10-11-08
Added all Pocatello contest videos, Region 6 rules, a Flood Fill algorithm visualization, and some notes on mechanical design.
6-23-08
Since I haven't updated in ages, here's the latest. We just barely squeaked by Jon Bot in our qualifying competition here at UAF (beat them by a couple tenths of a second), then spent the next two weeks refining our software (turning discrete moves into fluid moves as you can see in the videos which I've also posted). Our run at the Northeast area contest was something like 24 seconds but we had a touch penalty so our competition time was 54 seconds. Next closest time to the center was about 2 minutes 30 seconds ... and no one else made it to the center (it was a pretty wicked maze). So we managed to get our second consecutive win :-) We did some further software development for acceleration and deceleration which we don't have a video of yet. I'll get one some time this summer and put it up for reference. Just have to put the maze back together first...
Check out the development videos of Freedom Mouse, a competition video of 55414632 from Pocatello, and the competition videos of Jon Bot and 55414632 from our UAF competition under "Videos."
3-11-08
Added development videos of '31 (which are fun to watch), galleries of our past mice, and another gallery showing '31 and '32 next to each other for comparison.
3-3-08
Added development videos of '32 and a third gallery showing the makeshift battery pack, mini head spreader on the voltage regulator, and front and rear skids.
2-26-08
Continued building 55414632 today adding IR LEDs and completing the motor pod. We'll start putting code on it very soon...
2-25-08
55414632 has arrived!!! I've almost completed populating this board and have tested all components except for the H bridge so far (and all of em work). There are one or two minor modifications that I may have to make electrically, but no major show stoppers on the board so far. This design is highly optimized and I'm very eager to see how it performs. More updates to follow.
10-24-07
Minor site updates. More content in the pipeline. We've started 55414632 and hope to get it rolling by December. There may be a couple more mice from UAF this year as well. Devin is planning to do a rather unique design of his own and there's a group of undergraduates who have expressed interest in building a mouse too. Also, we might have a 16x16 maze of our own (it's just up to me getting my act together).
8-16-07
I've added Steven Kibler's page on Sensors and Controls as well as the photos from David Bory and Bruno Pommier's "Freedom Mouse" which competed at the 2005 Central Area contest in San Jose.
5-10-07
At the moment, I've only gotten the photos and videos from the Northeast Area (NEA) competition in Boise, ID online, but more content will be coming online soon. While we were only performing a demonstration run at the NEA contest (we had already won the Northwest Area (NWA) by default as there were no other entries) our robot was able to run the maze in less time than any of the NEA mice (tho the competition was very close)! We're really excited about starting our design for 2008 and fixing all the issues we "had to live with" on this year's design (named "55414631").
Special thanks to UAF Provost Paul Reichert who provided funding for our trip, and also to Dr. Doug Goering (UAF M.E. professor and interim dean of the College of Engineering and Mines), Dr. Charles Mayer (UAF ECE professor and IEEE NWA Student Activities Coordinator), and Dr. Dejan Raskovic (UAF ECE professor and UAF IEEE Student Branch Advisor) who supported us along the way. We'd also like to express our gratitude to Dr. Michael Rice (IEEE NEA Chair) for allowing us to attend the NEA contest (as there were no other entries from the NWA which encompasses Alaska), and also to Dee Fultz (IEEE NWA Chair) for his ongoing support of UAF's IEEE Student Branch, as well as the $500 in prize money for winning (by default) the Northwest area!
Feel free to contact me for more details concerning participation in UAF's MicroMouse team or the ECE department in general.
-David
2007 Team: Steven Kibler, Devin Boyer, David Giessel