Mechanical Engineering Students Compete for the Fastest Robot
In November, 1998, the Mechanical Engineering Students of professor Dr. Yueg-Fung Chou at the National Taiwan University (NTU) competed in the seventh annual Micro-Robot Contest in Japan. The contest consisted of two portions: wireless robots and wired robots. The object of the contest is for the robots to run in a box consisting of both straight paths and turns. The fastest robot wins first prize. The students had some size constraints in building the robots. For the wireless robot, the size limit was 1 cubic inch; for the wired robot, 1 cubic centimeter. As seen in the photo, the wireless robot made by the students was built with two legs. The robot moves by vibrating its legs at the frequency rate of about 100 Hz. Coils are used to generate the magnetic force to push and pull the legs. To accomplish this, three PIC12C508s were used. One PIC12C508, which was placed beneath the photo receiver, received the IR control and submitted commands to the other two PIC12C508s. Based upon the command, the PICmicros® turned the current to the coils on and off, via transistors, causing the legs to vibrate. There were no contacts between the robot legs and the floor. As the legs are pushed and pulled, friction force maked the robot move.
The students completed the wireless robot the night before the contest, but it quit working just before the contest started. Consequently, it didn’t win any prizes. However, the wired-controlled robot came in second.
Graduate Student Raymond Hsu (on the left) with Microchip FAE Steven Lin. Raymond was in charge of the electrical design of the robot.
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Mechanical Engineering Students Compete…
