Purpose:
The purpose of this project was to work with gear motors to achieve the desired speed and strength for our bot. Because DC motors alone have an rpm that is not practical for driving wheels forward and backward, we needed to use gear motors to reduce the rpm. It was also to relate our last project to a real application. Because we built a gear-box last week we knew what was going on inside the gear motors and were able to apply them correctly.
Procedure:
We first looked at the project from pages 22-27 in the 30 Arduino Projects for the Evil Genius then we were told the final goal of the project was to battle our bots against each other. We then decided what we wanted to use as the body of the car. Once we settled on the decision to use a VHS case as the body we were given 2 wheels, 2 motors, 1 or 2 caster wheels, 2 DPDT switches, 3 hat pins , 1 piece of acrylic and a 6v battery pack that could hold 4 AA batteries. Once we finished the basic project we thought it would be more fun if we each added a modification to the project. Everyones modification was a different type of weapon, which is what made the battle so much fun. The most time consuming part of this project was making the controller. The idea to heat and bend the sides of the acrylic was fantastic. However finding a way to clamp the acrylic to the PVC pipe was difficult. After we bent both sides of the acrylic we had to place, cut out and mount our DPDT switches so that they would be able to be pressure fit into the controller. Finally, the last step was to wire the controller. The use of female spade connectors was very helpful. They allowed for quick changes and kept the amount of soldering to a minimum.
Parts List:
Quantity
|
Part
|
Description
|
1
|
Acrylic
|
|
2
|
Wheels
|
|
2
|
Switches
|
DPDT (Mom-Off-Mom)
|
2
|
Gear Motors
|
|
1
|
DC Motor
|
4.5V, 32000 rpm
|
1
|
Toggle Switch
|
On-Off
|
1
|
Battery Pack
|
|
4
|
AA batteries
|
Eneloop
|
1
|
Propeller
|
3-blade plastic
|
3
|
Hat Pins
|
Links to Battles:
Battle 1
Conclusion:
In conclusion this was the best project I have ever done. It may not have been the most complex but it was the most fun and allowed each of us to show our creativity. If I had to do it again the only thing I would change would be adding a stationary back-up pin on the front of my car. I would do this so that if my fan ever came off like it did in the second battle I would still be able to compete instead of just running away. After completing this project so early in the year I have never been more excited to see what projects we will do in the future.
