Team 2: Hoard Robotics

1. Team 2: Hoard Robotics Jamis Martin Trenton Andres Jay Zifer Brad Nowak

2. Project Overview • The goal of the project is to develop a team of robots that will utilize swarm behavior to accomplish tasks • The robots will communicate through an ad-hoc RF network, IR LEDs and sensors • Bots will be initialized by a non-moving control unit

3. Software Overview • Microcontroller Interfaces • Sensors via ATD • RF module via SPI • Flag-Driven design • Main loop handles packet decoding, sensor polling, decides direction to move, transmission • Flags for these are set by interrupt routine upon reception • Data decoding and turning algorithms depend upon what program the bots are running • Embedded C

4. Sensors • 6 IR sensors, one on each side • 6 IR LEDs, one on each side • 2 Ambient light sensors

5. Main Loop If New Packet Decode Packet Data Record Sensor Data Determine Movement Direction If next to transmit Transmit

6. Transmission • Bot will send relevant data depending on the program being executed. • Ex. Light Search: ID, Light strength, Bots in range who found light, how long ago that light was found, etc. • Bot will turn on IR LEDs • Others can see where it is • It can see reflections and know where obstacles are • Signal next in queue to transmit

7. Reception • Handled upon receiving interrupt from RF module • Bots will unload data and decode it during the main loop

8. Ad-Hoc Network • Control unit will assign initial IDs based off who responds to it first • Bots will be added or dropped at end of transmission cycle. • Bots out of range will be dropped • Bots lacking ID in range will be acquired

9. Dropping • If the bot does not receive any new packets after a set number of cycles, that bot will drop from network and lose ID. • If a bot is transmitting and does not receive any new packet after a set number of cycles, it will send a signal to decrement IDs and remove missing bot from network

10. Adding • At end of each round robin, transmitter will ask if there are any bots lacking IDs in range of it’s transmission. • Upon response, the signal will be put out to give the bot a new ID and update other bots tables so they know the swarm has grown.

11. Summary • Flag-Driven software design in embedded C • Main loop handles packet decoding, direction, transmission, sensor polling • Interrupts from RF module upon receiving packets • Ad-hoc network will dynamically add and remove bots • RF packet data and decoding will change depending on mode

12. Questions? ?