Week One

 

Purpose of Project:

We will be designing and making a metal detecing, obstacle avoiding robot. The robot will be able to move along a set path and avoid any obstacles in that path. The robot will have the ability to detect any metal object that it drives over and will then alert the user of the objects presence using a buzzer. The robot will be controlled using an arduino which we will program. 

Main Components: 

  • Arduino Uno - The brain of the robot. Interfaces with the other components.

  • Dual H-Bridge Motor Driver Module - Controls the two motors.

  • Geared Motors - Used to move the robot.

  • Ultrasonic Distance Sensor - Used to detect incoming obstacles.
  • Buzzer - Used to indicate when the robot detects a metal object.

  • Insulated Wire - Used in making the metal detector coil.

  • Chassis - Every other component gets mounted to the chassis sop that the robot is one ocherent piece. 

Week One Progress:

This week time was spent on figuring out how to use the arduino, how to program it with our code and how to get it working with the other compents. 

A basic version of the metal detecting coil was made which was able to detect a metal object and produce a buzz. However, the first version of the coil was very weak. It was only able to detect metal objects that were very close and experienced a fair amount of interference.

We were also able to make a prototype of the robot driving code and managed to get the motors working.

Problems/ Concerns:

When the metel detecting coil detected a metal object it would produce a buzz but the buzzer would get stuck on and would continue to produce a buzz, even when the metal object was removed.

Plans for Week Two:

The main focuses for Week Two will be to finish the metal detecting circuit aswell as finsihing the car driving code. 

 

 

 

 

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