PROBLEMY MECHATRONIKI

UZBROJENIE, LOTNICTWO, INŻYNIERIA BEZPIECZEŃSTWA

ISSN 2081-5891
13, 3 (49), 2022, 131-144
E-ISSN 2720-5266

PROBLEMS OF MECHATRONICS
ARMAMENT, AVIATION, SAFETY ENGINEERING

Mini-Sumo Robot Design with Respect to the Control

System

Maciej ZARĘBA, Wojciech KACZMAREK*, Natalia DANIEL

Military University of Technology,
Faculty of Mechatronics, Armament and Aerospace
2 Sylwestra Kaliskiego Str., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland
*
Corresponding author’s e-mail address and ORCID:
wojciech.kaczmarek@wat.edu.pl; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3805-9510

Received: August 15, 2021 / Revised: September 1, 2021 / Accepted: August 22, 2022 /
Published: September 30, 2022

DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0016.0056

Abstract. This paper presents problems related to the design and construction of mini-
sumo robots. The authors discuss the solutions used in the presented topic using the
example of a developed robot. The presented design considers tournament requirements
and demonstrates the selection of robot components. Special attention was paid to the
presentation of the developed schematics and PCB fabrication.
Keywords: robotics, mobile robot, mini-sumo

1. INTRODUCTION

In recent years, complex mobile robot designs have been equipped with
LINUX and ROS (Robot Operating System) computers, thus enabling complex
control algorithms to be implemented [1–3].
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They have even developed their own sports disciplines, such as RC racing,
drone racing and robot sumo [4-5]. Thanks to the popularisation of these
disciplines, robot sumo competitions are becoming more popular every year and
often attract even young children. However, designing robots is still a challenge,
given that it is a combination of aspects related to electronics, mechanics and
programming [6].
The first mini-sumo robot was constructed in 1980 in Japan by Hiroshi
Nozawage, president of Fuji Software Inc. The first official tournament took
place 10 years later. Since then, the popularity of the competition has continued
to grow. The figure (Fig. 2.1) shows a view of a sumobot fight in a competition
arena [5].

Fig. 2.1. Sumobots during a competition

The fight is held in the presence of a referee and the engineers. Over the last
few years, the robots were started by the designers on a fixed signal, resulting in
‘false starts’, which affected the outcome of the fights. To avoid unsportsmanlike
behaviour, the robots are now triggered by the referee using a transmitter. The
robot must be fully autonomous, and the duel is won by the contestant that pushes
its opponent out of the ring (a 77 cm black circle with a white border) [7].

2. ANALYSIS OF MINI-SUMO ROBOT DESIGN SOLUTIONS

Currently, there are many works that describe mini-sumo robot tournaments.
An article from 2014 by students from the SKALP scientific association at the
Gdańsk University of Technology (Poland) describes the problem of constructing
mini-sumo robots and presents some unusual designs that have been used in
tournaments over the years.
 Mini-Sumo Robot Design with Respect to the Control System 133

In the early designs, popular servo drives were used as the propulsion
system, but there were also designs with special flaps that would fold out at
a right angle during the fight in order to push the opponent out of the ring.
The advantage of this solution is the larger surface area affecting the
opponent. Today, servo drives have been displaced by motors that achieve speeds
of up to 1 m/s They facilitate rapid strikes, giving robots equipped with motors
an advantage over flapping designs [3].

2.1. Competition requirements

A robot can take part in the tournament if it meets a few basic requirements
concerning its size and weight. The categories of mobile robots differ primarily
in physical constraints. The categorisation of sumobots is shown in the table
(Table 2.1).

Table 2.1. Sumobot categorisation

Class Height [cm] Width Length Weight
[cm] [cm] [g]
Mega Sumo – Aution Unlimited 20 20 3000
Mega Sumo – R/C Unlimited 20 20 3000
Mega Sumo – Network Unlimited 20 20 3000
Humanoid – R/C 50 20 20 3000
Lego Sumo Unlimited 15 15 1000
Mini Sumo Unlimited 10 10 500
Micro Sumo 5 5 5 100
Nano Sumo 2.5 2.5 2.5 25

The article discusses a robot that meets the requirements of the Mini Sumo
category, to ensure that it is allowed to participate in the competition [8]. The
main requirements that the robot must meet are:
 maximum weight m = 500 [g],
 maximum dimensions 100 [mm] x 100 [mm], no height limit,
 the robot must be fully autonomous.
2.2 Solutions available on the market

A number of components dedicated to mini-sumo robots are available on the

market.
Motors. Motors, which are the driving units, are one of the most essential
components of a robot. High power motors with micro gearing are a popular
choice for mobile robots. When selecting motors, the gearbox must be properly
selected to fit the design intent.
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The robot designer must choose between torque and speed. If the robot is to
move at low speed but have a high torque, the motors should have a higher gear
ratio, such as 298:1. If the speed of the robot is important, motors with a lower
gear ratio such as 10:1 are recommended [9]. The most popular motors are Pololu
HP with 50:1, 30:1, and 100:1 micro gear (Fig. 2.2).

