Parallax Propeller Based Sumo Robot
Lead Design - 2009
As part of my self orientation to the Parallax Propeller microcontroller I undertook the development of this PCB and associated firmware. The board is designed to mount on a Parallax Sumo robot chassis and control continuous rotation servos according to input from 11 different sensors. The Propeller microcontroller has eight independent processors or "cogs" that access a shared memory and I/O bus. Each cog can execute code asynchronously and pass information between cogs. This revolutionary architecture provides enormous processing power for robotics and is a natural fit for fast paced competitions where target tracking and defensive coding often prevail over brute force. On this PCB, six IR LED-Sensor pairs track targets to the left, right, front, and rear of the robot. Four IR line sensors watch for white sumo-ring edge and center markings. A PS2 optical mouse input allows for surface tracking to determine the direction of the robot's movement which allows for drive correction and defensive procedures when being pushed by another robot. Each sensor group is monitored by an independent cog, which reports its status to a main control cog. There are four remaining cogs available to run artificial intelligence, combat learning routines, IR sensor jamming, or just blinking LEDs. The final PCB design was hand etched and drilled.
