Technical report
Saad1995
design_proposal.docxDate: April 17, 2016
To: Students in English & 230 HY
From: Saad Alharthi, a member at Team Arrowhead
cc: Leslie Patching - ENGL& 230 Instructor
Subject: Bomb Defusing Robot
The purpose of this design is to create a robot that can search about a bomb and defuse it. After deep thinking and trying to be away from being in danger, we consider a lit candle to be detected by the robot instead of a bomb. Thus, we have used the Arduino which is the main thing to give orders to the robot for movement, detection and searching for obstacles. Arduino is about coding inputs into it and then turn it to output (Arduino - Introduction). Our team has set out to design a robot that can extinguish a fire in the room without any need for user input. It must also be able to identify and display the room it is in. We will also add a feature for a “victory celebration,” have the robot drop a “homing beacon,” and have the robot navigate back to its initial position after extinguishing the flame.
Most of the coding that we tried on each component (IR, Ultrasonic, servos) are taken from One Note file which is uploaded for our engineering class. This allows us to understand a little how the code works and later, we would able to alter the code for the components to function the way we want.
Room recognition is very important for the robot. Thus, the entrance of each room has a colored tape attached on the floor. So the robot have to determine what color of the tape and create a signal to show which room it is in depending on the color of the tape. So, we decided to use photo-resistor and LED to allow Arduino to detect color. LED will shine light towards color. Since each color reflects different amount light, the phototransistor will detect that amount of light, thus allowing us to determine what values for each color.
Since color detection is not shown in OneNote file, we had to search the Internet on how to use phototransistor and LED to detect color. We found websites like Societyofrobots.com that gives a bit fundamental understandings on how color is produced. Allaboutcircuits.com also give us an idea how to use photo-resistor and LED to detect color.
Third, the robot must defuse the “bomb”. Therefore, we used a cup to put out fire and serves. The robot serves like a firefighter, it has to be able to put out the fire. The idea is that two servos will move the cup simultaneously, suffocating the fire. Since the air inside cup is very limited, the fire will use up all the oxygen and then become extinguished. Two servos are attached at two straws which acts as the “arm” of the car, to put out the fire. The arm can only move up and down at an angle (Microsoft OneDrive).
Moreover, we faced a lot of difficulties which there were how to combine codes together and what kind of sensors are very helpful for our project. Since we are given three types of sensor for flame detection, we have to choose which sensor that works the best so that the other sensor can be used for wall and obstacle detection or other things. From the weighted table that we made, it is concluded that infrared sensors are the best sensor to be used, for having the highest score which is 69. Photo-resistor which has the lowest score of 42 is not suitable to be used as the brightness of the room which always changes might make it hard to detect flame correctly.
We had a problem on choosing which cup that is used for snuffing flame. We came up about three types of cup that are easy to find in each supermarket. For a cup to be able to extinguish fire, one ought to be able to withstand heat the cup must also let us see the flame extinguished from inside. So based on the weighted table, translucent white cup has the highest point which is 175. This is likely due to able to withstand heat and very cheap. Polystyrene cup has a total of 82 which is the lowest. With that, we had chosen the cup with the highest score to be used as the flame extinguisher.
At this point we were able to distinguish which part is helpful for our project, instead of guessing or trying different sensors to see which is better for the robot. So, we have 5 weeks to make the robot works well and without the experiences, researches and resources that we had, we would not be able to accomplish this.
Cost is the most significant advantage of our plan. So, we managed to complete our project well under our given budget of $250.
CALCULATION FOR COST
1 Arduino Red Board: $20
1 Parallax Inc. Robotics Shield Kit: $150
2 180 Degree rotation servos: $5 each
1 Ultrasonic Sensor: $2
1 Flame Sensor: $5
Cost Estimate: $187
Sum up, we do have a lot of works in order to finish the whole project, but what we aimed to is to complete the basic things first such as navigation and detection. Then, we will be able to add more features and functions into the robot.
Work cited
Arduino - Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2016, from https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Introduction.
Microsoft OneDrive - Access files anywhere. Create docs with free Office Online. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2016, from https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=8CAB881D232F9705!1214.
SIK Experiment Guide for Arduino - V3.2. (n.d.). Retrieved April 17, 2016, from
