ECE 511: Obstacle Evading Ultrasonic Robot Final Project Report

Team: Aaron Hunter, Eric Whitestone, Joel Chenette, Anne-Marie Cressin Fall 2011, ECE Department, George Mason University

GOAL
We wanted to use the microcontroller MSP430 to build a small robot that would avoid obstacles. To accomplish that goal, we are assembling the MSP430 with 6 ultrasonic range finders, an H-bridge, a servo, and a LEGO platform, and a set of batteries for power.

Placement of Ultrasonic Range Finders

Originally 6 Sensors One sensor was fried

List of Components
Description Microcontroller Ultrasonic Range Finder H-Bridge Steering Servo Voltage Regulator, 5VDC, 3A, with heatsink Adjustable Voltage Regulator, used to provide 3.3VDC, with heatsink Random connectors, perfboard, etc Set of Batteries Qty 1 6 1 1 1 Manufacturer Texas Instruments Devantech LTD DFRobot Hitec Manufacturer Part Price per Total Number Unit Price MSP430G2203 SRF02 DRI0002 HS-322HD $2 $24.50 $22 $10 $10 $2 $147 $22 $10 $10

Linear Technology LT1085CT-5#PBF

1 n/a 1

National Semiconductor n/a n/a Total Project Cost

LM317 n/a n/a

$5 $20 n/a

$5 $20 n/a $216

Overall System Schematic

GND +5VDC +3.3VDC G ND + 3.3V DC M1 MSP-EX430G2 G ND U1 +3.3VDC +3.3VDC SRF02 5VDC SDA/ RX SCL/ TX MODE XIN/TA0.1 GND TEST/SBWTCK RST/NMI P1.7 P1.6 P2.5 P2.4 MODE P2.3 GND S1 RESET G ND G ND G ND G ND S DA S CL +5V DC + 5VDC + DC 5V + DC 5V P3.3 SCL P3.2 SDA U2 SRF02 5VDC SDA/ RX SCL/ TX SCL SDA R4 1.8K R3 1.8K G ND XOUT SDA SDA SCL SDA SCL SDA SCL SDA SCL S DA S DA S DA SCL +5V DC SCL SDA

USB
DVCC P1.0/TA0CLK P1.1/TA0.0 P1.2/TA0.1 +10.5 VDC FROM BATT C2 10 uF GND R8 POT C3 10 uF +5VDC R5 R 1 2 3 VREG P1.3/S2 P1.4/SMCLK VR1 P1.5/TA0.0 P2.0/TA1.0 P2.1/TA1.1 P2.2/TA1.1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 MSP430G2203 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 DVSS/GND1

J1
S2 P1.3

J2
GND2 GND3 VCC

+10.5 VDC FROM BATT C4 0.1 uF GND R9 POT C5 5 uF +3.3VDC R6 R 1 2 3 VREG

U3

SRF02 5VDC

VR2 H1 H-BRIDGE

SDA/ RX SCL/ TX MODE

H-BRIDGE
LEGO MOTOR DC + LEGO MOTOR DC DC MOTOR 1 + DC MOTOR 1 DC MOTOR 2 + DC MOTOR 2 U4 SRF02

GND S CL

5VDC JUMPER SET SDA/ RX SCL/ TX MODE GND S CL M 2 VS E2

G ND

VD

M 1

E1

U5

SRF02 5VDC

GND +10.5 VDC FROM BATT DIRECTION SELECT PWM

SDA/ RX SCL/ TX MODE GND S CL

In the end we used the MSP Experimenter's board as we had issues with the other support boards. That board change is not reflected here.

U6

SRF02 5VDC SDA/ RX SCL/ TX MODE GND

+ DC 5V

Component #1: Microcontroller

Unpredictable register values with the Launchpad Switched to Experimenter board

Component #2: Ultrasonic sensors

They detects objects. The I2C communication Addressing confusion 7 Bit address Bit shift issue not well documented

Component #3: H-Bridge

It powers the wheel motors
One pin for direction, another pin for speed control. Direction pin uses a digital I/O pin Speed pin is controlled by Timer hardware Modifying CCR1 changes the PWM duty cycle

Component #4: Steering Servo

It gives the robot its orientation (turns it) 3 pin interface: Power, Gnd, PWM input Pulse width from ~1050us to ~1950us, frequency of 50 Hz PWM pin is controlled by Timer hardware Modifying CCR1 changes the PWM dutycycle Challenges: Servo did not have full range of motion. Had to manually tweak the PWM timings

Component #5: Set of batteries

It powers the robot.
2 Pin interface (PWR, GND) 10.5 V supply voltage

Component #6: Two voltage regulators

They adjust the battery voltage for MSP and ultrasonic sensors.
3 Pin interface: Vin, Gnd, Vout TO-220 package A heatsink was added for the 5VDC voltage regulator.

Ultrasonic Sensors Characteristics

Each range finder has a beam pattern as shown below, with the sensitivity of the transducer in db.

Division of Tasks among members

I2C Development: Eric Whitestone and Joel Chenette Electrical Integration: Anne-Marie Cressin Power and Steering Development: Aaron Hunter Hardware Integration: Aaron Hunter and Anne-Marie Cressin

Adjustments to Scope of Work

As mentioned before, we used the MSP430 Experimenters Board in the end as we had encountered too many issues with the other support boards. No PCB was finalized as the board changes did not give enough lead time for a PCB to be fabricated. Five ultrasonic sensors are being used instead of six.

Our robot

Thank you!