0

ECET 365

Week 8

Professor: Iskandar Hack

Robotic Car Course Project Manual

SM Shahnawaz

Table of Contents
1

Analysis of alternatives......................................................................................................2
Justification of alternatives...........................................................................................2
Bill of Materials..................................................................................................................3
System description.............................................................................................................3
System power chart........................................................................................................3
Operating............................................................................................................................4
How to use.......................................................................................................................4
Step 1:..............................................................................................................................4
Step 2:..............................................................................................................................4
Step 3:..............................................................................................................................4
Testing.................................................................................................................................4
Test results......................................................................................................................4
Gantt Chart........................................................................................................................5
2

Analysis of alternatives

Requirement Alternative A Alternative B Alternative C

Navigating track Photo sensors Track groove for car Pre-program
(Steering and to follow movements
Sensing)

Power source life Fully charged Solar panels as back Power conservation
batteries up
Staying on track Stepper motors Servo motor for GPS type program
steering
Time for travel speed up motors Extra traction on Improved tire traction
track (rubber (extra gripping
coating) rubber, resembling
real tires)
Time for lap time programming out any Quick start-up time Reduce weight, or
unnecessary out of the gate by maximize if needed
movements graduating speed

CPU AXIOM Dragon Parallex

Justification of alternatives
 Stepper motors (2)
 PWM program for speed control
 Code Warrior for programming CPU
 H bridges for motor controls (steering)
 Hall affect sensors
 Batteries for power
 DeVry Tower with CPU
3

Bill of Materials
Parts list Price QTY
Robotic car kit 195.73 1
Tower board kit 365.31 1
Batteries / Charger 11.99 3
Bread board 3.49 1
Voltage regulator 0.50 1
Wire kit 5.59 1
Electrical tape 2.98 1

System description

System power char

12V 12V

Voltage
regulator
4

Operating

How to use
Step 1: Place batteries correctly into battery compartment located under the car.

Step 2: Place car on track. Make sure visual sensors are aligned with track.

Step 3: The power switch 1 located on the driver side of the car. Flip the power switch to the
“ON” position.

Testing

Test results: Well, List of problems that I have faced:


Majority of the problems I encountered was with the hardware. I had to continuously play
with the calibration of the visual sensors by adjusting the gain. Once I had the visual
sensor calibrated correctly the car ran as I hypothesized.
 Another thing I noticed that the duty cycle plays a big role in the success of the operation.
If the duty cycle is to high the car will be faster than the sensors can make the correction.
The car usually ended up off the track. I found that the lower duty cycle did slow the car
down but did make the car run smoother on the track.
5

Gantt Chart