For the rest of the CCM trophy challenge: http://mechatronicsdesign2.blogspot.nl/
dinsdag 9 april 2013
maandag 8 april 2013
Some specifics, The prototype in detail.
Now that i have shared the global idea of Tommy, it is time to share some insights in what I have done, the logic.
First tough, here a link to the full report in Dutch.
So how is Tommy going to work?
This is the flowchart that globally describes the processes that have to be completed for all tasks to be completed.
To run you trough it, we start at set/reset, a button that primes the robot for competition. Then its on to the main loop, it consists of Drive (rijden), crossover point (kruispunt), and Pick&place. These are the main 3 tasks that have to be completed, so this is the start and end for any action the robot takes.
Driving consists of 3 tasks, the first is bringing the arm and hand to the maximum position, so that when the crossover point is detected the arm is in position. The second and third task are moving forward at a constant speed, and steering the robot if the line makes a turn. These two tasks require constant input, so they are outsourced to a second processor.
Crossover point is the process of detecting the serving tray, and stopping exactly on the specified point. This starts by sensing the crossover in the line, then stopping the robot, and adding 1 to a counter.
Pick & Place is the final task, picking up the bottle, or putting it down. This process follows directly after the robot has been stopped, and consists of lowering the arm, until it the cylinder has been placed over the bottle, filling the air cushions, and adding 1 to the bottle counter.
When the bottle is in the firm grip of our prototype the program starts from the start by bringing the arm to its maximum height.
As always we needed to test our concept.
please note the difference between our prototype (left) and Tommy (right)
Feedback on the past 8 weeks will follow later today, so when that has been finished I will post it here.
zaterdag 6 april 2013
The Concept phase, integration of the sub-systems!
Last Friday it was D-day... 3 teams had to present their concept for the CCM trophy challenge, only 2 would continue to actually building their design.
But first I would like to introduce you to Tommy, the housekeeping robot.
Tommy is designed to help personnel in homes for the elderly focus on the tasks at hand, while Tommy takes care of the routine jobs. His looks have been designed to make him look like a teddy bear, while avoiding the idea of a humanoid robot. Tommy moves around using 2 separate powered wheels, following his "highway" of white lines trough the building. This gives the elderly confidence in where Tommy can go, and where he cannot. All these choices are to make sure Tommy does not upset the people he is helping. To make sure Tommy avoids things on the track we outfitted him with kinect sensors and object recognition, Tommy will always be in service of the humans he is helping. This is a bit costly tough, as the full concept would cost about €2365,-
So for the Trophy challenge we want to build a prototype that can be used to test the essential systems and the speed of the total system.
But first I would like to introduce you to Tommy, the housekeeping robot.
Tommy is designed to help personnel in homes for the elderly focus on the tasks at hand, while Tommy takes care of the routine jobs. His looks have been designed to make him look like a teddy bear, while avoiding the idea of a humanoid robot. Tommy moves around using 2 separate powered wheels, following his "highway" of white lines trough the building. This gives the elderly confidence in where Tommy can go, and where he cannot. All these choices are to make sure Tommy does not upset the people he is helping. To make sure Tommy avoids things on the track we outfitted him with kinect sensors and object recognition, Tommy will always be in service of the humans he is helping. This is a bit costly tough, as the full concept would cost about €2365,-
So for the Trophy challenge we want to build a prototype that can be used to test the essential systems and the speed of the total system.
The prototype consists of a pneumatic cylinder to make the arm adjustable, for the hand we used a cylinder with a diameter of 2.5 times the bottle we need to pick up, filled with air cushions. This makes picking up the bottle no longer a process of exact measuring to make a hand grab the bottle, we just place the cylinder over the middle of the serving tray and fill the cushions. To make the height of the hand adjustable we want to use a scissor lift, this is a lot easier then say for example bringing an arm up from the waist of the robot to shoulder height. Movement and navigation will be the same as for Tommy, except from the Kinect sensors. We will use LDR sensors to detect the line, and make the prototype follow it from begin to end. To give the robot feedback when the bottle is in the cylinder we use IR sensors with a blind spot of 5 cm, meaning if it stops seeing things its time to inflate the cushions. Powering the wheels will be 2 transmission engines with a relative high torque, moving the prototype around at a speed of max 1.5 m/s. All our systems will be powered by a battery placed in the back of the lower part of the robot, to keep the center of gravity close to the ground.
