W A Y F I N D E R
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The Wayfinder is built to be an autonomous navigation robot capable of finding its way through a 4’x8’ maze. Its main objectives are to avoid collisions, identify its location in the maze, and pick up a 2” cube and deliver it to a specified location. The system converts the ultrasonic sensor measurements on each side of the robot to values indicating the number of tiles away to a wall. The values are compared with a hard-coded table to determine if the robot is on a unique tile. If the robot is determined to be on a unique tile, localization is complete. If not, the robot is instructed to move to the next tile.
S P I D E R B O T 1 4 2
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Why 142? Spanning 142cm wide on each side when extended, the Spiderbot 142 is a modular add-on optimally designed for stair climbing capability of autonomous vacuum robots. As the robot detects a potential step, with the added IR sensor on top, the simple four-bar mechanism activates and elevates the vacuum upwards to 8" clearing the average stair. A stepper then proceeds to move the vacuum forward while the four-bar mechanism remains stationary with a rack and pinion and linear bearing system. Once the robot has detected that it is on the step, the four-bar disengages and retracts back onto the vacuum for it to clean each step.
R O B O T S U M O : P L W R
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Plwr (/plau/ər) is an autonomous competitive sumo robot designed to be compact and stable. I designed, modeled, and machined the chassis and frame out of aluminum to resemble that of a snow plow. Note the external IR sensor was moved behind the nose and a slot had been machined to accommodate for line-of-sight.