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Maze Solving 2 - June 7, 2003
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Competitors Present: Gabriel,
Jona, Steve,
Tom
Spectators Present: Audrey, Elizabeth, Heather, Joe, Rob, Tom
For our second attempt at maze solving we used this set of rules. There were a total of 10 robots entered (5 of which belonged to Steve), and 6 made it out of the maze. When compared to the first maze event where only 4 robots entered and not one made it out of the maze, this time around was a big success. We still haven't seen any actual "solving" of the maze for the best/quickest path yet, but there is always next time! Here is a bot by bot description:
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- Shy Guy by Gabriel: Equiped with 2 custom made IR distance sensors, Shy Guy tended to be hesitant as it maneuvered in the maze. Not having a successful run through the maze was a result of its (as I percieve it) inability to decide on where the wall it was following was in relationship to where the robot was. Shy Guy was fun to watch and a valiant attempt at a maze solving robot.
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- Un-named by Gabriel: Although this mechanical wall-follower didn't actually make it through the maze, the ideas and engineering behind it were neat enough to win the people's choice trophy. Using a horizontal spinning wheel to negotiate turns (right and left) and a continusly driven rear axel to go forward this robot had no problem following the wall. The problems arise when it ends up in a dead-end and has to make 2 successive turns. In this situation, the horizontal wheel would lose momentum rapidly and be unable to recover fast enough because the rear axel was still pushing the robot into the wall. The other really neat thing about this robot was it only used a single motor. All in all it was a very nice example of how a mechanical solution can be built to solve a maze, at least with wall-following.
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- 2 Left Feet - Fast by Jona: The third iteration in a series of rebuilds of the same design, 2LF-Fast proved to be wiley and slightly out of control. With a 1:1 gear ratio for the drivetrain and 2 touch sensors for detecting the walls, this robot seemed well equiped to find the exit. The occasional over-steer that was caused by the quickness in the geartrain did cost it some time on its 32 second run which ultimately was no where near the winning speed of the day.
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- 2 Left Feet - Slow by Jona: Superceding its older brother (2LF-Fast), 2LF-Slow was enhanced by a slower 5:1 geartrain. This definately improved control of robot position in turns, however it also increased the time it took to find the exit by nearly double. With a successful run of 50 seconds under its belt, 2LFT-Slow called it a day.
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- Chip by Steve: Chip is a robot that is reconfigured for each event it participates in. Based on a custom made micro-processor that is housed within the space of 4 studs x 4 studs x 1.66 studs. This cpu unit has 2 external sensor inputs as well as 2 motor outputs. There are 2 custom made IR distance sensors built in to the unit. This configuration of Chip utilized the built in distance sensor to detect wall presence. Scoring a best run time of 22 seconds (entrance to exit) and also 19 seconds (exit to entrance), Chip proved to be a contender.
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- Amazing by Steve: Built the same as Lefty, Amazing had fresh batteries which ultimately became its downfall. Too much power alowed the robot to over shoot on many of its turns causing navigational errors. Amazing had no completed runs.
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- Righty by Steve: Righty gets its name from the fact that it was designed to follow the right-hand wall inside the maze. It is equiped with a standard LEGO light sensor to detect the presence of the side wall, and also how close the robot is to that wall. For front end collisions it uses a standard LEGO touch sensor for detection. Righty was very fast within the maze. Having a best run of 16 seconds (entrance to exit) and also 15 seconds (exit to entrance) earned it the winner's trophy.
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- Lefty by Steve: A left-haned version of Righty, Lefty clocked a best run time of 19 seconds.
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- Mesmorizing by Steve: Essentially the same robot as its 3 brothers, Mesmorizing had the unique ability to remember its path through the maze and then optimize the path for a second run through the maze. Although we never got to see the second run due to the RCX locking up and needing to be reset. After a successful run that lasted 45 seconds it was retired for the day.
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- Really Aggivating Task Solver by Tom: Rats is a redesign of Tom's first maze solver MazeBot. This time having 3 arms instead of just 1. The arms would pivot down on their respective axis of motion to detect the presense of a wall. If a wall was present, the arm would be blocked from hitting a custom made touch sensor, otherwise, the sensor would get depressed and the robot would know there was a wall present. The problem came up when the robot attempted to negotiate its way through the maze. It was using a rotation sensor and dead-reckoning to deterimine its position in a maze cell. Being hand made from wood, the maze has imperfections in its dimensions, these imperfections added errors intot the dead-reckoning which ultimately would cause Rats to end up unable to continue moving through the maze.
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