The price of this prototype is of more realistic proportions.
The upper part is the planning we made at the start of the project, the lower part is the balance as we present it to you now. Meaning we can build this prototype at a cost of €948,51. This means that if we get sponsoring from CCM, we can and will build our prototype!
Then its now time for the unveiling of D-day, we went to CCM in Neunen, The Netherlands, for a tour trough the facility, a presentation of the company, and presenting our projects to them. Being team 3, we had to wait for almost 1.5 hour to give our presentation. Then the moment of truth came, and I had to represent the work of me and my 5 colleges, it had been a while since I was nervous like that Friday afternoon...
Then after some questions our teachers went backstage with the engineers from CCM to make the decision.
And as it turns out, we are trough! This means next week more information on Tommy in stead of a totally new project!
CCM was gladly suppressed with the level of tough all the teams put in their design, and pointed out that is was because they had to drop 1 team they did...
Now its time for celebration, feedback and how to continue will be handled on Monday as we are going to materialize our concept!
As usual, if you have questions, feedback, or you want to sponsor our project, just leave a message!
maandag 18 maart 2013
Ideas Ideas Ideas, and students from Belgium
The Idea phase, the phase where things start to take shape.
In a time span of 2 weeks it was our job to take all information and vague ideas, and build them into integral ideas, 3 to be exact. The second week we were going to be assisted by students from EPO Belgium for the sub-system movement, so we used the first week to gather our toughs and form ideas for the other 4 sub-systems. The second week we used to create ideas for moving around, and integrating the different sub-systems into 3 integral ideas.
All these ideas formed around our design vision:
We see this assignment as a competition we should win, so we can distinguish ourselves and our project from the other competitors. In this competition the speed in witch the whole track is completed is all that matters, the design and functionality is of no importance. Because these points are of importance to our educational program our aim is to expand our product beyond the scope of the competition.
Here is a link to the full report in Dutch.
The first step toward integral ideas is clustering the sub-system ideas in a so called morphologic overview.
After this has been done, we went on with the integral ideas.
Integral idea 1:
This idea is based on mechanical reliability, the basis consists of 2 powered wheels for movement and steering, with 2 swiveling wheels at the back. The line detection happens at the front of the robot, where the wheels can instantly change the direction of movement if needed. For the actions pick and place we came up with the idea of a rather big cylinder with air cushions inside. To pick the bottle up the process is as follows: straight from the start the scissor lift goes to maximum height and the arm with cylinder moves 90 degrees to the left (position of point A). When the robot arrives at point A, the robot stops at the point, and start lowering the arm until the sensors in the cylinder confirm the cylinder is placed over the bottle. Then the next step is to inflate the cushions and get a firm grip over the bottle. Then the robot returns the arm to the point B position, 90 degrees to the right and at maximum height, to follow these same steps again and put the bottle down.
Integral idea 2:
This idea is based on precision, for the wheel basis we chose an idea based of the fork lift. 2 wheels in front that carry the weight, and a 3rd wheel to form a balanced triangle. To keep the "hand" in height adjustable we came up with the idea of a jack-screw, this is a very precise mechanism also used for milling cutters. The hand itself consists of 2 bottle shaped claws that will be placed over the bottle to hold it in a firm grip. For this the claws have to be positioned very precise tough... The combination of these principles make for a robot with mm precision, but this will hurt the operating speed of the robot.
Integral idea 3:
The 3rd idea is based on automated mechanics, the wheelbases is based of the shovel. It can be powered on 4 wheels since we use the middle part to steer. This is a bit tricky tough since you don't want to deviate the robot by steering. For this idea we did not want to lift the upper half of the robot to be able to adjust the height of the hand, so we came up with an idea based of the human arm. Even tough the momentum on some of the joints will be very high, this does speed up the process of adjusting to a different height. The hand in this idea is a bottle mold, with a movable bottom part. To pick the bottle up the upper half of the body can turn 90 degrees eight er left or right, place the mold over the bottle, and move the bottom part into place for a firm grip. This idea is based on the maximum efficiency we could harness, it requires all the precision we can bring to the table with sensors and algorithms, to deliver probably the most universal approach to the problem.
