Exhume
Runt was rebuilt with carbon fiber laminated sheet replacing the
extruded aluminum. The chassis is a flat sheet of 1/16” material and
the flat scoop is 1/32” material. The five IR sensors are mounted in an
extruded aluminum front bumper. All joints were glued with Devcon
Plastic Welder adhesive. Both front and rear axles pivoted on rubber
grommets. The drive servos, wheels, and tires were identical to the old
Runt. The total weight of the rebuilt robot was less than 1 Kilogram.
The control system and programming were substantially changed. The
servo electronics driving the H bridge were replaced with a
Micro Dual
Serial Control from Pololu. This change greatly simplified the
programming (eliminating the need for tight timing controls). Eight AA
nickel-metal hydride batteries resulted in a speed of 25.7 inches per
second.The software was written in three separate programs (the BS2SX has the capability of holding up to eight separate programs):
A. Initial setup, set start routine, set start direction
B. Run start routine
C. Search and destroy
Four start routines were initially programmed:
A. Direct search
B. Backward search
C. Runaway
D. Loop
Separate right and left alternatives were available for each start routine.
Another feature was added. If the sensors saw the same thing too many times, alternative patterns were implemented.
For the February, 2003
Northeast Indiana Robot Games, lead was added to
get up to 2 pounds 15.2 ounces (the class limit is 3 pounds). With
silicone molded tires, the sumo could push 5 pounds 8 ounces. With urethane
molded tires, push dropped to 5 pounds even! I don’t know why that happened.
The event was run with the urethane tires anyway. The new sumo was entered
with the old name of “Runt” and easily won the class. After the event
the new Runt and
Sticky squared off and neither could push the other
No more development work was done on this sumo as work was begun on its
replacement. It was entered in the August, 2003 Northeast Indiana Robot
Games with the name “Exhume” since it is really built from the dead
Runt. Exhume won with considerable more difficulty that the previous
event.For the 2004 Winter NEIRG, the 2004 Summer NEIRG, and the Peoria 2005 Exhume was entered in exactly the same configuration as the previous Robot Games. Exhume won against relatively weak fields.
Videos of the Peoria Competition:
1A Exhume vs BJ (0:20 - 0.9Mb) 1B Exhume vs BJ (0:52 - 2.3Mb)
1C Exhume vs BJ (0:32 - 1.4Mb) 2A Exhume vs BJ (0:17 - 0.8Mb)