The design
I first started out with a design I cut out on a piece of masonite and screwed the gearbox assembly too. The original design had cutouts around the wheels of the robot, I changed the design because if the robot gets caught on a corner with the wheels it may get jammed. I found the CNC programing to be easy as my previous job I was a CNC machinist.
The most difficult thing I found was getting use to programming the picaxe and when I finally had the program tweaking and adjusting the program to go through the maze was very frustrating.
I first tried the gear ratio at 203:1 and found that to be to slow so I changed to ratio to 58:1 which seems to work alot better. I tried the sensors on there ends and found it made little difference so I chose to have them horizontally.
What improvements I think can be made to increase its performance is change the gearbox ratio along with the programming of the picaxe.
Another improvement I think would increase its performance is that I shorten the length of the base to change the turning circle.
The most difficult thing I found was getting use to programming the picaxe and when I finally had the program tweaking and adjusting the program to go through the maze was very frustrating.
I first tried the gear ratio at 203:1 and found that to be to slow so I changed to ratio to 58:1 which seems to work alot better. I tried the sensors on there ends and found it made little difference so I chose to have them horizontally.
What improvements I think can be made to increase its performance is change the gearbox ratio along with the programming of the picaxe.
Another improvement I think would increase its performance is that I shorten the length of the base to change the turning circle.
Parts:
Polycarbonate base- Free issue from Tafe
Castor wheel- $3.00
Picaxe- $38.00
Motor controller- $7.50
Serial download cable- $10.00
3 cell battery holder- $3.00
4 cell battery holder- $3.80
Ultrasonic sensor x3- $126
Tamiya Twin motor gearbox- $16.00
Tamiya narrow wheels- $10.00
Darlington driver- $5.20
Various resistors and wires- $5.00
AA Batteries $15.00
Total cost: $242.5
Castor wheel- $3.00
Picaxe- $38.00
Motor controller- $7.50
Serial download cable- $10.00
3 cell battery holder- $3.00
4 cell battery holder- $3.80
Ultrasonic sensor x3- $126
Tamiya Twin motor gearbox- $16.00
Tamiya narrow wheels- $10.00
Darlington driver- $5.20
Various resistors and wires- $5.00
AA Batteries $15.00
Total cost: $242.5