When we had the integral ideas present, it was time to chose one... for this we discussed a lot with our counseling teacher, and made a little diagram to oversee the pro's and con's of each idea.
Idea one scored best in almost all respects, its quick, simple, reliable, and construct able by a bunch of students. In order to prove our ideas, we constructed a couple of simple pieces as proof of concept.
Now that we know what we are going to build, its time to fill in the details... The concept phase arrives!
In a time span of 2 weeks it was our job to take all information and vague ideas, and build them into integral ideas, 3 to be exact. The second week we were going to be assisted by students from EPO Belgium for the sub-system movement, so we used the first week to gather our toughs and form ideas for the other 4 sub-systems. The second week we used to create ideas for moving around, and integrating the different sub-systems into 3 integral ideas.
All these ideas formed around our design vision:
We see this assignment as a competition we should win, so we can distinguish ourselves and our project from the other competitors. In this competition the speed in witch the whole track is completed is all that matters, the design and functionality is of no importance. Because these points are of importance to our educational program our aim is to expand our product beyond the scope of the competition.
Here is a link to the full report in Dutch.
The first step toward integral ideas is clustering the sub-system ideas in a so called morphologic overview.
Integral idea 1:
This idea is based on mechanical reliability, the basis consists of 2 powered wheels for movement and steering, with 2 swiveling wheels at the back. The line detection happens at the front of the robot, where the wheels can instantly change the direction of movement if needed. For the actions pick and place we came up with the idea of a rather big cylinder with air cushions inside. To pick the bottle up the process is as follows: straight from the start the scissor lift goes to maximum height and the arm with cylinder moves 90 degrees to the left (position of point A). When the robot arrives at point A, the robot stops at the point, and start lowering the arm until the sensors in the cylinder confirm the cylinder is placed over the bottle. Then the next step is to inflate the cushions and get a firm grip over the bottle. Then the robot returns the arm to the point B position, 90 degrees to the right and at maximum height, to follow these same steps again and put the bottle down.
Integral idea 2:
Integral idea 3:
When we had the integral ideas present, it was time to chose one... for this we discussed a lot with our counseling teacher, and made a little diagram to oversee the pro's and con's of each idea.
Idea one scored best in almost all respects, its quick, simple, reliable, and construct able by a bunch of students. In order to prove our ideas, we constructed a couple of simple pieces as proof of concept.
Now that we know what we are going to build, its time to fill in the details... The concept phase arrives!
vrijdag 15 februari 2013
Knowledge is power, the analyses
With our goal in mind, we started analyzing our assignment a second time, and started looking for information we could use. The goal of this phase specific was to form a project vision, and form the so called PvE, or Design Specifications.
First the link to the full report (in Dutch)
My research was aimed at the sub-questions agreed upon in the plan of approach. To answer these questions research has been done, and conclusions have been made.
The highlights of my research:
To create the idea of a humanoid robot butler, it is important to give the robot human features the user recognizes, for the butler part it is important to again give to robot features the user recognizes from a real life butler. Key features to accomplish this are a head, arms, and a body. To make sure the user sees a robot, and not some mechanical ball of wires and gears, it is important to give the robot iron looking plating.
When looking at this from a social point of view the robot must be able to comply with established rules of good service. It should be anticipating, reliable and most of all discrete. To further increase the idea of a social robot, it should be capable to interpret spoken commands, and react to these commands with "spoken" confirmation or a joke. Al tough this isn't part of the official assignment this could greatly improve our robot.
When designing a social/intelligent mechanical, ethics quickly become a raging discussion. To make sure we don't get caught up in this we concluded to avoid making decisions that could affect the user in any way.
How many different signals will the processor have to manage?
The output signals will range from 9 to 12 signals, at least 4 for pick & place, at least 2 for movement, if we use kinect add another output signal, and if we want our robot to "speak" another signal for the speaker can be added to the list.
The input signals will range from 6 to 10 signals, 2 for the line following, 3 or more from pick & place, 1 from kinect if we use it, and 1 from the battery level.
