Pi Wars 2019 (Rocker-Bogie Suspension Plan + Robot Updates!!)

My Plans and ideas for the robot next year

After a great day at pi wars on my first year The Featherstone Rover came in at 13th (You can take a look at the results here) place on the leaderboard, meaning that I got my self a top tier prize. I really enjoyed the day and it was a great experience and I hope that I can compete in 2019. However, looking at the other competition on the day, There were some obvious improvements to be made for Pi Wars 2019.

My plan for Pi Wars 2019 is to make a rocker-bogie suspension styled robot much like the ones seen in the mars rovers (And other vital improvements, obviously). This will have multiple benefits and solve some of the problems in my previous robot including:

• Increased Obstacle Ability (Will be able to climb up to objects twice the diameter of the wheel - 10cm)

• Better Clearance (The Bot will sit higher off the ground meaning less stuff to get in the way)

• General Off-road and improved handling

A rocker-bogie is a nifty little suspension design because it does not rely on complex spring mechanisms but instead, gravity. This means that I can get top obstacle climbing etc without a really complicated suspension design.

Other Improvements Include:

• Using a Pixy2 Camera instead of a regular pi camera to have better computer vision

• Using Faster Motors

• More Sensors

The Suspension design

Pictured here you can see an example of a rocker-bogie suspension and the advantages of traversing rough terrain which it provides

Each wheel can move independently, allowing for smooth gliding over surfaces but is also stable when moving on flat ground. At the moment I have made a 3D printed prototype of the suspension but I will be making the final rockers out of acrylic using my favourite LASER DEATH-RAY MACHINE (LDM) to make a nice clean look which is what I did for The Featherstone Rover MKI. As I will be making the rest of the body out of acrylic it give a uniform look and make it look nice.

Pictured below are my current 3D printed parts and their designs on Fusion 360 which is my main design program.

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Robot Update 01 (of many...)

In this section I will be updating you on the changes and progress I have made on my robot.

At the moment I am working on making a prototype of the rocker-bogie suspension as I will need to make changes like adding a differential bar so that the body will not rock when driving over terrain. Splitting the development of the robot into five stages:

1. The design / prototype stage (Testing and building ideas)

2. Making a more final robot including more solid programming and software

3. Work on individual challenges for Pi Wars (Building attachments etc.)

4. The Final Design - The Hardware side of things should be complete and software is almost ready...

5. PANIC before Pi Wars! - Every should be done...

Right now I am at stage 1 as I am currently in the design process and testing different materials and methods; for example, choosing between either laser-cut acrylic or 3D printed parts out of PLA. I think that I would like to make it out of acrylic as I said earlier but I will have to see how it goes

Future updates and posts should continue to get longer and filled with more details and pictures as the competition progresses. Please let me know what you though of my first ever post in the leave a comment section.

Thanks for reading PiBotics Blog!

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