Outdoor Robot
 

Our team is planing on building a tennis ball shooting robot for our host organization. It is going to have to go through camping conditions, dirt, mud, sand, and alital bit of water :p . It will have people with limited to no robotics experience operate and maintain it.
I want it to have a super simple electronics and battery interface so that it can be charged/change batteries super easily. It also needs to have fail safes because it will be in operation near kids and were trying to incourage them to join our team, not fear us.

Could you tell me any of your suggestions?

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Put the electronics in surplus military ammunition boxes, the lids can be removed for operating and they have a watertight seal. Also, they are easy to come by, surplus center almost always has them.

Edit: these are a bit wider, and I have first hand experience with them and know that they are good boxes. The ones I linked to before are only 4 inches wide and look rather thin compared to the .50 cal boxes

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

You don't want dirt & mud in your transmission, so I suggest building something with minimal chain & protected gearboxes. Also, if your motors are going to be running constantly, you may want to find some way to cool them.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Remember, weight doesn't work against you too much in this design.
Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Maybe use some RC Car parts to keep the electronics cost/complexity down?

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

I was planing on using a vex cortex with joystick and partner joystick. For motor controllers I was thinking of using victors and vex spin controllers. Anything better than this that you can think of? And is there a good alternate to CIMs for drive-train?
Also thanks for the suggestion for the ammo box, what would be the best way to waterproof any holes for wires, hotglue? And any ideas on keeping the battery away from derbies without putting it in a metal box ,dont want it shortcircuting:ahh:.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

When I used them for a similar purpose I cut a piece of plywood that fit in the bottom of the box and attached foam-core board on the four sides to create a box within a box. Unfortunately I never finished them (maybe I will this summer) so I have no photos for reference. For wires I would recommend a silicone based sealant . Your local boating supply shop should have something suitable. If the silicone proves to be too weak, you can try polyurethane instead, but then you sacrifice the convenience of soap and water clean-up. Blends of the two are also available.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Something similar to this would work well for electronics, and you can find one to mount the battery within. I would use caulking to waterproof any holes you might need to cut.

These cases are meant to be exposed to the conditions you described, and come in nearly any size you can imagine.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Consider competitions such as IGVC as a resource: www.igvc.org This is a university level competition that is run outside on a grassy field rain or shine.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Please use silicone sealant that is rated for use in an electronics environment. The stuff you normally get at boating shop and your local hardware big box store
are not. The sealant off-gases acidic compounds as it dries and hardens and this will corrode electronics.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

This. Use RC for the controls system, if you can. From what I hear, almost no programming is required. It's all about frequencies.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

if you want to go all out you could make one of these for the electronics.

http://imgur.com/a/wX5Dz (this is not my work)

if you do post pictures, actually you should post pics whatever you do.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

RC is a good suggestion, as receivers are tiny and anything 2.4 ghz is very safe, reliable, and plug & play. A v-tail mixer sold for airplanes is also a "tank drive mixer" for arcade style driving.

Traxxas brand RC cars have waterproof housings for receivers that can be had on ebay for $5, very useful guys.

I'd recommend you take a good look at things that require grease/lubrication and try to minimize them. Exposed chain on this will be a dealbreaker in the long run.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

This.*


Also, I would like to change my recommendation to Sugru. Not only is it designed to be compatible with electronics, but it also molds like playdough and comes in green (and red and blue and...)








*[I assumed that it would be done with the electronics out of the boxes, but I shouldn't assume things]

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

little kids+nobody around that knows robots well+pinch points=lost body parts. Lets face it, the kids you want to recrut are the ones that will take the chaingaurd off to watch the chain and those same kids will likely forget to put it back...

to put it nicely: if there is something dangerous you can get to, kids WILL get to it sooner or latter. chains and gears have to be accessible so they can be greased. chains and belts have to be accessible so they can be put back on if they come off or break. If you have to have these things, bolts with unusual heads (and maby a lock washer or lock nut or both) is a good idea to slow kids down.

also, stay away from small bolts as the heads strip faster the smaller they are and don't have wires within drill length of bolts... we don't want someone thinking they are being smart and drilling out a striped bolt and accidentally electrocuting themselves/shorting it out/ stopping the robot from working.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

if you run the chain through aluminum box tubing then there is no way to get to it without making it un-dangerous

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

If you are going to be around little kids you might want to consider firing something besides tennis balls. And you certainly want to carefully consider exit velocity, firing safeguards, etc.

For that eventual day when someone gets hit (and it will happen) you want it to be something soft and/or very low velocity. A high speed tennis ball could actually do some serious damage.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Agreed. You could start with a set of Nanotubes as the basis for a simple 4WD or 6wheel drop center with the front wheels unpowered. With no chain and all the gearboxes enclosed (except for lightening holes) you can enclose the tubes with Lexan (or even tape if you clean it well enough) to keep the gearboxes safe and fingers out. If you add fenders over the wheels and a solid belly pan, that should keep most of the crud out.

I won't speak to the electrical side, as others are much more qualified.

We're working on this approach for a baseball pitching robot at the request of the local minor-league baseball team. I'll post photos when done.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Thanks everyone for your help!:D
I'm thinking we will use the ammo boxes for the electronics and the pelican boxes for the batteries. Any holes Ill cover over with Sugru. To shoot, nerfballs, and cover the whole thing in lexan. And also I think we will use tamper proof screws so that no-one can unscrew anything.

Do you know if the RC receivers have the right pulse width to Jaguars or Victors? Also does anyone have any experience with tamper proof screws/bolts?

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Victors were designed to use the same PWM signals as RC servos. Jaguars will work, but won't get the full range of outputs unless you recalibrate them. You might need a signal booster, depending on the receiver's ability to supply current.

I think that tamper-proof hardware isn't really appropriate unless you intend to be leaving the thing unattended for any length of time.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Do you have any links to a whitepaper or instructions to recalibrate the jags?
Thanks.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Don't use the triangular 'tamper proof' bolts. These are the easiest type to defeat since one can usually find a Torx driver of hex key that fits. Similarly, avoid really expensive proprietary stuff, think tri-wing or square. Both are very secure (unless you find someone from Canada) and if you use an uncommon size the security will be further enhanced. The other option is one-way screws, but they would make maintenance a pain.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Thank You!

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

This Major Qualifying Project at WPI was designed to inspect the thickness of the ice on frozen lakes for ice skaters.

They water proofed the robot by integrating a cavity inside the robot that is sealed when the robot is in operation. Its made out of Polycarb. and features a rubber ring around the interfacing pieces. All of the electronics are water tight and it might serve as "prior art" in your search.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

See the TI webpage for links to various whitepapers.

To recalibrate, power up the Jag, hold down the USER button, then send the commands you want to be in the following order: full backward, full forward, then neutral. Release the USER button and wait for the LED to flash green, which indicates a good calibration.

To reset to factory calibration, hold down the USER button, then power the Jag, release, and wait for the LED to flash. I don't remember the correct color pattern.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Thanks so much!
So will this allow them to work with vex controllers?

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Yes, recalibrating Jaguars to Vex controller outputs will allow you to obtain the full range of control.

Vex controllers work fine; there's a robotics class at our school in which students develop a basic drivetrain and use Vex controllers (I'm not sure which type, though) to control Victors to drive the robot.

I'm not too familiar with the code structure/commands, though I can't imagine it to be too complicated.

Re: Outdoor Robot
 

Thanks!