If we end up using kinect in our robot, the main processor will be taken from a laptop most likely, because the data stream from the 2 camera's kinect uses can get up to 30mb/s. With that comes the fact that the clocking speed of the processor has to be at least 100MHz to properly use the data supplied. If we end up not needing these high specs, an Arduino Uno embedded system will be used, or maybe even 2 arduino's linked together by an L2C bus.
The most used language to code robots is C++, or if a specific piece of hardware/software is used a different code, linux works with UNIX for example.
With the information i found in this phase I continue to do research into the possibilities of linux based systems, linking different processors together, and in what different ways electronic engineers from over the world build robots.
Until next time folks!
First the link to the full report (in Dutch)
My research was aimed at the sub-questions agreed upon in the plan of approach. To answer these questions research has been done, and conclusions have been made.
The highlights of my research:
To create the idea of a humanoid robot butler, it is important to give the robot human features the user recognizes, for the butler part it is important to again give to robot features the user recognizes from a real life butler. Key features to accomplish this are a head, arms, and a body. To make sure the user sees a robot, and not some mechanical ball of wires and gears, it is important to give the robot iron looking plating.
When looking at this from a social point of view the robot must be able to comply with established rules of good service. It should be anticipating, reliable and most of all discrete. To further increase the idea of a social robot, it should be capable to interpret spoken commands, and react to these commands with "spoken" confirmation or a joke. Al tough this isn't part of the official assignment this could greatly improve our robot.
When designing a social/intelligent mechanical, ethics quickly become a raging discussion. To make sure we don't get caught up in this we concluded to avoid making decisions that could affect the user in any way.
How many different signals will the processor have to manage?
The output signals will range from 9 to 12 signals, at least 4 for pick & place, at least 2 for movement, if we use kinect add another output signal, and if we want our robot to "speak" another signal for the speaker can be added to the list.
The input signals will range from 6 to 10 signals, 2 for the line following, 3 or more from pick & place, 1 from kinect if we use it, and 1 from the battery level.
If we end up using kinect in our robot, the main processor will be taken from a laptop most likely, because the data stream from the 2 camera's kinect uses can get up to 30mb/s. With that comes the fact that the clocking speed of the processor has to be at least 100MHz to properly use the data supplied. If we end up not needing these high specs, an Arduino Uno embedded system will be used, or maybe even 2 arduino's linked together by an L2C bus.
The most used language to code robots is C++, or if a specific piece of hardware/software is used a different code, linux works with UNIX for example.
With the information i found in this phase I continue to do research into the possibilities of linux based systems, linking different processors together, and in what different ways electronic engineers from over the world build robots.
Until next time folks!
maandag 11 februari 2013
A good start, a plan of approach
As with every project, the best start is with a plan of approach. For this project we work in groups of 6 students, each with their distinct task and responsibility.
Because this is a Dutch study, reports are written in Dutch. I will post the report or link to it, but for the purpose of keeping this blog accessible to all I will try to highlight the important parts in English.
Every Engineer has his or her own method to solve problems, we at the HZ university of applied sciences are taught the Delft Design Method. This method divides the procces in roughly 4 stages, Analyses phase, Idea phase, Concept phase, Materialization. In each phase you start by diverging your research to the most crazy stuff you can come up with. And halfway the phase you start to converge this immense mountain of knowledge and ideas to the core of the project. With this method comes the idea of "The integral Design", to test if a design is integral, this the method comes with the so called sun wheel:
Each quadrant of the sun wheel stands for a distinctive part of the product, and the further you get from the middle, the better that quadrant is designed (they say....)
The quadrants stand for:
Human, the pink part, the interaction between users and your product
Market, the orange part, the interaction between selling and building the product
Ecology, the green part, the effect your product has on its environment
Technics, the blue part, how your product works, and why it works
Now that we have a method to charge into this project, lets go over the plan of approach.
Collaborate Design.
