Project Sheepdog

Matt Thom
Ben Brown
4/26/04

Project sheepdog is an autonomous robot that locates an object and maneuvers towards it using a sonic ranger and an infrared sensor. The object is picked up with an electromagnet attached to the end of an arm powered by a gear motor. The robot then travels to a designated location via ultrasonic sensors and sets the object down.

Additional pictures:

• 1: Mess O' Wires
• 2: The speaker on the cup emits a frequency that the tank listens to and moves towards
• 3: The electromagnet would draw 2.5A from the power supply
  

Components we interfaced with:

• Bus interfacing for tank motors, sonic ranger, infrared sensor, light sensors, arm motor and electromagnet, 40000 Hz sensors
• DC motor control using pulse width modulation
• Interrupts for tank movement/control, sonic ranger,and infrared sensor
• CPM timers used for tank movement/control
• Analog-to-digital converter used on sonic range finder echo signal and 40000 Hz sensors

The most difficult aspect we encountered was writing the software search algorithm with our ultrasonic range finder and infrared sensors to locate the object. The tank must maneuver to within an inch of the object to successfully pick it up. The movement of the tank is further complicated by the noise in the system due to the DC motors and the electromagnet.