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Martin's Figure One Challenge of Doom and Peril! (Video) — Parallax Forums

Martin's Figure One Challenge of Doom and Peril! (Video)

Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
edited 2012-03-27 06:42 in Robotics
In my basement I set up a six foot long obstacle course ending in a barrier. The goal is to have the robot make it through the uneven surface and stop when it reaches the end. I tried it with two wheel drive, tracks, and four wheel drive.

[video=youtube_share;4BfwvPFvyPw]

Only the 4x4 made it through unassisted, but TankBot would have done fine if spent the time getting it to drive straight. The bottom line is the 4x4 has some real promise for travel over uneven ground.

BTW The Figure One Challenge of Peril is coming soon.

Comments

  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2012-03-17 18:06
    Doom is awesome!! Can't wait to see Peril!!!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-03-17 23:49
    I think my BS-1 Rebound 4WD would do ok there...
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-18 04:11
    erco wrote: »
    I think my BS-1 Rebound 4WD would do ok there...

    Is that the one from the four bottle challenge? Hey post a video of it climbing over obstacles for six feet. Perhaps this challenging will get some traction like the figure eight challenge. Was that pun obvious enough?
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-03-18 12:23
    Martin_H wrote: »
    Is that the one from the four bottle challenge? ... Was that pun obvious enough?

    What a memory and (painfully) yes!

    Wilco when able.
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2012-03-18 15:50
    Martin_H wrote: »
    Perhaps this challenging will get some traction like the figure eight challenge.

    I think it would help if you established some parameters for the obsticles.

    How high are the obsticles? What angle from perpendicular are the obsticles positioned?

    We all have dinner plates but the obsticles in my basement are not the same size as yours (I also have a lot more obsticles).

    I like the figure 8 because it's easy to compare how we all did.

    I combined part of your challenge with my figure 8 run by driving over part of the plate. Maybe I should start a figure 18 challenge? : ) We do a figure 8 and then drive over the plates in a staight line.

    Edit: Oops, that should be a figure 81 challenge unless we want to drive over the plates first.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-18 18:31
    Duane, good point about needing some specs to the challenge.

    The first dowel is 1/4" round and perpendicular to the direction of travel.

    The three pieces of wood are 1/2" thick by 1"

    The round dowel is 1/2" and perpendicular to travel.

    The next two pieces of wood are 1/2" thick by 1" and at rougly a 15 degree angle, but alternating.

    The Challenge of Peril might be easier to standardize on. I plan to take a board 6' long by 6" wide. The robot will travel the length of the board while it is above the ground without falling off. It's sort of like line following only you are on the line. I have to get it working first, but as always time is tight.
  • WhitWhit Posts: 4,191
    edited 2012-03-18 18:50
    The GatorBots say our S2s are scared! But we will give it a try.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-03-18 18:54
    I just realized that we never heard back from our French Canadian friends on their robotic gauntlet contest back in January, I believe?

    Edit: found it at http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?136800-Propeller-powered-robot-for-Engineering-Games
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-03-19 11:09
    Of course any decent hobby-grade RC car can plow through those bumps at high speed. Those guys have tires and shocks that can suck up any bump you throw at it. My buddies' cars regularly jump 5-6 feet in the air and stick the landing perfectly without any bounce. Impressive!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_OIm0NsRrY&feature=related
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-19 16:41
    That was a good video. I never thought about using reaction torque to control the cars angle with respect to the ground, but it makes perfect sense.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-25 08:54
    I finally got a chance to try my own challenge of peril. In this video CBA travels 6' along a 6" wide board without falling off. It turns out it is almost exactly like line following and I even used the CBA line following module to do it.

    [video=youtube_share;QSHjBhUUWVU]
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2012-03-25 15:10
    Very nice. Not unlike Rooba's "cliff sensors", designed to stop it from falling down stairs. I wonder what it's reliability rate is. :)
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-27 06:42
    erco wrote: »
    Very nice. Not unlike Rooba's "cliff sensors", designed to stop it from falling down stairs. I wonder what it's reliability rate is. :)

    Thanks. There's a reason the board is on soup cans instead of a pit of flames. I found that if you tried to parallel the edge eventually when the robot turns away the wheel would slip off the edge. Those wheels don't have much lateral traction so the rest of the robot would follow. I then tried the curving back towards the edge to ensure a steep angle of attack and give the wheel room to turn without slipping off the edge. Probably an even wider sensor separation would solve that too.

    I think an S1 or S2 might be able to do this if the board was wide enough, and the robot followed a zig zag course to ensure its front sensors went off the edge first and give it room to turn.
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