INTRODUCTION

Hi, my name is Enrique and I am very excited to be a part of this amazing program. One reason as to why I am excited is because I will be working on producing an R/C robot, and other small projects. I recently finished the starter project tv-b-gone which is a universal remote that turns off a wide variety of tvs. The way the project works is by having these LEDs that flash in a pattern to indicate a tv to turn off. And the remote actually cycles through different brands of tvs so eventually one of the patterns will turn the tv off. This is a great project to begin with as it does a fine job in introducing the works of soldering, which will be very essential when working with any electronic that involves wires.

PICTURES

REFLECTION

The entire production of the tank was an amazing experience, as I received a great hands on experience on robotics. Through out the duration of the production of the tank I was faced with a few obstacles. One obstacle I faced assembling the structure of the tank was making the motor and ardunio board to create maximum efficiency to move the tank. Another obstacle I faced and was probably the most difficult was the creation of programming in order for the tank to move with the desired functions of the remote. The programming was the most difficult part for me as I had to look up a library for the ps2 controller known as ps2x from Bill Porter. Along with looking up the library I had to learn and understand the terms for the library. But for the most part the programming was also fun to do as it was like solving a puzzle.

HINTS AND TIPS

Now before you attempt to begin this project make sure that you are familiar with the gear ratios and twerk I mean torque, also be sure you know how to use the ardunio program and the ps2x library from bill porter(make sure the ps2x library is added to the ardunio program). Another helpful tip is to make sure that the plastic gears in the gear box are greased up. Lastly when you assemble the tracks onto the wheel shape on the vehicle, make sure to put spacers on the inside of the wheel of the tank. Another helpful tip when cutting the back part of the wireless receiver for the ps2, is to make sure you don’t cut of the pins or the task of soldering the other wires will be harder to achieve. When writing the program for the ardunio uno board make sure that the code is original as things get complicated when used from someone else.

FINAL VIDEO

Finally finished the project with the addition of spacers in the front wheels. And now that the tank has these spaces the tank can roll smoothly without the treads falling out, reandering the tank useless when the treads fall out.

SCHEMATIC

DOCUMENTATION

http://www.billporter.info/2010/06/05/playstation-2-controller-arduino-library-v1-0/

(ps2x library)

CAD (CAD for the plate of the tank)

bill_of_materials (where to get materials)

gluedcode (source code for ardunio)

schematic (pdf of the schematic)

schematic (eagle file)

2ND MILESTONE

Although the search for a new power source was suppose to be easy, the end result was a longer amount of time to search for a new battery. The reason behind the large time span for the new battery is because the first battery I used (9 volt battery) only gave out only 4 volts. It wasn’t until I stumbled on the 7.2 volt battery for the tank in which I was content as the battery had strong current. The next problem I faced with the tank was that the treads on the wheels kept falling off and rendered the tank useless for driving without the treads on the tank.

 1ST MILESTONE

A large some of the problems in the project came from actually programming the tank to work with the motors and the ps2 controller. The reason why the writing for the program took so long was because of the extra learning I had to do in order to use the analog controls.  The program finally worked with the controller and motors in the end. The only visible problem that came from the tank was the speed at which the tank moved as the USB port can only give out 5 volts which is just the bare minimum. Until a battery that gives out more than 5v is used the tank will not move efficiently.

 2ND STARTER PROJECT

The reason why I had selected this project was to get familiar with soldering and to also get familiar with the board that would be used to assemble the T.V.-b-gone. Along with the project providing useful expirence with soldering and the boar that the project comes with, another skill that will also be used “wiring” would also impacted my ability to work on the final project. Although I messed up on the soldering of a LED , the project still turned out well enough to work on most of the T.V.’s that I had encountered.

1ST STARTER PROJECT

Although the watch might seem to be big in appearance, the watch will still hold ground as one of the first projects I built here and still stand as experience with the soldering gun that is necessary for the basics of engineering.