that generate more wastes than benefits are strongly refused. Lastly, the faulty electronic board and actuators are usually fixed and replaced with functional components rather than throwing it. With that, our team can make a difference throughout the preparation process by applying 6Rs. 6.0 CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS To conclude, the development of robots in passing, trying and kicking is indeed a great challenge to us and major problems were solved by the proposed solutions. However, the limitation of our robots is the weight which limits us to create a ball and tee placing mechanism for quicker kicking. The recommendation to improve the robot is to design TR that can move faster than driving by steer wheel. 75
Acknowledgments We would like to express our gratitude towards Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Engineering for giving us support and facilities to develop our robots. Thanks, our team manager, Prof. Madya Ir. Dr. Mohd Ridzuan bin Ahmad, advises us in terms of technical issues as well as conducting management in our team. Thanks to all of our team members for continuously developing better robots for the competition. We also do not forget to thank our sponsors for supporting us along with the preparation for ROBOCON Malaysia 2020. UTM A References 1. ABU ROBOCON 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https:// www.aburobocon2020.com.fj/ 2. ABU ROBOCON 2020 Theme & Rules “Robo Rugby 7s”. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from 3. https://www.aburobocon2020.com.fj/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ ABU_Robocon_2020_Rulebook_Sep_30.pdf 4. Solidworks. (2020 ver), Dassault Systemes Solidworks Corporation. Accessed: Oct 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.solidworks.com/sw/ education/6438_ENU_HTML.htm 5. J. Howie (2020, Sep 25). Altium Designer Documentation [Online]. Available: https://www.altium.com/documentation/altium-designer 6. STMicroelectronics Software AB., Sweden. Atollic TrueSTUDIO User Guide, 20th ed. (Jan 2018). Accessed: Nov 2019. [Online]. Available: http://gotland.atollic.com/ resources/manuals/9.0.0/Atollic_TrueSTUDIO_for_STM32_User_Guide.pdf. 76
77 UTM A
TARUCBOTICS V3 TARUCBOTICS V3 FROM TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE Wai Jun Chong, Khai Sean Ng, Chong Keat How, Yit Chang Lee Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jalan Genting Kelang, Setapak, 53300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ABSTRACT The TARUC team has prepared two robots for ROBOCON 2020: Pass Robot and Try Robot, whereby the Pass Robot uses a servo motor to adjust the Try Ball prior to passing and a pneumatic piston with catapult mechanism idea to launch the ball to the Try Robot. The Try Robot involves two major mechanisms, the try mechanism that uses two pneumatic pistons to open and close the gate to allow the Try Ball to be placed on the Try Spot, as well as the kicking mechanism which uses a window power motor and hammock springs to kick the ball. After several testing on both robots, both are able to move in all directions in the 2D plane, the Passing Robot is able to pass the ball to the Try Robot, and the Try Robot is able to place the ball properly at the Try Spot while the kicking mechanism is able to kick up to the 7 m mark. The robots prepared are unique because bluetooth signal is used for transmission, the passing mechanism is simplified and the alterable usage of nylon strings are used to capture the Try Ball. To achieve sustainability, the team used recycled aluminium extrusion to build the final design of the robot, relatively environmentally friendly pneumatic system and rechargeable LiPo battery as the 78
main power source. In terms of real-world applications, these robots can be used to TARUCBOTICS V3 facilitate rugby ball training for rugby players, these are beneficial as robots could achieve consistency, accuracy and repeatability that humans cannot otherwise achieve due to their own limitations. With some modifications to dimensions, these robots can also be used in other ball related sports such as football and baseball. 1.0 INTRODUCTION In conjunction with the theme of ROBOCON 2020 being the game of rugby. The team has constructed two robots, the Pass Robot and Try Robot. Apart from the pneumatic system and respective electronics parts, the Pass Robot consists of the passing mechanism, while the Try Robot consists of the try mechanism that will place the rugby ball in the Try Spot and a kicking mechanism that will kick the ball to the conversion post. The strategy the team planned out was to control the robots manually using the bluetooth signal through a PS4 controller. The Pass Robot will first approach the Try Ball rack and lift the Try Ball up with a simple fork structure using a servo motor with a cam. At the same time, the Try Robot is controlled and directed to be aligned with the Pass Robot about 4.0 to 4.5 metres away. Then the Pass Robot will pass the Try Ball to the Try Robot using a pneumatic piston lifting the fork up like a catapult mechanism. Once the Try Robot receives the ball from the Pass Robot, the robot will approach the Try Spot while avoiding the obstacles. The ball is allowed to roll down the inclined plane with the Try Robot, and once the Try Spot is reached, the gate of the Try Robot is opened