Construction details

	Upside view  1 = PIC16F877A microcontroller  2 = 9V supply connector and ON / OFF button  3 = 20MHz crystal and 22pF capacitors  4 = serial connector, MAX232 and 1uF capacitors  5 = 78L05 voltage regulator and power presence LED  6 = program selection jumpers  7 = ICSP connector  8 = motors drivers connector  9 = opponent detection module connector 10 = line sensors connector 11 = margin sensors connector 12 = status LED 13 = TSOP1738
	Left side view 1 = left motor 2 = left wheel 3 = free wheel from the rear side (actually a ball caster) 4 = front scoop 5 = 9V supply connector and ON / OFF button 6 = PIC16F877A microcontroller 7 = 1.5V batteries 8 = program selection jumpers
	Right side view 1 = right motor 2 = right wheel 3 = free wheel from the rear side (actually a ball caster) 4 = front scoop 5 = serial connector 6 = PIC16F877A microcontroller 7 = 1.5V batteries 8 = TSOP1738 receiver
	Front side view 1 = IR LEDs which send 38kHz beam for opponent detection 2 = 38kHz IR receivers 3 = front scoop 4 = line sensors connector 5 = margin sensors connector 6 = opponent detection module connector 7 = 6V supply connector Opponent detection module, easy noticeable from front side, is based on 38kHz IR beam emission and reception. The module is controlled by a PIC16F88 microcontroller which communicates to main controller via I2C bus. The front scoop has a concave shape on its down side in order to be able to face robots like this one.
	Rear side view 1 = 9V battery to supply the electronics 2 = gearmotors 3 = motors drivers connector 4 = free wheel from rear side 5 = 1.5V batteries and holder to supply the motors drivers(L293D) 6 = 38kHz IR receiver 7 = IR LED which sends 38kHz beam for opponent detection
	Downside view 1 = 1.5V batteries 2 = free wheel from rear side 3 = front scoop 4 = margin detection sensors 5 = line detection sensors I put the batteries (all 5 are 180-220g in weight) and motors in a low position as possible in order to lowest to position of the center of gravity.
	Upside view with mainboard removed 1 = L293D motors driver 2, 4 = IR LED which sends 38kHz beam for opponent detection 3, 5 = 38kHz IR receiver 6 = 6V supply connector 7 = gearmotors 8 = motors connectors
	Upside view with motors driver removed 1 = gearmotors 2 = 9V battery 3 = IR LED which sends 38kHz beam for opponent detection 4 = 38kHz IR receiver 5 = 9V supply connector
	Chassis - details
	Opponent detection sensor and front scoop - details The opponent detection periodically sends 5 modulated pulses with a duration of approx. 600us. Each pulse is followed by a 600us break. This is happening consecutively on all of the 4 emitting LEDs ( 3 in front side and 1 in the rear side). In the same time with the emission of these pulses, the reflections received by TSOP1738 are counted (using interrupts). If at least 3 reflections are counted, MR1 decides that there's an object in the direction of the corresponding emitter LED. By construction, I surrounded each LED with a heat-sink dark tube, so it can't emit its beam directly in the direction of a TSOP receiver. In this way, ideally, the TSOPs "catch" only the reflections.
	Functional architecture diagram The LCD with I2C interface is not a part of the robot, because it would make it heavier than 500g. It can be added for debug purposes.
	Weighing test
	MR1 pushes 650g In this short movie, MR1 must push a white box with paint out of the ring. The box is weighing approx. 650g.
	MR1 pushes 1600g In this short movie, MR1 must push a white box with paint out of the ring. The box is weighing approx. 1600g.
	MR1 against photo camera In this short movie, MR1 is pushing out of the ring the photo camera.

Functional description

Remote controlled mode

This is the functional mode with the highest priority. When MR1 receives a valid code from the remote TV control, it executes the associated command immediately, regardless what it was doing in that moment. MR1 enters this mode immediately after receiving any valid code and it exits the remote controlled mode only when the OFF key of the remote TV control is pressed.

Diagnose mode

MR1 enters in diagnose mode immediately after receiving a diagnose command and exits automatically this mode after 5 seconds has ellapsed without receiving any diagnose command. MR1 receives diagnosis commands via serial link from a diagnosis software running on the PC machine. Each diagnosis command it’s made by a request ( from PC to MR1) and a response (from MR1 to PC) like below:

MR1 receives the request from PC ---> MR1 executes the action asked by the request  ---> MR1 sends the response to the PC 

The diagnosis software on the PC machine, sends simple diagnosis commands to MR1: robot movement control, motors rotation control ( speed, direction), reading sensors, calibration of sensors. These commands are very useful when I want to test the functionality of the rob

For example, it happens some times to make a major modification in the software and after “burning” the hex file, I see that the minisumo robot does not move anymore. In such a situation, the first question is: “is any motor or sensor crashed or I have just another software bug?” This question can get a quick answer using the diagnosis!

Autonomous mode 

This is the mode in which the minisumo robot is the most part of the time. MR1 enters this mode immediately after switching on and every time it exits any of the previous modes. In this mode, the robot executes the program selected by the program selection jumpers.

Executed programs

My minisumo robot can execute 4 different programs. These programs are selected via the program selection jumpers.

Self calibration program

The purpose of this program is to calibrate the tresholds between “black” and “white”, for the line and margin detection sensors. Also, it decides the duty cycle of the 38kHz beam emitted by the opponent detection sensor.

To calibrate my minisumo robot, the following steps are required:
            1) start the robot and wait until the status led flashes 5 times
            2) put the robot on the ring, on a black zone
            3) wait until the status led flashes 5 times
            4) put the robot in a position having all the sensors on a white zone
            5) wait until the status led flashes 5 times
            6) put the robot ar approx. 25-30 cm from the object it has to detect
            7) wait until the status led remains lightening
            8) in this moment, the calibration is finished 

But what’s happening “inside”? MR1 memorizes the values measured by ADC for each sensor and for each zone (white/black). For each of the sensors, it computes an average value between the white zone value and black zone value and decides that this average is the treshold between black and white. Then writes all the tresholds in EEPROM. In this way, each sensor has its own treshold. The opponent detection sensor is treated almost in the same manner. The duty cycle of the 38kHz beam is changed until the sensor “finds” the object put in front of the robot. The possible values for the duty cycle are 25%, 50% and 75%. Once the correct duty cycle is found, it is stored in the EEPROM.

Minisumo defensive program

When executing this program, the minisumo robot has to detect the opponent and push it out of the ring. More, MR1 has to take care not to go outside of the ring by its own. The feature that makes the difference between this program and the minisumo offensive program is that MR1 performs a "slip away" manoeuvre immediately after the first 5 seconds elapsed. The goal is to avoid a very quick robot that could attack directly and immediately after the first 5 seconds.

The next picture shows states in which the robot is when executes this program:

Minisumo defensive program

It’s almost the same as the minisumo defensive program, the only difference is that the slip away manoeuvre is not executed at all.

Line follower program

When executng this program, MR1 has to follow the path created by a black line on a white floor. The width of the line must be at least 1.5 cm. MR1 is a minisumo robot, line following functionality not being important, I don’t insist on this program ( and I didn’t when I wrote the software).
 

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