MEAM.Design - MEAM 410/510 - L2 (Labyrinth)



You will now design, construct, test, and demonstrate a small mobile robot that can be remotely navigated through a labyrinth.




THE RULES OF THE LABYRINTH

1 - The robot (and any appendages) must fit within a 15-cm diameter cylinder and be no taller than 13 cm at all times.

2 - The robot must be able to carry a 500-gram payload (43-mm diameter, approximately 54-mm tall), which will be available in the GM lab.

3 - Solderless breadboards are not allowed in your final design.

4 - The robot must carry its own power.

5 - To interface with the controller, your robot must include a six-pin ribbon cable header jack with the pinout shown below:

Where Le and Ld are the left motor enable and direction lines, and Re and Rd are the right motor enable and direction lines, while the 5V and GND are to be supplied to the controller from the robot. The forward direction will correspond to a logic-level HIGH on the Ld and Rd lines, and the Le and Re lines will carry a pulse-width modulated digital signal varying from 0% (stop) to 100% (full speed).




PRELIMINARY DESIGN

1 - Sketch, draw, and/or lay out the preliminary design for your labyrinth robot. You need not go into deep detail at this point, but you should explore both the mechanical and electrical aspects of the task, and seek to convey the intention of your design.

2 - We have a large selection of motors available for use in this project, including: Faulhaber encoded 141:1, Pololu 30:1 MP (2364), Pololu 50:1 MP (2365), Pololu 100:1 MP (2367), Pololu 150:1 MP (2368), Pololu 120:1 plastic (1124 - limited qty). Select the three motors that you feel would best meet the needs of your design, and include an ordered list in the lower-right corner of your design paper.

3 - Ensure that your name is on your paper, and bring it to lecture.




BUILD-READY DESIGN
To prepare for the build phase, prepare a digital design brief PDF document containing the following information:

1 - renderings/sketches of the mechanical design (preference given for 3D PDF models)

2 - schematic and/or wiring diagram for any circuitry

3 - complete bill of materials (BOM)

Compiled these elements into a single PDF file entitled L2-PennKey.PDF (where "PennKey" is your school email address before the @ sign), and sent as an attachment to medesign@seas.upenn.edu. Please title the email: 510-L2-design.




REALIZATION & DEMONSTRATION
1 - Your motors will be available for pickup from the TAs on Thursday.

2 - To obtain sheet stock for your design, first group your parts into the smallest possible area, then order your material here.

3 - When you are ready to demonstrate your robot in the labyrinth, sign up for a testing time and get ready to drive fast!




BONUS CHALLENGE

For a little something extra, convince your robot to navigate through the labyrinth autonomously. There are a few additional rules that come along with this challenge:

1 - You must include a switch that will allow for standard remote navigation.

2 - You cannot use any programmable components.



Good Luck!