using two pneumatic pistons as shown in the detailed design section in the report. The strategy the team planned out to kick the ball to the conversion post is by using a kicking mechanism powered by three hammock springs. Firstly, the “leg” of the robot is drawn upwards using a window power motor up to an equilibrium point, the leg is then push towards the ball by the springs to allow the ball to be kicked towards the conversion post. The trying mechanism for our robot is inspired by the catapult concept applied by the miniature jumping robots [1]. Similar to the catapult mechanism referred, when the piston is pressurized (acting as the counterweight being dropped from a certain height), the piston cylinder is extended to launch the ball in a parabolic curve. When the piston is de- pressurised, it will retract and return to its original position, preparing to fire again. The kicking mechanism for our robot is inspired by the stroke mechanism through spring for soccer robot [2]. However, rather than kicking directly in horizontal axis, the kicking “leg” will rotate to an equilibrium position before converting the stored force of the spring and the 79
TARUCBOTICS V3 kinetic energy of the window power motor as momentum of the falling “leg”, to impulsive force to be exerted on the rugby ball. The main restriction will be the control of the force exerted on the ball which is controlled by the numbers, the types of springs (different spring constants) and its position. 2.0 DETAILED DESIGN 2.1 MECHANICAL DESIGN (a) (b) (c) (d) Figure 1: (a) CAD of Pass Robot; (b) Photo of Pass Robot; (c) CAD of Try Robot; (d) Photo of Try Robot 80
General movement of both robots are governed by four omnidirectional wheels TARUCBOTICS V3 arranged 45° to the edge of the base. The wheels are powered by brushed DC geared motor which are connected to motor drivers. Both robots are able to move in all 2D directions and rotate itself on a fixed spot. For passing mechanism, first the servo motor which is located underneath the fork on the base of the robot will rotate a cam which lifts the aluminium fork slightly to pick the Try Ball up and allow it to fall horizontally. The passing mechanism has one degree of freedom, as the piston extends, the fork will be lifted upwards to pass the ball forward. For the try mechanism, by default, the pistons are extended to push the gate against the body of the Try Robot, active low output. It has one degree of freedom, it uses a parallel-motion linkage to move the gate at a similar distance to the extension of the piston, controlled using reverse-motion linkage. For kicking mechanism, the window power motor will rotate the ratchet gear to drive the leg upwards to an equilibrium point, whereby the springs which are connected from both blue labelled rods shown in the drawing have not unstretched. Once the ball is aligned with the leg, the motor will rotate slightly and the spring can bring the legs forward to kick the ball, at this point, the ratchet gear is able to rotate freely. This mechanism has one degree of freedom. Figure 2: Kicking mechanism 81
TARUCBOTICS V3 2.2 ELECTRONIC DESIGN Figure 3: Schematic diagram of Pass Robot Figure 4: Schematic diagram of Try Robot 82
2.3 SOFTWARE DESIGN TARUCBOTICS V3 Figure 5: (a) Software flowchart for Pass Robot and (b) software flowchart for Try Robot Summary software design for Pass Robot Referring to Figure 5(a), after connecting the main power source to Arduino Mega, the motors and PS4 controller is initialised in void setup ( ) section. Then, it will enter void loop ( ) section, where the codes will repeat until the power source is removed or the reset button is pressed. Now, Mega will obtain data from user’s PS4 control, which is x1, y1, Square, Circle, l2 and r2. Then, the calc function will convert inputs x1 and y1 into x2 and y2 respectively through some algorithm, for the ease of Motor.control() function later. After that, user will need to press ‘Square’ button to activate servo motor to lift pass ball up from the Ball Rack. When ‘Circle’ button is pressed, solenoid valve is activated, piston is then actuated to throw the pass ball to Try Robot. 83
TARUCBOTICS V3 Summary software design for Try Robot Referring to Figure 5(b), after connecting the main power source to Arduino Mega, the motors and PS4 controller is initialised in void setup ( ) section. Then, it will enter void loop ( ) section, where the codes will repeat until the power source is removed or the reset button is pressed. Now, Mega will obtain data from user’s PS4 control, which is x1, y1, Square, Circle, l2 and r2. Then, the calc function will convert inputs x1 and y1 into x2 and y2 respectively through some algorithm, for the ease of Motor.control() function later. After that, Mega will detect is ‘Circle’ button pressed on controller. If yes, solenoid valve is activated, piston is extended to put ball at try spot. Then, the variable is reset and return to data obtaining step. If no, Mega will detect is ‘Square’ button pressed on controller. If yes, motor will rotate the kicking leg to upright position, which is its initial position. Then, kicking leg is rotated to kick the ball after ‘Cross’ button is pressed. Then, the variable is reset and return to data obtaining step. If no, it will just and return to data obtaining step. 3.0 TESTING OF ROBOTS Figure 6 illustrates the testing process of passing mechanism, try mechanism (placing ball at Try Spot) as well as the kicking mechanism in the working. Images are extracted from video recordings that were filmed during the testing. 3.1 PASSING MECHANISM (a) (b) (c) Figure 6: (a) Preparing the ball for passing; (b) Ball is launched mid-air; (c) The Try Ball is caught by the Try Robot. Figure 6 (a) shows the member placing the ball at the makeshift Try Ball Rack. Then the ball is being launched into mid-air as the passing fork is lifted up by the pneumatic piston. The ball is then caught by the Try Robot as shown in Figure 6 (c). The Try Robot is positioned at 4.5 m away from the Pass Robot, distance measured using the measuring tape as shown in Figure 6 (a) during testing. 84
