Final Build

I sourced the acrylic for the final build from a scrap bin at the university; and with the assistance of the Assistant PM, Electronics Specialist, and Chief Designer; began the build process.

The first stage was to measure the components, create a design, and to cut the acrylic to size. Sophie and I did the first stage of this, and then Sophie created the robot design shown below. I was then able to cut the boards to size.


Picture Taken By Sophie Latham

Sophie then, with advice from the team, used the component sizes to mark out where all holes that required drilling should be positioned and the boards were given to Anand, in the condition shown in the picture below, for him to drill at home.


Picture Taken By Sophie Latham

The next stage was for me to cut out the slots for the robots arms and legs from the top piece, whilst Anand wired in the circuit to the lower piece of acrylic. Once this was complete, Daljinder sanded down the acrylic components and I designed a variable spacer to be placed between the sensor array circuit and the lower sheet of acrylic. This design is depicted below and as the bolts shown are tightened/loosened, the array is raise/lowered respectively. This design keeps the circuit under enough tension to keep it in place without risking damage. There was concern raised about the heat from the circuit melting the sponge, though these were quickly dismissed considering the low voltage and frequency at which the circuits operated.


Picture Taken By Sophie Latham and Edited By Mark Hawkins

The result of these processes is shown below.


Picture Taken By Sophie Latham

Sophie then, with some advice from me, finished her design by using my electrical tape, and part of a disco ball, to decorate the face plate on the top of our robot. This was then bolted down and the final assembly was complete, as depicted in the images below.


Picture Taken By Sophie Latham


Picture Taken By Anand Bhana

The caster wheel on the back of this final design turned out not to be fit for purpose. It was too heavy and caused the batteries to drain too quickly with little movement.

After much debate amongst the team, Sandra's design for a new back wheel was chosen and implemented, creating the final design shown below that was used in the final test.


Picture Taken By Sandra Donohoe

Final Build

The components were collected and we began assembly.







Whilst the assembly was being completed (as shown above), i finished the robot top-plate using electrical tape and a coloured disk taking from an old disco ball. This is also shown above.



The above is the finished buggy assembly.
Posted by sophie Latham

Templates ('Robot-Robot' Idea)

After materials are gathered and the buggy design was near finish, me, Dali and Mark discussed what shape to cut the acrylic top plate into. We discussed ideas and i suggested a robot profile with stick-on features, it is a simple idea and be easily designed and cut into acrylic without taking too much time or effort. This allows us to spend more time on the build and assembly of the actual buggy frame.



The above is a picture of the paper templates i made that will allows us to cut out the overall shape of both the bottom and top acrylic plates.



We cut out the overall shape as shown above.



The above is a drawing i have done to show me hole placements, including the stripboard offset.



This is picture of the acrylic sheets with the holes marked out. They are to be completed by Anand, who will take them home and drill all the holes indicated.
Posted by Sophie Latham

Build Stages

Throughout the build pictures were taken to show the stages at which the build was at.

23/03/2010

Complete test using breadboard...



19/04/2010

Circuit soldered using strip board instead of breadboard.






Me and Mark soldered the circuit, and then I made holes for the board to be secured to the chassis. I also sourced some super glue, zip ties and various types of screws and bolts.

25/04/2010

Final chassis desgin was finalised and I drilled holes for the motor, circuit, second layer of plastic and 2 slots for the wires from the circuit it pass through.








26/04/2010

Finial circuit build to wire up circuit to PIC board and Motor board as well as back-up wheel arragement. Mark cut the slots for the top layer and then I wired up the circuit and bolted on the motors then bolted the circuit with a foam layer inbetween to act as a spacer so that the circuit is closer to the ground.