Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
11 Antweight Combat Robot
 Ryan Middendorf
Teodor Tchalakov
 Michael Molter design_document1.pdf
final_paper2.pdf
grading_sheet1.pdf
photo1.jpeg
photo2.jpeg
photo3.jpeg
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
Antweight Combat Robot

Team Members:

Ryan Middendorf (ryanjm8),
Teodor Tchalakov (ttcha2)

Problem

The constraints for Professor Gruev’s competition are as follows:

Must weigh less than 2 lbs
Must be 3D printed in PET(G), ABS, or PLA(+)
Must have controlled movement
Must be controlled over bluetooth or wifi by a PC
Must have a fighting tool to use against other bots
The main challenges involved in this are making a custom control solution and designing a combat robot that will not only survive the 2 minute matches but actually win them by immobilizing the other robot.


Solution

To meet these constraints, we plan to create a custom PCB that contains 3 brushless electronic speed controllers (ESCs) to control the drive and weapon motors and uses a microcontroller to communicate with a PC over bluetooth and control the robot. For the actual robot design we plan to build a vertical spinner which usually performs best in this weight class. The "tool" will be spun by a brushless motor, and so will both sides drive wheels.

Subsystem 1 - Custom PCB and Power

Our first subsystem will be the custom PCB. It has to contain 3 brushless ESCs and interface with a bluetooth enabled microcontroller such as an ESP32 or STM32 that will receive instructions from a PC and turn them into usable PWM signals for the ESCs. It will also have to be powered by a LiPo battery through an XC30 connector and include an integrated screw switch so the robot can be turned on and off simply and safely.

Subsystem 2 - Drive train

Our second subsystem will be the drive train. Our robot will be driven by 2 brushless motors, 1 on each side. Each motor will drive 2 wheels that are connected by a belt so the robot will have a simplified 4 wheel drive in a tank drive configuration.

Subsystem 3 - Weapon/Tool Assembly

Our third subsystem will be the weapon/tool assembly. Our tool will be a robust vertical spinner, most likely a drum/eggbeater style. This type of tool has a lot of success in combat robotics due to its ability to dissipate the force of hitting an opponent into the floor very efficiently. This will be driven by a substantially larger brushless motor than the drive system so it can deliver much more powerful hits.

Subsystem 4 - Chassis

Our fourth subsystem will be the chassis. The chassis has to be very robust and able to withstand all the damage that will be dealt to it throughout a match. It also has to be able to contain all the electronics and prevent them from being damaged. The chassis will be 3D printed out of one of the approved materials listed above but most likely PLA+.

Subsystem 5 - Controlling from PC

Our fifth and final subsystem will be how our robot is controlled by a PC. This will be a program run locally on a PC that takes keyboard inputs and transforms them into instructions that are sent to the microcontroller inside the robot to control it.

Criterion for Success

We would consider our project a success if we are able to communicate with the robot from our computer and successfully drive it around the arena during a match. The commands sent from the pc need to be processed by the microcontroller and the motors need to be powered properly and behave correctly during a match. The robot will also have to be able to shut itself off if the bluetooth gets disconnected for some reason.

Covert Communication Device

Ahmad Abuisneineh, Srivardhan Sajja, Braeden Smith

Covert Communication Device

Featured Project

**Partners (seeking one additional partner)**: Braeden Smith (braeden2), Srivardhan Sajja (sajja3)

**Problem**: We imagine this product would have a primary use in military/law enforcement application -- especially in dangerous, high risk missions. During a house raid or other sensitive mission, maintaining a quiet profile and also having good situational awareness is essential. That mean's that normal two way radios can't work. And alternatives, like in-ear radios act as outside->in communication only and also reduce the ability to hear your surroundings.

**Solution**: We would provide a series of small pocketable devices with long battery that would use LoRa radios to provide a range of 1-5 miles. They would be rechargeable and have a single recessed soft-touch button that would allow someone to find it inside of pockets and tap it easily. The taps would be sent in real-time to all other devices, where they would be translated into silent but noticeable vibrations. (Every device can obviously TX/RX).

Essentially a team could use a set of predetermined signals or even morse code, to quickly and without loss of situational awareness communicate movements/instructions to others who are not within line-of-sight.

The following we would not consider part of the basic requirements for success, but additional goals if we are ahead of schedule:

We could also imagine a base-station which would allow someone using a computer to type simple text that would be sent out as morse code or other predetermined patterns. Additionally this base station would be able to record and monitor the traffic over the LoRa channels (including sender).

**Solutions Components**:

- **Charging and power systems**: the device would have a single USB-C/Microusb port that would connect to charging circuitry for the small Lithium-ion battery (150-500mAh). This USB port would also connect to the MCU. The subsystem would also be responsible to dropping the lion (3.7-4.2V to a stable 3.3V logic level). and providing power to the vibration motor.

- **RF Communications**: we would rely on externally produced RF transceivers that we would integrate into our PCB -- DLP-RFS1280, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16871, https://www.adafruit.com/product/3073, .

-**Vibration**: We would have to research and source durable quiet, vibration motors that might even be adjustable in intensity

- **MCU**: We are likely to use the STM32 series of MCU's. We need it to communicate with the transceiver (probably SPI) and also control the vibration motor (by driving some transistor). The packets that we send would need to be encrypted (probably with AES). We would also need it to communicate to a host computer for programming via the same port.

- **Structural**: For this prototype, we'd imagine that a simple 3d printed case would be appropriate. We'd have to design something small and relatively ergonomic. We would have a single recessed location for the soft-touch button, that'd be easy to find by feel.

**Basic criterion for success:** We have at least two wireless devices that can reliably and quickly transfer button-presses to vibrations on the other device. It should operate at at *least* 1km LOS. It should be programmable + chargeable via USB. It should also be relatively compact in size and quiet to use.

**Additional Success Criterion:** we would have a separate, 3rd device that can stay permanently connected to a computer. It would provide some software that would be able to send and receive from the LoRa radio, especially ASCII -> morse code.