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…
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…)
The annual winter micromouse contest was held at Millenium Point in Birmingham by the University of Central England on Saturday November 19th 2011. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend this year but I gather everyone had a great day. I have managed to gather some results and the finals maze though…
A comprehensive set of results for the 2011 All Japan Micromouse Contest is now available from the NTF web site. You can find the maze layouts, prizes and results tables for all the events that were run. (more…)
All the preparation and practice was over. The qualifiers had been held and the wheat sorted from the chaff. Now it was time to see who had what it takes to be the champion – the builder of possibly the fastest robots on the planet… (more…)
The All Japan micromouse contest attracts a large number of participants. This year, the expert class has an entry list of 84 and there are 99 entries in the freshman class. With so many mice to run, Saturday is needed to thin the field and select the best contestants for the finals on Sunday…. (more…)
Today is Friday, November 18th and I am back in Tsukuba for the 32nd All Japan Micromouse Contest. This is my third visit and it is just as exciting as the first… (more…)
My next mouse will have to have one of those small LED matrix displays. Not only is it actually useful to have a way of getting some feedback from the mouse, but these days, you feel a bit left out without one. There are numerous examples of 5×5 matrix font data available but when you need to design special characters it can get a bit tedious. Not being able to find anything suitable to help me, that would also run on a mac, I turned to Excel for help… (more…)