Team Members
Bobby Edwards
Phillip Dupree
Dongao Yang
Kuangyan Song
Bobby Edwards
Phillip Dupree
Dongao Yang
Kuangyan Song
Project OverviewSuper-villian DrEd is up to his old shenanigans yet again. This time our ME218 heroes have been given the task to build a remote-controlled hovercraft to navigate DrEd's evil swamp and destroy his lair once and for all.
In layman's terms, we had to build a hovercraft and controller to compete in a balloon-popping battle. Attackers attempted to pop six balloons in a floating balloon carrier (the DrEd Star). 'Bots who start on defense had to pop balloons placed in the rear of each attacker's hovercraft. When a defender successfully popped the balloon of an attacker, the attacker lost connection to their hovercraft, allowing for another team to take control of their 'bot as a defender (yes, every controller had to work with every hovercraft!). If the defenders popped all the attackers' balloons before the attackers could pop all of the DrEd Star's six balloons, DrEd and his mind-controlled minions were deemed the winners. Otherwise, the attackers were the winners. Major Components
The SPECTRE (hovercraft) is the vehicle that actually moves around. It is equipped with two body-fixed, backdriveable thrust fans, as well as a powerful blower fan to pump air into the SPECTRE's ripstop nylon skirt, allowing it to glide effortlessly across the rugged terrain of DrEd's swamp. In order to pop opponent's balloons, we used a hot wire to zap the competition. When the SPECTRE was commanded to pop a balloon, it would turn on its hot wire and swing down its mighty arm for two seconds before safely turning off the wire and returning to its original position. Check out the videos below for visualization of this devastating move!
Mechatronic Integrated Interactive Intelligent Infrastructure Intrusion Interface (MI6)The MI6 runs on a TIVA microcontroller and wirelessly sends commands to the SPECTRE via an XBee radio module. First, the user must swipe a card to unlock the controller. Then, when unpaired with a SPECTRE, two shoulder buttons allow the user to connect to the desired 'bot. Two 7-segment LED displays show the user which 'bot they are trying to take control of. Push buttons on the front allow the user to try to connect to a SPECTRE, as well as disconnect. When connected to a hovercraft, the user uses two joysticks to independently command thrusts to each motor. For example, if the user pushes the left joystick forward, the left fan will produce thrust in the forward direction. This "tank drive" system gave our 'bot outstanding control! All the while, a small cell phone screen running an app in the middle of the MI6 would give the user audio and visual feedback.
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