The Obstacle Course + Upgrades to Robot !
Heyo guys! The Robot is now assembled, little Arduino Codes have been written and tested on her to ensure proper functionality and the big Code needed to navigate the Obstacle Course is not far from completion .… (to the best of my ability).
The final jobs that await are constructing the ‘Obstacle Course’ and adding a little container on the Robot for collecting the Ping-Pong balls ! [So SO grateful that the Obstacle Course is more resemblant of a maze, as in retrospect - overcoming actual obstacles would have proven to be rather challenging …]
The schematic provided to us is as below, and I assembled a preliminary course at the beginning of the week to help myself in visualising the manoeuvring-needs of the Robot, and subsequently improving upon the Arduino Code.
The initial Obstacle Course setup taught me a couple of valuable lessons ..
- Use narrower walls ! Since my Code and Robot’s manoeuvres are not super super finessed - I could use every single milli-meter of space I am given - the wide books and shoe boxes are a big No-No as they are taking up precious Obstacle-Course real estate !
- Use tape to stick the barriers to the ground, because if you are like me, it will take a couple of iterations to perfect your Arduino Code - and having to re-setup the walls each time the Robot collides into them will induce tears sooner rather than later….
And if you’re having a hard week, I will show you a little excerpt from my Robot vs Obstacle Course Gag-Reel …
Jokes apart - lets build the REAL obstacle course!
Items I used are broad tape and books - coincidentally the shop had no masking tape and only sparkly tape — very on brand Arna!! Using a tape measure, I marked out the boundaries and positions of the barrier walls, and subsequently placed the books in their desired locations with some more of the durable tape (because they had to withstand many many Robot bumps!! oops)
In order to be able to hold Ping-Pong Balls, The Robot also requires a little container attachment - I chose a very light tub to minimise the additional mass on the Robot and prevent any dis-balancing, and similarly to the stabiliser, I attached it on with some strong double-sided sticky tape.
Now that the stage is set, it is time to do a couple of trial runs (as something seems to be off each time - either navigation or ball launcher ! ☹), set up the camera and try and achieve one good run-through!
Please read up on my upcoming blog post to see how I got on!!
Thank You and See You x
