Overview

The goal of our project was to create an interface whereby a Traxter Robot could be controlled by a wireless Xbox 360 controller. The motion of the robot is primarily controlled by the Xbox controllers left joystick. Moving the joystick in either horizontal direction causes the robots treads to spin opposite of each other, changing the direction the robot is "facing" in the direction that the joystick was moved. Moving the joystick up or down causes the robot to move forward or in reverse, respectively. In addition, the robot is also equipped with a forward-facing IR distance sensor, which was used for collision detection. When the robot detects that it is within a certain distance of an object and in danger of collision, it will refuse to move forward any further and will back off a small distance from the object. The collision detection function can also be deactivated by holding down the left bumper on the 360 controller. Finally, there is also mounted on top of the robot a small, electric airsoft gun and a speaker. When the right trigger on the 360 controller is compressed, the airsoft gun is triggered to fire, and the speaker outputs a sound effect. Simultaneously, the controllers rumble feature is activated, causing the controller to vibrate. The d-pad on the controller can be used to select the sound-effect output by the speaker, and the yellow y-button plays a simple-song. The blue x-button can also be used to turn on a simple laser pointer.

Components

• Mbed LPC1768
• Xbox 360 wireless controller
• Xbox 360 wireless receiver
• Traxter II Robot
• Sharp IR Sensor
• 2x Analogue Amplifiers
• Sparkfun Speaker 8ohm 0.5W
• Electric Airsoft Gun
• Laser pointer
• 4aa battery pack
• USB breakout
• NiCad battery pack

Program

Demo

Group Members

• Cameron Karlsson
• Marcus Ray Taylor II
• John McCranie