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| Wall-E from PiWars 2019 |
Its a New Year and a new
PiWars. PiWars 2020 is coming in March and once again I've managed to get selected as a competitor! After the success of last years' Space themed event (My entry being the lovable robot Wall-E) Mike and Tim decided to repeat it for 2020, this time going for a 'disaster' theme, either natural or man-made, with a leaning towards disaster related movies.
I can come up with a lot of ideas for disaster themed robots, one with a volcano on it, or a bursting dam (pumping water back behind the dam so it can burst again), or just an alien robot come down to Earth to destroy and invade.
All fun projects, but there was a toy conversion I've had on the back burner for a while and this seemed an appropriate time to use it. After checking that 'rescue' themed robots were included in the 'disaster' category I submitted my application for Thunderbird 2. After all, where there's a disaster International Rescue won't be far behind!
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| Thunderbird 2! |
As this is the 5th time I've entered PIWars you'd think I'd have a good handle on what to do. However, in reality, I'm still making a lot of this stuff up as I go along. But.... as long as I write down my ideas it becomes 'planning' which is a much more responsible sounding word.
So what sort of ideas did I write down? Mmmm rather a lot! Here's a copy of my application (Might also be of interest to anyone wondering what to put in a future Pi Wars application)
Robot will be built around the Thunderbird 2 Supersize toy
(From 2015).
The main chassis will contain a RPi 3A+ as the main controller, as
well as a battery, camera and multiple ToF sensors (One under each air
intake on the front, plus one on either side). Other
sensors/components may be added as the build progresses..
Actual propulsion will be contained inside the Pod (As this is the
only section that touches the ground) and it is planned that the Pod
will be swapped out for the various challenges. Initially the RPi 3A+
will be connected physically to the motor driver inside the Pod (e.g.
via i2c), but if development goes well this will change to a wireless
communication (NFC, bluetooth, WiFi, something else?). Ideally I’d
want to get to the point where the Pod can just be swapped out, the
RPi 3A+ automatically detects this (via NFC) and the software updates
as appropriate.
Current plans for Pods are
Pod 1: This will be the standard Pod that will be used in the majority
of challenges. Current plan is that it’ll contain a twin set of
tracks, that come through the floor of the pod, which also includes
some limited vertical movement. So for the obstacle course the
‘bottom’ of TB2 can be raised by 1 or 2 cms to clear obstacles,
ramps etc. It may also contain a line following sensor for the ‘Lava
palaver’ challenge, if that doesn’t end up being carried in the
main chassis.
Pod 2: This pod will be targeted at the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’
challenge. It will have a much simpler motor mechanism to free up
space inside the pod (prob. Just a couple of wheels to allow movement
over flat terrain). This extra space will be used to house a rotating
turret to fire foam darts at the targets. Expectations are that this
will rotate left and right to allow more precise targeting, compared
to moving the entire robot, as well as some limited up and down
movement to fire up and down. A laser will be installed to improve
aiming.
Pod 3: This pod will be targeted at the ‘Eco-Disaster’ challenge.
Again this will have a simpler motor mechanism, probably a match for
Pod 2, but this time the space will contain a gripper arm that will be
deployed out the front of the Pod (The main TB2 chassis will be raised
to accommodate this). This will have to be fairly long, as TB2’s
nose can’t clear the barrel height, and will be used to grip and
capture the barrels. Holding them in place as they are delivered to
the target areas. Expectation is to use an IR beam, or physical
button, in the gripper to detect when it should close. As well as a
second camera that will be used to verify the colour of the barrel
(This will be streamed to the RPI 3A+ over WiFi for processing).
If time permits, and it turns out to be practical, a mask will come
out the top of the Pod and hold a third camera that points downwards
(With a wide lens) to better detect barrels in all directions, instead
of having to rotate around until one crosses the LoS of the front
mounted camera (Or this may end up coming out of the top of the TB2
cockpit for ease of connecting up)
This camera mask mechanism may also be used for the ’Minesweeper’
challenge, to detect which square is lit up.
Control will be done via a simple UI accessed via VNC or web page from
a wrist mounted device (vaguely matching how remote control of TB2 is
done in the newer ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ series). This is liable to
be another RPi with a touch screen display.
Note: As the TB2 model is too long, the engines and tail have been cut
off to meet the max length in the rules. Outside of the challenges
this will prob. Be attached via magnets for appearances sake.
Will I complete all these tasks? Well I've never managed it before! But only time will tell...
Leo
