SARCNET Robotics Workshop Plan

Where: Moorabbin and District Radio Club, Opposite 68 Turner Rd Highett, Victoria

When: 6-8pm on Tuesday nights during term

Format: Group discussion and activities followed by individual project work

Website: See for this plan and for design notes and software download

  1. Introduction to the Robotics Workshop:
  2. Introducing the SARCBOT/MYBOT Project
  3. SARCBOT is the group’s robotics project as documented on this site
  4. MYBOT is the student’s individually tailored version of SARCBOT
  5. MYBOT hardware is generally kept at the club rooms for safe-keeping
  6. Prerequisites: A laptop computer, an engineering notebook,Robotics Platform ($33)
  7. Additional robotics hardware can be provided on request at cost prices
  8. Working together as a group through each phase on SARCBOT:
  9. Brainstorming, concept development, system requirements, design decisions
  10. Designing, experimenting, prototyping, problem solving
  11. Selecting parts, electronics soldering and mechanical assembly
  12. Software coding and debugging
  13. Systems integration and testing
  14. Documenting and uploading everything to this site
  15. Working individually through each phase on MYBOT:
  16. Designing MYBOT
  17. Building and coding MYBOT
  18. Demonstrating and evaluating MYBOT
  19. Robot demonstration and evaluation
  20. mBot demonstration
  21. Manual mode
  22. Obstacle-Avoidance mode
  23. Line-Follower mode
  24. Infrared control
  25. Bluetooth control
  26. Performance evaluation
  27. Speed
  28. Acceleration
  29. Turning circle
  30. Obstacle avoidance
  31. Remote control
  32. Discussion and brainstorming
  33. System requirements and design decisions for our SARCBOT/MYBOT
  34. Workshop design and development phases
  35. Phase 1: Robot power and drive subsystems
  36. Phase 2: Robot sensor subsystems
  37. Phase 3: Robot actuator subsystems
  38. Phase 4: Robot control subsystems
  39. Phase 5: Robot communication subsystems
  40. Phase 6: Robot navigation subsystems
  41. Phase 7: Robot applications
  42. Phase 1: Robot power and drive systems
  43. Electric motors
  44. Motor types: DC motor, stepper motor, servo motor
  45. Motor connections and characteristics (voltage and current)
  46. Motor drivers: Relay, Open collector, H-bridge
  47. Motor controls
  48. Motor forward and reverse control
  49. Motor speed control: Pulse Width Modulation
  50. Motor controllers: Switches, joysticks
  51. Motor safety: Start safe, run safe, fail safe
  52. Motor acceleration control: Overdamping, soft start/stop
  53. Motor synchronization: Photo-interrupters
  54. Electric Batteries
  55. Battery types: Carbon, Alkaline, Lithium, NiCd, NiMH, LiPo, LiFePo4
  56. Battery safety: Fuses, circuit breakers
  57. Battery charging
  58. Battery monitoring
  59. Power supplies
  60. Power distribution
  61. Voltage regulators
  62. DC-DC converters
  63. Phase 2: Robot sensor subsystems
  64. Voltage, current, resistance, capacitance
  65. Microswitch, touch switch, potentiometer, shaft encoder, proximity switch, line-follower
  66. Thermometer, hygrometer, accelerometer, magnetometer, barometer, anemometer
  67. Vibration, tilt, force, flex, weight, gyroscope
  68. Acoustic, ultrasonic, gas, water, light, colour, UV, ionizing radiation
  69. Camera, LIDAR, Barcode, RFID reader
  70. GPS Receiver, Real Time Clock
  71. RF/IR remote controls
  72. Phase 3: Robot actuator subsystems
  73. Motors: Stepper motor, servo motor, DC motor, relay, solenoid
  74. Annunciators: Buzzer, bell, speaker, siren, speech
  75. Displays and indicators: Monochrome, colour, text, graphics, LED, LCD, OLED, Strobe
  76. Phase 4: Robot control subsystems
  77. Robot architecture: Functional Block Diagram
  78. Central Processing Unit
  79. Startup and shutdown sequence
  80. Monitoring and control
  81. Phase 5: Robot communication subsystems
  82. Internal communications: Digital I/O, Serial I/O, I2C, SPI
  83. External communications: Infrared, RF (OOK), Bluetooth, WiFi, LoRa
  84. Remote control
  85. Telemetry
  86. Video
  87. Phase 6: Robot navigation subsystems
  88. Navigation sensors: IR, ultrasonic and laser proximity sensors
  89. Obstacle avoidance
  90. Obstacle detection: Sensors, sensor limitations, sensor fusion
  91. Obstacle avoidance strategies
  92. Location and orientation
  93. Mapping
  94. Coordinate systems
  95. Bearings
  96. Waypoints
  97. Navigation
  98. Point Made Good
  99. Track Made Good
  100. Dead reckoning
  101. Navigation sensors:
  102. Compass
  103. GPS
  104. Navigation algorithms:
  105. Search patterns
  106. Return to base
  107. Phase 7: Robot applications
  108. Cleaning
  109. Security
  110. Gaming