Made available in: Vlissingen, The Netherlands
Date: 01-02-2013 (1st of Feb 2013)
Authors:
Sven Berckmoes -Detection
Koen de Knegt -Logic & MPI
Mike Kooijman - Pick & Place
Joan Maljaars - Energy storage and distribution
Arend de Visser - Project Manager
Justin Wouters - Movement
Counseling teacher: E.W.J Mouw
Assignment:
The team of students has gotten the assignment to compete in the CCM challenge. For this challenge a robot must be build with the following capabilities:
-Follow a white line on the ground.
-When at point A, asses the height of a serving tray and pick up the opened bottle of beer on top of it.
- Continue following the line to point B.
- Asses the height of the serving tray B, and place the bottle on top of it, without the bottle falling.
-Continue following the line to the finish.
Element descriptions:
Robot
Height: max 2.00 m
Width: max 0.50 m at start and finish
Length: max 0.50 m
Robot needs to be autonomous at the parcours. Interaction with the robot is only allowed when the robot is at the starting point or finish line
With the assignment clear in our minds, its time to start asking questions:
Main question:
How to design a robot that autonomous can follow the trail on the ground, transport a beer bottle from A to B, and is capable of having interactions with its immediate surroundings?
To find the answer to this question, each sub-system created its own sub-questions. For my sub-system (logic) these are my sub-questions:
Human:
- Which design options strengthen the idea of a robot butler?
- What social aspects are important to create the idea of a robot butler?
- Which input signals could we use to simulate a human impression?
-What is social and cultural aspects need to be justified?
Market:
-What cost should a designer keep in mind when designing the hardware of a robot?
Ecology:
- How much energy will the hardware of the robot use?
- Can hardware integrated in a robot be re-used?
Technic:
-How many different input signals will the processor have to process?
-How many different output signals will the processor have to regulate?
-How can I make sure the internal hardware will be designed EMC?
-How do professionals write the program for an autonomous robot?
-What possibilities are there to link several microprocessors together?
-What possibilities are there to give the robot a "conscious" and "unconscious" program?
a. can a robot "unconsciously" execute the tasks for the competition?
b. can a robot "consciously" react to (the changing of) it's surroundings?
The rest of the plan covers the how, why, and when of this project, if you're interested in specific parts of our plan of approach and not native to the Dutch language, send me a message and I'll try to translate the segment.
If you have questions, remarks or suggestions please let me know, I'm always eager to learn.
Because this is a Dutch study, reports are written in Dutch. I will post the report or link to it, but for the purpose of keeping this blog accessible to all I will try to highlight the important parts in English.
Every Engineer has his or her own method to solve problems, we at the HZ university of applied sciences are taught the Delft Design Method. This method divides the procces in roughly 4 stages, Analyses phase, Idea phase, Concept phase, Materialization. In each phase you start by diverging your research to the most crazy stuff you can come up with. And halfway the phase you start to converge this immense mountain of knowledge and ideas to the core of the project. With this method comes the idea of "The integral Design", to test if a design is integral, this the method comes with the so called sun wheel:
The quadrants stand for:
Human, the pink part, the interaction between users and your product
Market, the orange part, the interaction between selling and building the product
Ecology, the green part, the effect your product has on its environment
Technics, the blue part, how your product works, and why it works
Now that we have a method to charge into this project, lets go over the plan of approach.
Collaborate Design.
Made available in: Vlissingen, The Netherlands
Date: 01-02-2013 (1st of Feb 2013)
Authors:
Sven Berckmoes -Detection
Koen de Knegt -Logic & MPI
Mike Kooijman - Pick & Place
Joan Maljaars - Energy storage and distribution
Arend de Visser - Project Manager
Justin Wouters - Movement
Counseling teacher: E.W.J Mouw
Assignment:
The team of students has gotten the assignment to compete in the CCM challenge. For this challenge a robot must be build with the following capabilities:
-Follow a white line on the ground.
-When at point A, asses the height of a serving tray and pick up the opened bottle of beer on top of it.
- Continue following the line to point B.
- Asses the height of the serving tray B, and place the bottle on top of it, without the bottle falling.
-Continue following the line to the finish.
Element descriptions:
Robot
Height: max 2.00 m
Width: max 0.50 m at start and finish
Length: max 0.50 m
Robot needs to be autonomous at the parcours. Interaction with the robot is only allowed when the robot is at the starting point or finish line
Parcours
Line color: White
Background: Dark
Line width: 1-3 cm
Line shape: curved, minimal radius 0.3 m
Length parcours: max 12 m.
