Tag Archives: Zumo

Sumo Robots, Sensors and everything else….

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The semester is approaching its end, and students are making great progress: with added infrared and ultrasonic sensors, the robots are able to detect the other robot (more or less 😉 ). Additionally the RNet stack adds extra remote control capabilities.

Zumo Sumo Battle

Zumo Sumo Battle

Things are very much in the testing phase, and some robot (or operator?) failures are really funny 🙂 For sure much more advanced moves compared to previous week. Including extra benefits like a robot bringing a bottle of water! The following video hopefully gives an impression:

Happy Roboting 🙂

Sumo Robot with Accelerometer Remote Controller

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Usually, there are two flavors of Sumo robot competition:

  1. Autonomous: no communication to the robot permitted after the start.
  2. Remote-controlled: there is a wireless remote controller driving the robot.

Just for fun, I have implemented a wireless remote controller application for my Zumo Robot using the Freescale SRB (MC13123) board. I’m using the Freescale MMA7260Q accelerometer on the SRB board to control the robot.

Accelerometer Remote Controller

Accelerometer Remote Controller

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IEEE802.15.4 for the Zumo Robot

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For the INTRO Zumo robot I have three wireless options: Bluetooth, nRF24L01+ and IEEE802.15.4 with the Freescale MC1320x transceiver. For the nRF24L01+ I have developed a simple radio network stack which I can use with the MC1320x transceiver too.

MC1320x and MC13213 SRB Board

MC1320x and MC13213 SRB Board

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Sumo Robot Battle Tips

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The INTRO course is progressing fast, with a lot of information passed on how to build a successful mini Sumo robot based on the Freescale FRDM-KL25Z and a modified Pololu Zumo chassis. The PID control loop implementation for speed and position finally starts to work properly with the help of FreeMaster. Things are not perfect yet, but the robots get better from day-to-day.

Zumo Test Battle

Zumo Test Battle

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Zumo Robot assembled

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This week we were busy with building and documenting the first robots based on the Zumo Robot Chassis PCB.

Chassis Base PCB

The chassis is designed to hook up the FRDM-KL25Z board from Freescale. It is using parts from Pololu (chassis, motors, DC-DC converter, line sensor, H-Bridge, encoders):

ZumoBaseBoardOverview

Zumo Base Board Overview

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Zumo Robot Chassis PCB arrived!

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Excellent news: I received this week the 40 INTRO Zumo Robot Base/Chassis PCBs, ready to bring the Zumo Robot project based on the FRDM-KL25Z board from Freescale to the next level:

Intro Zumo PCB TopSide

Intro Zumo PCB TopSide

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Mini Sumo Robot with Proximity Sensors

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The new semester is approaching fast! And I’m under pressure to get everything lined up and ready. This time, I want the students of the INTRO (Infotronic) course at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts to have some fun with building and programming Mini-Sumo Robots 🙂

Opponent View

No chance to escape!

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Mini Sumo Robot Competition running with FRDM-KL25Z

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Rigi Schwinget (Roman Koch) (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turnerundsennenschwinger.jpg)

Rigi Schwinget (Picture: Roman Koch)

Every three years, there is the “Eidgenössisches Schwing- und Älplerfest” in Switzerland. A really big thing for us here. If you are not familiar with what this is, then have a read about the long tradition of  Schwingen in Switzerland.

Wondering what “Schwingen” or wrestling has to do with a technology blog? It is about having fun with robots!

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Fail! The Zumo Shield Blade Problem

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Ahhhhrg! I admit: I’m not immune to all the silly problems an engineer can face in his life. And sometimes it is about the most basic things. This morning was again such a day: One of the infrared sensors of my Zumo Robot reported wrong values:

Sensor wrong values

Sensor wrong values

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Adding Quadrature Encoder to the Zumo Chassis

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The Pololu Zumo chassis is nearly perfect for my needs: it is small and compact, and neatly works with the FRDM-KL25Z board. I’m able to use it for line following or maze solving. But it lacks a position (quadrature) encoder on the wheels which is either very useful or even required for the lecture assignments for my next class. The Pololu Zumo chassis mainly has been designed for Robot-Sumo competitions, where such quadrature sensors are not really needed. Pololu offers optical quadrature sensors for their 42×19 mm wheel which I used in this project. So why not adding these sensors to the Zumo chassis?

FRDM-Robot with Quadrature Sensors Mounted

FRDM-Robot with Quadrature Sensors Mounted

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