3.2 TRY MECHANISM TARUCBOTICS V3 Figure 7: (a) Try Ball in the chute of robot; (b) Ball is released; (c) Gate is closed back Figure 7 (a) shows the ball caught inside the Try Robot while the gate is preventing the ball from rolling outwards naturally. Then two pneumatic pistons retract to allow the gate to fall forwards and downwards, this is followed by the ball being placed on the spot. Then the piston extends to close the gate in Figure 7 (c) to allow more Try Balls to be collected. 3.3 KICKING MECHANISM (a) (b) Figure 8: (a) Kicking mechanism and Kick Ball prior to kicking; (b) Ball is kicked Figure 8 (a) displays the ball on the tee being aligned with the leg of the kicking mechanism while Figure 8 (b) shows the launched ball at its peak height, measured approximately 2.8 m in the air and 4 m in the lateral distance. 4.0 DISCUSSION One of the uniqueness worth pointing out is that the robots are controlled using a PS4 controller with bluetooth signal, the user is able to control the robot up to 16 m away, therefore they do not have to follow the robot around as for the case of a wired signal, which may prohibit the robot freedom to move. 85
TARUCBOTICS V3 For the Pass Robot, we added an extra weight (steel bar of 500 g) to allow the aluminium bars involved in the “passing” to fall more easily, with the added advantage of gravity, after the piston attached to it is depressurised, this reduces the need to pressurise the piston again for its retraction. For the Try Robot, on the top side of the centre frames are two aluminium bars drilled with holes of equal spaces so that the strings or ropes can be attached on both the left and right side. This allows easy modification of the type of strings or ropes with their different durability and strength that are tested and eventually used. In our case, green nylon string is used because of its availability, relatively low cost and able to withstand the impulsive force of a rugby ball if it is deflected to the sides, without trapping the ball. The structure to receive passed rugby ball is also designed to be slanted at about 45° so that the ball can slide down for “tries”. 5.0 SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING PRACTICES For the structure of our robots, we used a combination of old and new aluminium extrusions to construct them in order to achieve sustainability. This is because aluminium extrusions allow easy prototyping especially when amendment needs to be done, such as the alteration of the structure by unscrewing and screwing the sliding nuts. Overall, energy consumption is reduced since machining practices are minimised. After the competition is over, the robot can be disassembled easily and be reused for future competitions, so material wastage is also reduced. The base of the robot is also reapplied from previous robot contest design with slight modification. Second, we used pneumatic instead of hydraulic as our actuator medium. This is because a pneumatic system provides a clean environment as it uses contamination-free compressed air. The exhaust is also released to the atmosphere with no harm to the surrounding. Although the application of a pneumatic system in “tries” and “passing” can have a slight delay, it is chosen as it compensates with a rapid movement of the cylinders with light loads (aluminium-based structure) involved. But most importantly, these pneumatic cylinders are reusable for different purposes so even after the competition, it would not be thrown away. Thirdly, we used rechargeable LiPo batteries as our main voltage source. LiPo batteries can be recharged easily using LiPo balance charger. No disposable battery is used, thus there is no harmful impact to the environment due to the corrosive liquids and corroded metal that may be expelled to the groundwater if not disposed properly. These rechargeable LiPo batteries are also reusable for other projects at the end of the competition. 86