Orientation cross line: perpendicular to main line, in line with centre serving tray
Length cross line: >0.3 m at both sides of main line
Shape cross line: straight
Floor: wood board tent floor covered with dark carpet
Background: Dark
Line width: 1-3 cm
Line shape: curved, minimal radius 0.3 m
Length parcours: max 12 m.
Orientation cross line: perpendicular to main line, in line with centre serving tray
Length cross line: >0.3 m at both sides of main line
Shape cross line: straight
Floor: wood board tent floor covered with dark carpet
Serving tray
Bottom diameter:
325 mm
Top diameter: 355 mm
Height: 47 mm
The stand for the serving tray will be within the diameter of the serving tray and the serving tray is not fixed to the stand.
Top diameter: 355 mm
Height: 47 mm
The stand for the serving tray will be within the diameter of the serving tray and the serving tray is not fixed to the stand.
Bottle
Beer bottle 30 cl.
Beer bottle 30 cl.
External disturbances
Lights: Illumination of tent and flash lights from cameras,
Rain: the parcours will be inside but can be wet due to weather conditions outside
Public: possibly close to the parcours.
Lights: Illumination of tent and flash lights from cameras,
Rain: the parcours will be inside but can be wet due to weather conditions outside
Public: possibly close to the parcours.
With the assignment clear in our minds, its time to start asking questions:
Main question:
How to design a robot that autonomous can follow the trail on the ground, transport a beer bottle from A to B, and is capable of having interactions with its immediate surroundings?
To find the answer to this question, each sub-system created its own sub-questions. For my sub-system (logic) these are my sub-questions:
Human:
- Which design options strengthen the idea of a robot butler?
- What social aspects are important to create the idea of a robot butler?
- Which input signals could we use to simulate a human impression?
-What is social and cultural aspects need to be justified?
Market:
-What cost should a designer keep in mind when designing the hardware of a robot?
Ecology:
- How much energy will the hardware of the robot use?
- Can hardware integrated in a robot be re-used?
Technic:
-How many different input signals will the processor have to process?
-How many different output signals will the processor have to regulate?
-How can I make sure the internal hardware will be designed EMC?
-How do professionals write the program for an autonomous robot?
-What possibilities are there to link several microprocessors together?
-What possibilities are there to give the robot a "conscious" and "unconscious" program?
a. can a robot "unconsciously" execute the tasks for the competition?
b. can a robot "consciously" react to (the changing of) it's surroundings?
The rest of the plan covers the how, why, and when of this project, if you're interested in specific parts of our plan of approach and not native to the Dutch language, send me a message and I'll try to translate the segment.
If you have questions, remarks or suggestions please let me know, I'm always eager to learn.
maandag 28 januari 2013
The CCM trophy chalenge!
Today is the day, today markt the start of the 7th project of the course Engineering at the HZ university of applied sciences, and today we heared we are going to compete for the CCM trophy!
This year the trophy chalenge is to build J.A.M.E.S, Just A Marvelous Electronic Servant. James will have to pick up a opened bottle of beer (students...) and bring it along a parcour to put it down at the marked spot.
This is not an easy task, so this project of 9 weeks will result in a concept, and the 9 weeks after that we will use to build a prototype and do tests to prepare for the actual competition.
Over the course of the comming weeks I will update this blog with the progress of the project, and the information i gain from the lessons.
My name is Koen de Knegt, and my task with group 3 will be to design the logic algorithems and polish the product interaction with it's environment
This year the trophy chalenge is to build J.A.M.E.S, Just A Marvelous Electronic Servant. James will have to pick up a opened bottle of beer (students...) and bring it along a parcour to put it down at the marked spot.
This is not an easy task, so this project of 9 weeks will result in a concept, and the 9 weeks after that we will use to build a prototype and do tests to prepare for the actual competition.
Over the course of the comming weeks I will update this blog with the progress of the project, and the information i gain from the lessons.
My name is Koen de Knegt, and my task with group 3 will be to design the logic algorithems and polish the product interaction with it's environment
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)