Project Overview
The goal of this project was to use previously developed skills related to mechatronics design and construction combined with new skills related to asynchronous communication strategies, the PIC micro-controller, and assembly language programming to construct a remote controlled ship (SHIP) and controller (ANSIBLE). The ship and controller were designed to participate in a cooperative competition involving shooting water at funnels to open/close gates and subsequently moving ships into those gates.
Project Requirements
- Control signals only through provided XBee24 radios according to class-wide protocol
- ANSIBLE receives and displays information about the current status of the SHIP, including fuel status and communication status
- SHIP must indicate pairing status, fuel status, original team, and currently-controlling team through displays visible from 30 feet away in direct sunlight
- SHIP must be able to navigate to a gate and dispense water in order to open/close that gate
- Three unique sensing modalities on the ANSIBLE
- Interface with a fuel gauge via UART through a PIC programmed in assembly language
- Both the ANSIBLE and SHIP must be untethered, portable, and battery-powered. ANSIBLE must have sufficient power for 8 hours of use.
- Use only one class-provided pump on the SHIP
Design Overview
The theme we chose for this project was "pirates". As a result, our ANSIBLE was fashioned to look like the front of a pirate ship, complete with a prow. The inputs to the ANSIBLE reflect this pirate theme, with a pirate wheel used for steering and a sword equipped with an IMU used to control the SHIP's speed. The SHIP itself consists of a main hull with two stabilizing hulls on each side and displays its status using 3 LED strips. It is powered by a single propeller, uses two rudders to steer, and has a "turret" mechanism for shooting water at the front. The SHIP itself is also decked out in pirate paraphernalia.
Our Team
From left to right: Saifan Rafiq, Brian Do, Dhruv Samant, and Jay Dedhia