August 13, 2006
Mindstorm NXT
Mindstorm NXT Mindstorm NXT Introduction The purpose of this article is to compare the original Lego Mindstorm system with the new Mindstorm NXT. My primary interest was how well could the NXT be used for building robots to compete...Posted by Kelly Small at 06:34 PM
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August 25, 2005
Sensor Mounting Techniques
Sensor Mounting Techniques Sensor Mounting Techniques Introduction While upgrading one of my Mini-Sumo robots, I found that sensor placement and orientation can have a big impact on your final results. This article will discuss the problems I ran into,...Posted by Kelly Small at 10:16 AM
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October 07, 2004
A Maze Mapping Algorithm
A Maze Mapping Algorithm Andy Michalicek, PAReX, November 26, 2003 This is one of several maze mapping techniques you can find in the literature. The advantage of this one is that it requires just a small amount of memory. ...Posted by Kelly Small at 10:06 PM
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November 26, 2003
Designing with Stepper Motors
Introduction Having built 8 robots, 6 based on hacked servos for drive motors, it was time to try something different. The biggest problem with any wheeled robot is getting the darn thing to travel in a straight line. Since...Posted by Kelly Small at 05:27 PM
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July 20, 2003
Single-Stepping Your MazeRunner
Single-Stepping Your MazeRunner A major part of the MazeRunner development is debugging your code. Without any special tools this simply involves starting the robot and seeing what happens. Having a display onboard or even a serial link can help, but...Posted by Kelly Small at 05:07 PM
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November 22, 2002
Maze Mapping with your Robot
Maze Mapping with your Robot. Fred used mapping technics to propel himself into 1st place at the Nov 2nd 2002 PAReX Autonomous Event. This article details the technics he used to map the maze in his Mazimillian Smarticus II...Posted by Fred Swirbul at 10:38 PM
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November 08, 2002
Using an LCD Display with you Robot Part 2
Using an LCD Display with your Robot. Having a display in your robot can very helpful in developing and debugging the hardware and software of the robot. In the first article I covered the various modes the display works...Posted by Kelly Small at 10:22 PM
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August 07, 2002
Robotic Project Overviews
Summary This document will cover the basics of what is available to construct robots for Mini-Sumo and Maze Runner competitions. There are dozens of micro-controllers, servos, drive motors, and sensors available for these projects and it isn’t possible to...Posted by Kelly Small at 11:00 PM
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Encoder Inside a Servo Part 3
Now that my wheel encoders are working correctly (Part 1 and Part 2), I began working on the firmware to use them in a maze runner. The encoder generates pulses as the wheel rotates and it's up to your...Posted by Kelly Small at 10:02 PM
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Encoder Inside a Servo Part 2
After developing the PCB based internal wheel encoders sometime ago (See Part 1 and Part 3), I finally got back to debugging them. The robot's behavior was very erratic, I was getting better results using timers for my turns. ...Posted by Kelly Small at 09:54 PM
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