Fig. 2.2. Pololu HP motor with 10:1 micro gearing

Table 2.2. Specifications of a Pololu motor with 10:1 gearing

Parameter Value
Supply voltage 3–9 [V]
No-load current 70 [mA]
Current at standstill 1600 [mA]
No-load speed 3000 [rpm]
Torque 0.021 [Nm]
Transmission ratio 10:1
Shaft diameter 3 [mm]
Body dimensions 26 x 10 x 12 [mm]
Weight 9.5 [g]

Wheels. The robot’s wheels are responsible for transferring the torque
produced by the motor to the surface of the arena. It is crucial to choose the right
width and material, as this affects the robot’s grip. The most commonly used
materials are rubber and polyurethane, owing to the fact that they provide
excellent grip. For example, the Mirror (Fig. 2.3) uses an additionally softened
moulding silicone with a Shore hardness of 16 [7].
 Mini-Sumo Robot Design with Respect to the Control System 135

Fig. 2.3. The Mirror pushing out an opponent

Base with plough. The base featuring a plough is a strategic part of the body
of mobile sumobots. When designing the base, the robot’s centre of mass should
be placed as low as possible to reduce its vulnerability to the opponent’s attack.
Motors and white line sensors are mounted to the base. In this design, the base
with the plough was CNC milled out of aluminium (Fig. 2.4).

Fig. 2.4. Milled robot base

Microcontroller. The control unit used in mini-sumo robots consists of a
microcontroller [10]. The microcontroller collects the data sent from the sensors,
processes it, and then sends signals to the motor controls. Microcontrollers from
the Atmel, and Atmega families are often used in sumobots [11].
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Motor controller. The robot’s motors are controlled by controllers [12–14].

Newer types of controllers use H-bridge pulse-width modulation (PWM) [15–
17]. L293D and TB6612 drivers that act as H-bridge controllers are among those
frequently used [18]. The following table (Table 3.5) shows the parameters of the
L293D used in the design [19, 20].

Table 2.3. Basic parameters of the L293D

Parameter Value
Maximum motor supply voltage 36 [V]
Average current per channel 0.6 [A]
Peak current per channel 1.2 [A]

Line sensors. During a fight, the robot’s goal is to push the opponent out of
the ring (‘dojo’). At the same time, the robot must control its own position within
the ring, because leaving the ring means losing the fight. To control the ring
boundary (the colour of the arena is strictly defined by the regulations), reflective
optocouplers (Fig. 3.6.) acting as white line sensors are recommended [21].
Popular models used by designers include KTIR0711S [7] and TCRT7000
sensors [22], and photodiodes [20, 22]. Depending on the radiation incident on
the detector, a voltage signal is obtained at the output of the detector. Dark
surfaces absorb part of the signal sent by the transmitter while white surfaces
reflect it. A change of the surface colour will be indicated by an increase or
decrease of the output voltage.

Fig. 2.5. Principle of operation of a reflective optocoupler

3. MINI-SUMO ROBOT DESIGN

As part of the study, a mini-sumo robot was designed and constructed in

accordance with the requirements shown in Table 2.1 and the requirements set
out in tournament regulations.
 Mini-Sumo Robot Design with Respect to the Control System 137

3.1. Robot design

The robot’s body was made using 3D printing technology, while its base is
a 4 [mm] thick aluminium sheet. The front of the robot features a wedge that
allows the robot to drive up to an opponent and pick it up. Holes for line sensors
were drilled in the front of the base, with opponent detection sensors positioned
close by. Situated inside the robot, the PCB is shielded by the body, reducing the
risk of it being damaged during the fight. With the IDC programmable connector
in place, the robot can be programmed without disassembly of components.

