Build Your Own Combat Robot

S ummary
Chapter 12: Robot Brains 273
What sets the Rover apart is that information can flow back to the operator
from the robot along the same path in reverse. This information is in the form of a
color video image from a camera mounted on the front of the robot, sounds coming
from the vicinity of the robot, and sensor input from infrared proximity sensors
mounted on the robot. The sensor input returned from the proximity sensors
is manipulated in software and fed back into the joystick held by the operator. In
this way, the operator can see what the robot sees, hear what it hears, and feel
what it feels.
Each sense the operator can have from the robot makes for better
teleoperation. Because the robot can only see forward, at times the operator may
have to “feel” an obstruction as the robot backs up during navigation. By adding
the sense of touch, the operator could “feel” the obstruction behind it before it
even hits it. Since the infrared detector can detect the object from a distance of 6
inches, the software can make the joystick provide increasing resistance to moving
back as the obstruction approaches—that is, it gets harder and harder to drive the
robot back into the obstruction as the robot gets closer to the obstruction. You
could call this “driving by Braille,” as the sense of touch is being simulated and vision
is not being used.
In a combat robot, you will be able to see the environment around the robot,
but what about what is happening inside the robot? Is a motor overheating, are
the batteries going dead, did one of your drive chains break? It would be nice to
know if your robot is about to have an internal failure before it happens so you
can initiate corrective actions during the match. Or, if your robot isn’t moving
correctly, you might be able to remotely fix the problem if you knew its cause, or
alter the driving of the robot to protect a weak side. Without feedback, you can
easily turn a minor problem into a major problem.
This chapter, and the previous chapter, presented some ideas about how you
could use a microcontroller to enhance your robot-controlling efforts. Chapter 13
will show a simple implementation of the Basic Stamp 1 in a mini sumo robot. You
will see some of the wiring requirements, and you can read the source code for two
of the programs that make the robot work. They are written in PBasic so they
should be easy to understand.
Have fun learning the world of microcontrollers. They can really help turn your
robot into a super robot.