Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Autonomous Ammunition Loading and Firing Robotic System |
Xiaoman Li Xinchen Yao Yidong Zhu Yuxuan Nai |
proposal1.pdf |
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| # Problem In competitive robotics (such as RoboMaster) and automated defense systems, rapidly and accurately reloading ammunition in dynamic environments is critical. Traditional hard-coded reloading mechanisms lack adaptability; they often fail or jam when the ammunition (e.g., darts) is not perfectly aligned in the staging area or when the system faces mechanical disturbances. Currently, there is a need for a highly adaptable, intelligent manipulation system that can autonomously locate, grasp, and load projectiles from unstructured staging zones into a firing mechanism without human intervention. # Solution Overview Our solution is an autonomous manipulation and launching system featuring a RoboMaster-inspired robotic arm integrated with a dart launcher. The system is initiated via a user-friendly trigger (physical button or remote command). Once activated, the system uses an onboard vision setup to observe the staging area behind it. To achieve robust manipulation, we will deploy an adaptable, intelligent decision-making policy. Depending on evaluation results during development, this overarching policy may take the form of an end-to-end Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model, a reinforcement learning (RL) agent trained via simulation-to-reality transfer, or a modular vision-based state estimation pipeline paired with adaptive planning. Guided by this policy, the arm will autonomously calculate the optimal trajectory to grasp the dart, navigate to the loading port, secure the dart into the mechanism, and execute the launch sequence. # Solution Components * **Perception and Decision Subsystem:** Consists of the onboard camera(s) and the central compute unit running the overarching intelligent policy (e.g., vision-based agent, VLA model, or detection script) to perceive the dart's location and generate the corresponding action sequence. * **Control and Planning Subsystem:** Translates the high-level policy outputs into low-level motor commands, calculating inverse kinematics and generating smooth, collision-free trajectories for the arm to move from the rear staging area to the front loading mechanism. * **Actuation and Launch Subsystem:** The mechanical hardware, including the RoboMaster-inspired robotic arm (servos and gripper) for handling the dart, and the integrated firing mechanism/actuator responsible for launching the projectile. * **Power and Interface Subsystem:** Includes the power management circuits that supply stable voltage to the motors, launcher, and microcontroller, along with the physical/remote initiation interfaces. # Criteria of Success * The system must successfully initialize and begin the observation and retrieval sequence reliably when triggered. * The perception/policy module must successfully identify the presence and general location of the dart in the staging area behind the robot. * The robotic arm must successfully grasp the dart, navigate to the loading port, and secure it in the launcher without dropping it. * The launcher mechanism must successfully activate and fire the loaded dart towards a general forward direction. |
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