(a) (b)

Fig. 3.1. View of the robot model, (a) top view with robot movement directions,
(b) model view

When choosing the control unit, the Arduino module was rejected, and
instead, the through-hole Atmega8A microcontroller (Fig. 3.2) was chosen.
The advantages of this solution include:
 small size in comparison to Arduino controllers,
 23 input/output lines,
 3 PWM channels.
The control signals developed by the microcontroller are fed to the surface
printable L293D motor drivers (Fig. 3.3). These are two-channel H-bridges,
whose main advantage is high current capacity. The robot uses two such circuits
(connected together to further increase the current capacity), one per motor. The
white line detection system uses off-the-shelf QTR-1A reflective optocoupler
modules (Fig. 3.4).
With built-in resistors to limit the current flowing through the IR LED, the
transmitter is protected from damage. The design used two such modules. Sharp
GP2Y0A41SK0F distance sensors were used to detect the presence of the
opponent (Fig. 3.5). The sensors use an IR beam to measure the (adjustable)
distance.
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Fig. 3.2. Atmega8A microcontroller Fig. 3.3. L293D circuit

Fig. 3.4. QTR-1A line sensor Fig. 3.5. GP2Y0A41SK0F sensor

The robot is driven by two HP Pololu brushless DC motors with 100:1 micro
gearing. The motors transfer the torque to wheels made of rubber. Figures 3.6–
3.11 show the developed diagrams and the PCB.
The diagrams were created in Autodesk Eagle, due to the wide availability
of electronic component libraries. An important aspect was the selection of an
appropriate power source, and the final choice was a LiPol battery with a capacity
of 700 [mAh] and an operating voltage of 7.4 [V], which, based on the LM1117
stabiliser, will provide a stable voltage for the electronic circuits.
Mini-Sumo Robot Design with Respect to the Control System 139

Fig. 3.6. Microcontroller circuit diagram

Fig. 3.7. Wiring diagram for motor controllers

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Fig. 3.8. Wiring diagram for line sensors

Fig. 3.9. Wiring diagram for opponent sensors

Fig. 3.10. Supply diagram

 Mini-Sumo Robot Design with Respect to the Control System 141

(a) (b)

Fig. 3.11. PCB (a) CAD model, (b) real model

The physical model of the robot (Fig. 3.12.) was equipped with a body made
using 3D printing technology, which helped obtain the desired shape. The front
of the robot features two opponent sensors and the line sensors. The whole
structure is attached to an aluminium base with a wedge.
(a) (b)

Fig. 3.12. The robot (a) without the body, (b) with the body

ATNEL’s MkAVRCalulator was used to program the robot. The

microcontroller programming system is shown in Figure 3.13.

Fig. 3.13. Block diagram of the microcontroller programming system.

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The fabricated robot was tested in a tournament ring. The tests consisted in
placing a weighted 10 [cm] x 10 [cm] x 5.5 [cm] mini sumo fighting robot body
in the ring as a potential opponent. The robot detected the ‘opponent’ each time
and pushed it out of the ring and remained in the ring after completing the task.

4. CONCLUSIONS

With wide access to modern technology and software, mobile robots can be
designed and built by almost anyone. With the use of computer-aided design, the
designer is able to eliminate possible design flaws as early as in the design stage
[17]. The available literature in the field of mobile robots is a useful aid in the
robot design process, as it helps keep track of the development of robot designs
and, in the case of sumobots, fighting tactics. When building a robot, it is
important to use modern design solutions with an attempt to create a system that
can be easily extended. For this reason, choosing the right microprocessor that
will allow the robot to be extended with additional modules and sensors in the
future is particularly crucial. The robot presented in the article meets the
requirements of the Mini Sumo category, which means that it can participate in
tournaments in the future. The tests performed confirmed its correct functioning.
The electrical diagrams were created in Autodesk Eagle. Selecting an appropriate
power source (a 700 [mAh] LiPol battery with an LM1117 stabiliser), which
ensured a stable voltage level for the electronic systems, was an important step.
The experience gained during the design, construction and testing of the robot
will be used to build the next version.

FUNDING

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article.

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Projekt robota minisumo w aspekcie układu sterowania

Maciej ZARĘBA, Wojciech KACZMAREK1, Natalia DANIEL1

Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna,
Wydział mechatroniki, Uzbrojenia I Lotnictwa
ul. gen. Sylwestra Kaliskiego 2, 00-908 Warszawa

Streszczenie. W artykule przedstawiono problematykę związaną z projektowaniem

i budową robotów typu minisumo. Autorzy omówili rozwiązania stosowane
w prezentowanej tematyce na przykładzie opracowanego robota. Przedstawiony projekt
uwzględnia wymagania turniejowe, oraz prezentuje dobór komponentów robota.
Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na przedstawienie opracowanych schematów i wykonania
płytki PCB.
Słowa kluczowe: robotyka, robot mobilny, minisumo.

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