For ROBOCON 2020, the TARUC team prepared two robots: Pass Robot and Try TARUCBOTICS V3 Robot, whereby the Pass Robot is able to pick the ball from the Try Spot and then launch it to the Try Robot using a fork that fires in a catapult manner. Then the Try Robot can place the Try Balls on the spot as well as kick the ball to the conversion post. Several limitations worth mentioning, being the passing mechanism and kicking mechanism involves an ample amount of power to launch the ball to specific distance, and since pistons and springs could deliver sudden bursts of energy, the robot may jerk upwards. Apart from that, the kicking mechanism created by the team could only kick up to the 7 m metre mark at most after several testing, mostly limited by the holding torque of the motor as well as the spring constant of the spring. These problems could potentially be solved by proper flow control of the pneumatic pistons air inlet and outlet so the piston does not extend or retract too quickly, otherwise, weights could be added to the robot to increase its stability during the operations of these mechanism, however, its movement speed may be sacrificed. The kicking mechanism could potentially be increased by considering the factors which have limited the energy transferred from the spring to the kicking leg of the robot, thus prohibiting the efficiency of the system. Acknowledgements We would like to express gratitude to our advisors who have given continued support and encouragement: Dr. Lum Kin Yun and Mr. Tan Yong Li during the preparation phase of the competition as well as our seniors, Fong Hao Nan and Louis Lew who have guided us and taught us necessary skill sets. We offer our sincere appreciation for the learning opportunities provided by the advisors and seniors. The project cannot be carried without the support of the University College which have provided approvals of funds, venues as well as the facilities that are needed to prepare the robots as well as the testing grounds. Lastly, we would also like to thank Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) as well as the committee of ROBOCON Malaysia 2020 who have organised and put together the Robot Contest for us students, this has been an enriching and fulfilling journey which we all can reap invaluable benefits and knowledge from. 87
TARUCBOTICS V3 References 1. Noh, M., Kim, S., An, S., Koh, J. and Cho, K., 2012. Flea-Inspired Catapult Mechanism for Miniature Jumping Robots. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, 2, p.12. 2. S.H. Mohades Kasaei, S.M. Mohades Kasaei, and S.A. Mohades Kasaei, 2010. Design and Implementation Solenoid Based Kicking Mechanism for Soccer Robot Applied in Robocup-MSL. Sage Journal, 7(4), p.8. 88
89 TARUCBOTICS V3
SUNWAY UNIVERSITY SUNWAY UNIVERSITY Voon Hian Zing, Yong Jian Arn, Tay Jun Sheng, Jonathan Ang Rong Hwee Department of Computing and Information Systems (DCIS), School of Science and Technology (SST), Sunway University, 5, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. ABSTRACT This report discusses the two robots, namely Try and Pass Robot, designed for the ABU ROBOCON Malaysia Competition 2020. The aim of the robots is based on Rugby 7’s concept. The Pass Robot is designed with three mechanisms to achieve three purposes, picking up the ball, passing the ball to the Try Robot, and kicking the ball to score the goal. The Try Robot is designed with two mechanisms to achieve two purposes, receiving the ball and placing the ball in the designated location. The different aspects of the robot are designed such that it maximises the sustainable engineering practices. The bodies of the robots are constructed from scrap metals. The interfaces between the electronics and the mechanical components are designed with reusable connectors to ensure maximum reusability of the components and the flexibility if design change is required. Potentially, the grab mechanism can be applied on a delivery robot in an indoor short-range environment. Alternatively, an automated dumpster could implement the proposed grabbing mechanism to avoid the need of the user from physically touching the dumpster and thus reducing the risk of disease transmission. 90
1.0 INTRODUCTION SUNWAY UNIVERSITY ROBOCON 2020 is a competition based on the concept of Rugby 7’s. A total of five mechanisms are required, namely, catch, try, grab, pass and kick mechanisms. There are two robots which are Try Robot and Pass Robot. The catch and try mechanisms belong to the Try Robot whereas the grab, pass and kick mechanisms belong to the Pass Robot. The first task is completed by grabbing the ball from the ball rack. Then, the pass mechanism passes the ball to the Try Robot on the other side that will catch the ball using the catch mechanism. After that, the next task is placing the rugby ball at the Try Spot using the Try Robot. By catching the rugby ball using the catch mechanism, the ball will roll down to the placement set in the try mechanism and await to be placed at the Try Spot. The final task will be a kicking task that involves a kick mechanism to kick the ball towards the goal post that has been set. The team is highly driven and motivated to be involved in this project by the previous success of ROBOCON Malaysia 2019. 2.0 DETAILED DESIGN The Try and Pass Robots are both designed to be manual robots. The user will be controlling a robot’s mechanisms through a remote controller with a radio control (RC) interface. This chapter discusses the different design aspects of the Try and Pass Robot, namely the mechanical, electronic, and software design. The mechanical aspect focuses on the mechanisms of the robots to achieve the tasks discussed in the introduction. The electronic aspect deals with the circuits design for the interfacing between the microcontroller with the remote control and the motors. The software aspect explains the principles of controlling the mechanical components based on the input from the remote controls. 2.1 MECHANICAL DESIGN This section discusses the mechanisms of pass, grab, try, and catch mechanisms. 2.1.1 PASS MECHANISM The pass mechanism of the Pass Robot aims to pass the rugby ball to the Try Robot at the other side via physics associated with a catapult. It converts elastic potential energy into kinetic energy and hurls the projectile in a specified direction. In our case, we are using six springs in our robot and when the stretched springs are released, the energy stored within is converted into kinetic energy and launches the ball towards the Try Robot. In our case, we mimicked the design of a mangonel (Figure 1). However, instead of relying 91
