A wheelchair configuration micromouse has the wheels in the middle and skids at either end. Those skids cannot both be on the ground at the same time or, when the mouse encounters a step in the maze surface, the drive wheels will be lifted off the ground and the mouse may come to a halt. But, if there is too much clearance, the mouse will be able to rock back and forth quite a lot. It turns out that can have quite a big influence on behaviour…
Analog Devices recently release new vibration rejection gyros which seemed a perfect fit for use on a micromouse. Since I was using the ADXRS610 on Zeetah V, I temporarily mounted an ADXRS642 to ZV to compare the two.
Finally, a way to solder the Analog Devices ADXRS610 gyro… The last time we attached a gyro, we overheated the board and the board delaminated. This time, we use a skillet and avoided that problem.
It is the time of year to start thinking about the important things in life. Like the 2012 MINOS event next April at Royal Holloway college. This annual robotics and micromouse conference will be running for its 12th successive year. The proposed dates are April 14th and 15th 2012.
Most commonly, micromouse reflective sensors use Infra Red LEDs as the emitter component. That is all very well and suits many, or most, phototransistors. the thing is, you cannot easily see where they are pointing and what kind of illumination they are providing. Here is a sample of 13 different emitters…
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The TSL262 sensor has been popular with a number of micromouse builders. It is compact, easy to use and results in a low component count. A common alternative is the use of a simple phototransistor in an emitter foloower configuration. So, why change what works… (more…)
Once the panels for the maze floor had dried out, it was time to paint them.
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Now that I had the layout, the next step was to cut and drill the plywood.
While there are many techniques for doing this, I ended up getting help from a friend who has access to water jet cutters to do this.
Given standard sizes for plywood, here is a pattern I used to make a maze floor. (more…)
