Remote Controlled Tank
A tank with a rechargeable battery controlled by an Arduino and PS2 Controller. Possible modifications include Ultrasonic sensor at the front smart collision avoidance.
Engineer
Kaushal D
Area of Interest
Computer Science and Engineering
School
Dougherty Valley High School
Grade
Incoming Senior
Final Milestone
For my final milestone, I was able to connect an Ultrasonic sensor to the front of the tank. This way the Tank would be able to detect obstacles in front of it and move back accordingly. The RC Tank takes the sensor input as a priority over the user’s input in this scenario. The ultrasonic sensor works with the transmitter which sends the wave; the receiver which receives the ultrasonic wave; and the crystal oscillator to calculate the amount of time it takes (also takes the speed of sound into account). Overall, I had a great experience at BlueStamp and hope to continue improving my RC Tank!
Second Milestone
For my 2nd milestone, I was able to connect the Ps2 controller receiver to the Arduino and connect the motor driver to the Arduino. This allowed me to control the motors of the RC Tank with the Ps2 Controller. The Tank is able to move forward and backward, turn left and right when stationary, and turn while moving. There is also a switch that can turn on and off the Tank. The PS2 controller inputs are sent to the PS2 Controller Receiver. I used a library called PS2X_lib to read these inputs. A library is a preset list of functions and values. For the Motor Driver, I connected the inputs to the Arduino. This made the PS2 give and output and the Motor Driver to receive the input.
First Milestone
My Main Project is the RC Tank. So far I’ve completed both the Chassis of the RC Tank and understanding how the Motor Shield works and have connected it to the gearbox. So when I connect the 5V wire to the inputs, the RC Tank rotates in different directions and won’t go straight until I connect both wires to both motors. The gearbox on this tank is used to control the torque of the tank. The Motor Shield is used to input more power to the motors. The Arduino can only give 5V as a whole and that’s not enough to power both motors. With the Motor Shield, I can power both motos and also control the direction the motors move.
Motion Alarm
The Motion Alarm is a circuit that uses an Arduino board, an RGB light, a piezo, and a servo. Once the Motion Alarm detects something in front of it, changes the RGB light’s color to light blue if the object is less than 10 inches away from the sensor, dark blue if the object is between 10 and 20 inches and pink if it’s greater than 20 inches. The servo is used for angle precision and the piezo is used to make a noise when the sensor detects an object less than 10 inches away. The sensor is an Ultrasonic sensor that uses sound waves to transmit and receive waves and then calculate the distance between it and the object.