Student’s projects that create robots for the competition face a variety of challenges. One of them is a reliable robot chassis that will withstand a large weight of the robot, has a reliable electronics and has a sufficient torque to ensure smooth movement. It is often difficult for students to make such a chassis themselves using only the equipment that is available to them and having a limited budget. This is how we decided to create a universal robot platform with a base that is suitable for variety of competitions.
The purpose of the robot dictated the dimensions of the platform (70×70 cm). A robot of this size can participate in most of the competitions. The most common limitation of the size of the robots is 1x1x1 m, so we have left additional space for external devices in our design.
The base of the platform consists of aluminium profiles, and all other components are attached to it. One of the objectives of construction design is an easy connection of additional modules. Modules of a suitable size can simply be placed on the top of the robot, or, if necessary, mounted on the sides, front or rear.
The robot gear consists of two high power engines with planetary reducers and wheels of 30 cm in diameter that can bear a large load. Such a gear increases the versatility of the robot, as it allows it to move on a variety of surfaces. It also ensures a high maximum permissible load, creates conditions to install different additional equipment. The control of the two-wheel gear as simple as that of a track-driven gear, but by sacrificing some idle speeds, you can significantly reduce the complexity of cost and design.
The platform’s electronic system consists of engines, their controllers, micro controller and power supply. The chassis can be programmed according to the needs; additional sensors can be connected to the control system. The standard power supply is a 3S 5Ah lithium polymer battery. Controllers are designed in order to provide high reliability and resistance to current congestion, directional changes.
Compared to other similar platforms on the market, our design is distinguished by price and versatility. The prices of competitive platform range from € 500 to € 5,000 and more, while the cost of our platform is around € 200.
Duration:
2018 - 2018
