The date is: Fri Jan 29 18:33:04 MST 1999 Dear Dr. Wedeward' I belong to group 4 which consits of: *Rober Rose *Tim Miller *Lawronco Landon This week were discussing the first steps to start our project. We think that the first thing we should do is work on moving the Robot, which is related to the motor control. Moreover we decided to use Differential Drive method for the Robot's locomotion since it is much easier to design mechanically and requires less programming. We were thinking about using a different microcontroller than the HC11 but Dr. Bruder suggested that using the HC11 is a better choice since it has been used before by other groups and proved to be efficient with its elaboration. Besides, we were discussing the type of sensors we can use with our Robot and how many we will need, and we started the previous students who worked in Junior design on what type of sensors they used and how many of them. So, we decided for the mean time we need at least 4 sensors, two on the side to measure the distance between the wall and the Robot, and 1 for measuring the distance between the Robot and the front wall, and 1 for detecting the candle. For next week we decided to use the HC11 we had from last semester (EE 308); Robert and Lawronco will work on mesuring the motor speed and the control of the Robot by using the HC11 which requires C programming. Meanwhile, I and Tim will work on desinging the sensors that would be placed on the Robot and we are going to choose which type of sensors we are going to use and how to wire them up to the Robot. Sincerely, Ahmed Barradah The date is: Fri Feb 5 12:10:20 MST 1999 Dear DR. Wedeward, This week, Feb 1st to Feb 5th, I and Tim started working on sensors. Tim brought some old circuits that he designed for Sandia Labs that had some IR sensors. However, those circuits were sort of sophesticated and nonlinear, so we are in the process of breaking it down and by looking in his old lab reports. This way we can have a basic circuit to start with and then develope it to approach our goal. Meanwhile, we suggested to use 7 sensors: * 2 for the side walls. * 1 for the front wall. * 1 for the white lining. * 1 for the candle. * 2 for the side walls but with an angle of apporximately 45 degrees which can pre detect the end of the side wall and prepare the Robot to slow down before he turns by 90 degrees to either right or left. Moreover, those two sensors would give us the advantage of scanning the room withought entering it. The only problem is we are afraid of, is using many sensors that might complicate our circuit. For next week, I and Tim will continue working on IR sensors by examining some old circuits he had and modify it to approach our goal and from there we can decide if we gonna use the last two sensors I mentioned above. The group I'm working with is very motivated, ethusiastic, and dedicated to the project. Beside, I'm learning some new things or understing some stuff I studied before but I didn't make sense at that time. I believe that in order to accomplish such a project it would need good planning, dedication, patient, and hard working and I think we got all of that, and it just a matter of time before we approach our goal. Have a great weekend Kevin!! Sincerely, Ahmed Barradah group 4 The date is: Fri Feb 12 15:21:39 MST 1999 This week Tim and I continued our work on sensors by examining the old circuits he had from Sandia Lab. He had some success on figuring out the functionuality of on the circuits but he still needs needs some time to adjust it to work with our robot. Meanwhile, I started designing an opamp amplifire for the IR Reciever while Tim examining the light feedback circuit. So far, we are doing fine. I'm trying to find some more resources on sensors to give me more detailed information, since the book we have is talking generally about this subject. For next week, the group is planning to get together this weekend and discuss how we are going to perform the presentation and how we are going to give the students and the faculty a clear understanding about what we are doing and the problems we have and what we intend to do about it. So, far we have some rough ideas about what we are going to talk about but I think by the end of this weekend we will put those ideas on the paper and start doing our slides. The date is: Fri Feb 19 14:30:27 MST 1999 For this week, I was still working on hooking up the LF411 to the IR reciever, and despite the fact that this sould be an easy job, I couldn't finish it and test the reciever becasue I had two exams this week, besides I was preparing for the presentation. However, I'm planning to catch up this weekend. Hopefully, next week I'll be back in Schedule. Have a great Weekend Kevin !! The date is: Fri Feb 26 14:36:08 MST 1999 For this week, Feb 22 - Feb 26 I started building the op- amp that is supposed to amplify the output signal from the GpP2D12 and send it to the HC11. I had some problem building it at the beginning since two of the op amps I was tried were burnt up; however, the third one worked fine and I got a gain of 5v/v which what I desired. Moreover, I started designing the GLC 555 Timer to hook it up to the IR diodes, which will generate the 40KHz and control the IR beam through a pot between them (diodes and Timer). I could not start designing the Timer in Tuesday because about the time I finished hooking up the op-amp it was 5:00pm and I could not get the GLC 555 chip. However, I got the chip in Thursday, and I decided to design the circuit on my PC at home. Since, I have software that can give me the resistor’s value by inputting the frequency and the Duty Cycle that I desire besides testing the voltage and the current in the circuit, which will make my mission much easier. In the meantime, Tim was working on the light feedback sensor and he was successful to make it work. We decided to use this circuit for the white lining sensor since it has a very good sensitivity for light and it regulates the circuit by itself depending on the intensity of the light it receives. For next week, I plan to run the analysis on the Timer and have it ready by Tuesday so I can start desiging it and hook it up to the IR-LED. The date is: Mon Mar 8 16:58:14 MST 1999 For last week, I was designing the Timer 555 in order to connect it to the IR emitters. However, I spent a considerable amount