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Custom Mini Sumo robot
Forum user DrGFreeman has been posting about his custom Mini Sumo robot. He designed the chassis in CAD and 3D printed it; the model is available on Thingiverse. An A-Star 32U4 robot controller reads the QTR-1RC reflectance and Sharp GP2Y0A60SZLF analog distance sensors while powering the motors with its dual onboard motor drivers. DrGFreeman plans to build two copies of the robot: one with 75:1 micro metal gearmotors and one with 50:1 micro metal gearmotors so he can pit them against each other and figure out whether more speed or torque does better. This video shows the behavior he’s programmed so far:
The whole build log along with more pictures and discussion is in the forum post.
4 comments
I printed the case with 3 D printer. I also have the Pololu boards, sensors and motors.
Where can I find suitable instructions for the cabling and software, programs?
We have some basic example code for doing things like controlling the motors and other onboard peripherals like the buzzer in our A-Star 32U4 Arduino library, which is linked to on the "Resources" tab of the product page for the A-Star 32U4 Robot Controller:
https://www.pololu.com/product/3116/resources
We do not know of any code for using the other sensors in this configuration or a schematic of how they are connected, but you might post on the forum (linked to above) to see if the original poster is interested in making those available.
-Nathan
I'm thinking about starting a mini sumo robot competition in my area here in California. Does anyone have any experience in running a mini sumo competition. If so, please share any tips, suggestions, etc. Much appreciated.
Jeff
This blog post about creating a mini sumo ring might be helpful. We like to use the Challonge tournament bracket generator for our LVBots competitions, and find it convenient to use a 10 cm x 10 cm sizing box to qualify the robots. We laser cut a few boxes out of acrylic, but wood or some other material would probably work just as well.
If you have any other questions about how we organize our competitions, I would be happy to answer them.
-Claire