on the torsion bundle to build up the potential energy to launch the projectile, multiple hammock springs are used to build up and store the potential energy. This is done by attaching the hammock springs onto the pass mechanism as illustrated in Figure 2. A power window motor is attached to a custom made metal bracket which is responsible to rotate about 180° to push the metal bar in order to stretch the springs as shown in Figure 3. Then, a strong solenoid lock capable of holding 15 kg will lock and secure the metal bar then release the lock in order to pass the ball after the metal bracket is retracted back to its initial position. Figure 1: The Mangonel [1] Figure 2: Pass Mechanism Figure 3: Motor to control the stretching of the spring SUNWAY UNIVERSITY 2.1.2 GRAB MECHANISM The goal of the grab mechanism is to pick up the rugby ball from the original spot and transfer it to the pass mechanism. This mechanism is inspired by the idea of a robotic arm’s mechanical structure which has a high degree of freedom using a group of electrical motors such as servo motors, hydraulic actuators, and pneumatic attempt to behave like a human's arm [2]. In our design, only one servo motor which has only one degree of freedom is used. This is to reduce the complexity of the mechanism since the task is not complicated. The joint is designed not to have any moving parts as the position for the rugby ball rack is fixed due to the ball position should be placed at the same position in a fixed angle which eases the design of this grab mechanism. This mechanism is initially designed to be attached at the rear of the pass mechanism to transfer the ball. However, due to the several movement restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are unable to showcase the end-product. A portion of the grab mechanism is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4: Grab mechanism 92
2.1.3 TRY MECHANISM SUNWAY UNIVERSITY The goal of the try mechanism is to place the rugby ball onto the Try Spot. A follow up action of the kick mechanism will be allowed to perform its action by kicking the rugby ball over the targeted goalpost. Two linear actuators are attached to a metal bar that can be extended and contracted to allow the mechanism to grab the rugby ball firmly and ensure that it does not fall off while the try mechanism rotates 180° to place the ball onto the Try Spot. It is influenced by a mechanical digger or excavator that can be found in a construction site. The attached DC-motor that is placed at the edge of the bar rotates the entire frame of the try mechanism. This is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5: Try mechanism 2.1.4 CATCH MECHANISM The catch mechanism aims to make sure the ball is caught by the Try Robot, after it is launched from the Pass Robot. The design of this mechanism does not require any mechanical or moving parts. It is inspired by a football goalpost which has a net that is responsible in absorbing a huge portion of the kinetic energy possessed by the ball due to its impact. The area of the catch mechanism is designed as wide as it could to reduce the failure rate of not catching the ball (Figure 6). As the ball is caught, the net will prevent the ball from bouncing off the Try Robot and thus slide down into the try mechanism. Figure 6: Catch mechanism 93
SUNWAY UNIVERSITY 2.2 ELECTRONIC DESIGN Figure 7 and 8 show the block diagram of the design of the Try Robot and Pass Robot respectively. For both robots, Arduino Uno (Figure 9) is chosen to be the microcontroller of the system due to its lightweight nature and the ability to fulfil the requirement of the system. The microcontroller is required to process the signals received through the four channels from the radio control (RC) receiver which correspond to the two joysticks on the controller. Upon receiving the signals for the Try Robot, the microcontroller will translate the signals to control the two motors for the manoeuvring of the robot, the two linear actuators of the try mechanism, and the rotational motor of the try mechanism. For the Pass Robot, the microcontroller will control the two motors for the manoeuvring of the robot, the servo motor to fetch the rugby ball, and the DC motor to stretch and release the spring for ball launching. As the principle of controlling the two robots are similar, this section will only focus on the control for the Try Robot. The manoeuvring motors of the robot are controlled through the SmartDrive DC motor driver with two channels (MDDS30). The motor driver is shown in Figure 10. The linear actuators, displayed in Figure 11, are driven directly by the Arduino Uno. Figure 7: Block diagram for electronic design of Try Robot 94
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