of time to figure out the values of the resistors that are supposed to be assembled with the Timer. I tried to use the equations in the data sheet to solve for the values of the resistors and the capacitors, but solving those equations was very complicated because I had three unknowns and two equations. Therefore, I decided to use the software of Workbench 5.1 to test the circuit until I got the right values; still it was not an easy task since I did not know much about the functionality of the 555 and that’s when I called you today at 12:30 p.m. The problem I had was that every time I adjust the resistors to get 50% duty cycle I don’t get a 40 kHz, until I realized that I should use a pot to adjust the duty cycle and balance the capacitor with it. Considering this option was indeed the right choice, I got the desired frequency, which are 40.7 kHz and a 50% duty cycle. I used a pot for R1=15 K ohm, R2=25 ohm, C1=.0.7nf , C2= 10nf. I am planning to build this circuit and get it running on the breadboard by tomorrow morning. For this week, my goal is to hook up the Sharp GP2D12 to the op-amp and assemble the timer with the IR emitters to test the wall sensors for measuring distance. Note: I tried to paste a schematic of the circuit in my report but it seems that it doesn’t work. The date is: Fri Mar 12 11:52:04 MST 1999 For this week, I was trying to design the 555 Timer on the breadboard; despite the fact, that I had the correct values for the capacitors and the resistors my circuit didn't behave as was expected because it was not wired correctly. After fixing the wiring, the circuit started behaving correctly with a 50% duty cycle but with a smaller frequency. The reason for that was because I could not get the exact capacitor I was looking for. Therefore, I started modifying the resistors to get a 40 kHz. At the end, I got a 40 kHz with almost a 50% duty cycle; R1=10.68 k Ohm while R2= 25 k ohm with a capacitor of 470 pnf. On the other hand, Tim had a big success with the flame sensor. He was able to get variations on detecting the candle. Indeed, all what he needs is to filter out the single to get a better a resolution. At the end of our session, yesterday, we hooked up the Sharp sensor to a voltage supply to see how much range it has, and we realized that it had a very good range. We were thinking of connecting an op-amp with a gain of 1.5-2 v/v to amplify the output signal of the sensor, which will be transferred, to the HC11. However, Dr. Bruder suggested we might not need to, so we still thinking about it. Therefore, for next week, I am going to assemble the GP12 and decide whether we need an op and if we do how much of a gain we might need. In addition, Tim and I are going to assemble the Timer 555 with the white lining sensor to see if the sensor picking a good proximity or not. Have a good spring break!! The date is: Fri Apr 2 15:58:02 MST 1999 For last week 03/22/99 I was preparing for the preliminary design review by making sure that the sensor has clear and enough resolution. I took some voltage measurements vs. distance for the GP12 sensor and I plotted in Excel to see if I have a linear plot or not. I had to do some modifications to the data to get approximately a linear curve. We realized, Tim and I, that we need to hook up an op-amp with a gain of 2 to get a better resolution and that when we decided to use the ICL 7642 ECPD quad-op amp which runs under +5V. After taking some measurements, the maximum voltage was 4.5V at 10cm and we got a good resolution for a range of 80cm. We have placed an order for three parts of 7642 op-amp and we are going to receive them by the end of next week. We are planning to use each part for each sensor we have. For next week, I am planning to design the Robert’s power supply by using the LM317 and assemble it to GP1U52X, which is connected to the 555 timer. The goal of this design is to switch the Robot on and off with a remote infrared detected by the GP52 and the duration of the power supply will be controlled by the duty cycle of the 555 timer which is going to be 50% @ 40KHz. The date is: Fri Apr 23 10:21:54 MDT 1999 For this week, I was able to design the power supply for our Robot. It turned out to be that the circuit was working fine except that there was a bad ground with one of the breadboard in the Analog Lab. We are going to hook up two 12v batteries assembled with DPDT switch, and produce a variable output voltage between 3v-11 using a pot with the 317 and 5v with the 7805. I'm in the process of designing the power supply board and I expect to be done by next Tues. For the wall sensor, we are going to assemble the GP12 to the Robot and then get some measurements to see how much resolution we got on them. Despite the fact that we did get some measurements before, we believe that it will be more reliable to assemble it first to the Robot and then get those measurements. The date is: Fri Apr 30 15:05:22 MDT 1999 For this week, I was working on building the power supply board. I was able to design the circuit on the PCB Layout, which gave me a view on how I am going to assemble the components on the board. However, I couldn’t get a chance to do the soldering because Chris was not in his office and I could not get the access to the soldering room. At this time, my team member and I are preparing for the presentation we have tomorrow morning. Moreover, by next week, the power supply board will be ready to be assembled with other components of the robot. The date is: Fri May 7 15:44:35 MDT 1999 This week my focus was to build the power supply board, which I accomplished by Th. Meanwhile, I was getting ready for the final presentation and evaluation of our Robot (Madusa). Despite the fact that my team member and I could not get the Robot wall following on time, but it has been a very buys week. I learned a lot about building an autonomous Robot through this course and working with others on a project. I believe we had a very good idea about building this Robot by trying to implement a different Microprocessor (PIC) which has not been used before by any other group. However, we did not know at the time that we had to program it in Assembly as opposed to C language. In addition, we tried very hard to the last minute to get it done and test our new idea. I believe that with more time it would be more possible to make function.