Having half a mind on the challenge of half-size micromouse, I was looking at some information on the megabitty controller. As supplied, it may well have enough features to make a micromouse controller but that wasn’t what caught my eye. On the board are two full-bridge motor drivers. While looking for data on these, I came across the slightly more flexible Si9986, also by Vishay…
Going through some old notes, I came across reference to the micromouse maze solving methods described some time ago by Adachi in Japan. While these are apparently quite well known in Japan, they are, as far as I can tell, almost completely unknown in the West. At least, I can’t find any description of them in English anywhere on the web. After a lot of hard work with the Google translator and some assistance from Lem Fugitt, I think I have them pieced together…
I have just returned form the Rise of the Robots event at the National Space Centre in Leicester. Just one of many specially themed weekends they hold, this proved a great success for exhibitors and guests alike. Visitors were able to experience a variety of robotic experiences from the mayhem of Robot Wars to the more genteel charm of a range of walking robots made by David Buckley. Naturally, there was room for micromouse. The space tie-in was provided by the presence of a particularly scary set of Daleks…
The MINOS 2008 conference ended, as usual, with a couple of semi-formal competitions. The maze solver final is always interesting as we get to see some of the potential for the summer competition. So far it seems I will still be holding firmly on to a runner-up place. The image…