17. Application Implication¶
This week I have worked on proposing a final project masterpiece that integrates many of the skills I have learnt throughout FabAcademy.
My project: Omniwheel platform for food delivery¶
In the earlier weeks I have been making progress in creating my Omniwheel robot. However, there are parts that I have developed outside of each week’s assignments, which I will mention in my final project documentation.
What will it do?¶
Looking what is available in the world, there has been many delivery robots available on the market. I first looked at what was available, and one of the more famous one goes by the name of sharship robotics. After considering the time I have left to complete FabAcademy, I have decided against making the entire food delivery platform, and just focus on the mobile robot base first.
The base of the robot will be able to move holonomically, that is, the controllable degree of freedom of movement is equal to the total degrees of freedom. This can be achive by creating an omniwheel as the wheel for the robot, which instead of just being able to move in 1 axis, the wheel would have 2 axis of movements.
Who’s done what beforehand¶
I have been looking around other fabacademy students’ projects, and noted at least 3 relevant ones
- Tele 5G robot https://fabacademy.org/2021/labs/oulu/students/kenichi-komatsu/projects/details/Cosmetics/
- Fab Omnibot https://fabacademy.org/2021/labs/kamplintfort/students/jefferson-sandoval/project/01_GetTheIdea/
- Fab Mobile robot https://fabacademy.org/2020/labs/khairpur/students/farhan-shah/final.html
There was another one that doesn’t utilize holonomic movement, but has great documentation for weight estimation, and integration of the various subsystems from HTMAA.
- baby stroller https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.20/Architecture/people/OmarAlDajani/FinalProject.html
What did I design¶
Some of the tasks I have identified are:
- Defining specification of the motor
- Making robot chassis
- Making Omniwheel
- Making motor holder
- Making ESP01 board for communication between robot and computer
- Write a computer application to control the robot’s movement
- Making microcontroller to control the robot
- Control of robot’s movement
- End to end testing
TLDR: I have been developing the robot through a commercial motor driver as at the time I did not have the skills to make the motor driver board. I only have a Eagle design file for the ESP01 board, but have not fabricated it yet. I used some low-cost DC motor for this spiral, but I have plans to re-spec the motor. The wheels have already been designed and tested.
What materials and components were used¶
Prices are in USD.
Updates to Global Evaluator First Prototype robot.
| Part | Model | Price | Quantity | Origin | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC motor | 6V DC motor | $0.88 | 3 | Cytron.io | $2.64 |
| Dual channel H bridge | L298N | $1.03 | 2 | Cytron.io | $2.06 |
| Acrylic sheet | 3mm acrylic sheet A4 | $4.00 | 1 | Alibaba | $4.00 |
| 3D printer filament | PLA * 1KG | $11.80 | 300g | Cytron.io | $3.54 |
| Other electronics components | Attiny1614, Attiny412, ESP01, headers, resistors, … | $0.00 | 1 | Alibaba, DigiKey, Cytron.io | $16.63 |
| Screws | M3 * 20, M3 nuts | Alibaba | $2.06 | ||
| Battery | AA * 4 | $2.00 | 1 | Local Hardware store | $2.00 |
| Total: | $32.93 |
Second Prototype Robot (Used for final project)
| Part | Model | Price | Quantity | Origin | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stepper Motors | Nema 17 | $7.90 | 3 | Alibaba | $23.70 |
| Stepper Motor drivers | DRV8825 | $1.60 | 3 | Alibaba | $4.80 |
| Arcylic sheet | 5mm acrylic sheet A5 | 1 | Fablab inventory | $10.50 | |
| 3D printer filament | PLA | $11.80 | 200g | Fablab Inventory | $2.63 |
| 3D printer filament | TPU | $24.81 | 200g | Lazada (Personal use) | $4.96 |
| Other electronics component | Attiny1614 SSFR, ESP01, headers, resistors, … | Alibaba, DigiKey, Cytron.io | $16.63 | ||
| Hardware components | M3 screws and nuts | Alibaba | $4.18 | ||
| Brass Pole | 1meter | $1.40 | 1 | Hardware shop | $1.40 |
| Lipo battery | Turnigy 3S 2200mAH | $20.00 | 1 | Personal | $8.99 |
| Total: | $77.79 |
Electronic component breakdown
| Part | Quantity | Origin | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attiny1614 SSFR | 2 | Alibaba | $2.04 |
| Ultrasonic Sensor HC05 | 3 | Cytron.io | $3.10 |
| ESP8266-01 | 1 | Cytron.io | $1.80 |
| 100uF Capacitor | 3 | DigiKey | $1.86 |
| SMD male headers Horizontal | 24 | DigiKey | $3.19 |
| SMD male headers Vertical 5*2 | 2 | DigiKey | $2.30 |
| TTL female header Vertical | 8 | DigiKey | $1.25 |
| 5V Regulator AMS1117 | 1 | Alibaba | $0.12 |
| 3.3V Regulator XC6206 | 1 | Alibaba | $0.02 |
| Resistors | 5 | DigiKey | $0.03 |
| Capacitors | 3 | DigiKey | $0.15 |
| Push Button | 1 | DigiKey | $0.18 |
| Jumper Wires Female to Female | 40 | Cytron.io | $0.60 |
| Total | $16.63 |
Hardware component breakdown
| Part | Quantity | Origin | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| M3*12mm | 12 | Alibaba | $0.92 |
| M3 * 16mm | 12 | Alibaba | $1.00 |
| M3 * 10mm | 5 | Alibaba | $0.85 |
| M3 nuts | 25 | Alibaba | $1.05 |
| M3 set screw | 3 | mcmaster | $0.36 |
| Total | $4.18 |
End updates
What processes will be used¶
Additive:
- 3D printing using
- Monoprice Select Mini v2 for TPU
- Ultimaker 2+ for PLA prints
Subtractive:
- Milling PCB board using Stepcraft 420
- Laser cut cover of chassis using Wpilog Fusion Pro
Program
- Interface programming using Python tkinter
- Embedded programming using Arduino IDE
How will the project be evaluated¶
For the first spiral, the robot should at minimum be able to move around and controlled via computer app.
To achieve this, I identified the following to be done:
- The motors to rotate.
- The robot to move forward and backward
- The robot to be controlled via a computer application.