DIY : Using Lego Kits
LEGOMindstorms ® NXT ® is a product offered by the world’s fourth largest manufacturer of toys, LEGO. It ships as a kit, which consists of the NXT or the CPU, various components such as axles, gears, and other fabricated plastic parts that make it very easy to assemble and modify your robot quickly. Creating good looking robots really easily see... continue reading
DIY : PID For Line Following
At slower speeds, line following is pretty simple - if the sensors say it is going left, steer right and if going right, steer left. This process has its limitations though, mainly when the speed is increased. This is when a PID controller starts to shine. PID stands for** Proportional, Integral and Derivative**. A **PID **controller is a mat... continue reading
In Retrospect
Let us look back at ROBOTIX 2011 from the point of view of a robotics aficionado with a fetish for out - of – the – box solutions to even the minimum of robot tasks. As we dug into our archives, we found a treasure trove of interesting robots that featured in this year’s edition of the fest. Without a lengthy preamble, lets head straight into t... continue reading
DIY : Working With Servos
Most of us have used DC motors at one point or another. They follow pretty simple rules like speed is directly proportional to voltage and reversing terminals mean reversing the direction of motion. As we move forward from a simple differential drive our actuator requirements also change. This post is to familiarize beginners with servos- a typ... continue reading
DIY : Building a robotic arm
“Jacob took that coke in his hand, the Herald919, what he named his other “arm”, made of tinker and junk mimicked the same. As he undid the wrapping, Herald broke the other one.” Take a look at your hand and now replace (mentally) every moving part of it with metal segments and joints and there you go! you have your very own robotic arm. Usuall... continue reading
R.A.F.T. : A Revisit
RAFT was one of the most successful mechanical events in Robotix 2011. Receiving participation from robot lovers all over the country, this event was one of a kind. Based on a practical and industry derived problem statement, the simplicity yet the unique nature of the event received wide acceptance. First years from IIT Kharagpur also showed de... continue reading
NEGOTIATORS: Backwards, Codewise
Negotiators the online coding event of Robotix 2011 was an original design which went on to be largely successful. The participant’s program was pitched against that of two others in order to negotiate a pattern on a grid with blocks. Trivia: Some participants submitted multiple entries hoping that their dummy entries would be pitted against th... continue reading
BALLISTA: Blast into the Past
Ballista, an autonomous events of Robotix 2011 was a night event with a rotating light source. This event enjoyed its status as belonging to the action-adventure genre in terms of robots. The problem statement was derived from robot snipers on enemy territory . Robots were to detect walls and shoot at the light source from behind the walls. Ligh... continue reading
ROBOCOP: Back to the Future
Robocop, the Image Processing (IP) category event of Robotix 2011 was the first of its kind ever. The robots were required to be the judges of colour coded character, marked to be good (green)and bad (red). It required intricate programming and some teams even used stereovision camera feeds. ** Trivia**: One of the participating ‘robocops’ was ... continue reading
FUGITIVES: Recapturing Moments
Fugitives the autonomous event that looked simple but turned out to be the hardest nut to crack. Robotix 2011 saw some mind-boggling alorithms to corner the fixed fugitives which emitted infrared radiations. The problem statements were based on artificial intelligence used for guarding prisoners. _**Trivia:** Fugitives was initially titled ‘Ch... continue reading