Gp katihar Department of civil Engg
Robotic TW(Advance) GOVERNMENT POLYTECHNIC KATIHAR 6TH Semester
2000611(H) DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Date:..../...../....
Project Work -01
Stair Climbing Robot
Robots use either a wheeled or a tracked mechanism for mobility.
While wheeled mechanisms offer impressive speed and a significant
advantage in steering, this often proves to be difficult to use in offroad
conditions and for climbing over obstacles.These retractable arms can also be
drawn back when not needed.
The Robot offers following Features:
Tracked design helps it negotiate even the roughest of terrains.
Additional Dual retractable tracked arms help it with climbing stairs.
Soft object gripping ensures the cargo isn’t damaged.
Onboard pressure sensor for smart object gripping.
The robot uses 4 x DC high torque motors to operate the robotic vehicle. The
motors are controlled by microcontroller via motor drivers to achieve the
movement of vehicle. The robotic vehicle also an onboard robotic gripper to
hold objects to be carried up and down the stairs.
Components Front View
4 x high Torque motors
2 x Gripper Motors
2 x Gripper Arms
Atmega Microcontroller
Pressure Sensor
RF Transmitter
RF Receiver
Robotic Wheels
Rubber Tracks
Mounts and Joints Side View
Resistors/Controller (evive)
Capacitors
Diodes
Transistors
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Gp katihar Department of civil Engg
PCB Board
Robotic Chassis
Supporting Frame 3D View
Screws and Bolts
Building Guide
Step 1: The Cutouts
Before we start making the Stair Climbing Robot, we need to understand its parts.
Most of the body structure of the robot is made of MDF sheet .The labels in the
image below indicate the following use:
The Base Plate
The Front Leg (x 2)
The Back Leg (x 2)
Step 2: Making the Skeleton
Our robot in total will have six legs. Two front,
two middle, and two back legs. Note: In our
design, the front and the middle legs are
together in a piece that looks like J.
1. Take the front leg and the back leg and attach them together in the holes
given using M4 nuts and bolts. Repeat the same step for the other side too..
2. Once done, its time to add the upper body, where we will be adding our
nervous system. Take the base plate or the body and attach a pair of legs to it,
one on each side using M3 nuts and bolts.
With this your skeleton is complete.
Step 3: Time to Make it Move
1. The skeleton that we just made have legs but it still cannot move. This is
where DC motors and wheels come to the rescue. Our stair climbing robot
has six legs this we will be needing six motors and six wheels.
2. Before we attach motors to the skeleton, we will test the motors using evive’s
firmware. Connect the motor to any ports (M1 or M2). Switch on evive,
select Controls from the menu, then select Motors, and finally select the
motor channel you have attached your motor too. You can vary the speed of
the motor using the corresponding potentiometer and the direction using the
slide switch.
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Gp katihar Department of civil Engg
3. Once tested, attach 8mm female-to-female standoffs using M3 bolts of 25mm
nuts, two to each motor as shown in the figure below. We are using standoffs
to attach the motors to the skeleton.
4. Once you have attached the standoffs, take these motors and attach the
motors to the skeleton using M3 nuts
5. Once you have your motors attached, attach the feet…wheels to the motors.
With this the skeleton of the robot’s body is ready. Make sure you make
extra lines on wheels using Hot Glue to give more friction to the wheels.
6. Take a series of standoffs the one that fits between the two legs and fixes it
using M3 nuts to the legs. This will keep your legs stable.
Step 4: Adding the Nervous System
1. Time to add the brain, that will be controlling the entire body. Our brain here
is our very own evive. Mount evive on the body using M3 bolts.
2. The cables will act as nerves that will connect the legs to the brain. Connect
the motors of one side parallelly onto the breadboard.
3. Similarly, connect the motors of the other side to the breadboard as shown in
the figure.
4. Time to add
the motor
driver, the
motor driver
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Gp katihar Department of civil Engg
so that we can supply enough power to all the six motors. Fix the motor
driver using a double-sided tape onto the space given on the plate.
5. Once done, its time to connect our motor driver to the brain.
o Connect GND-A, PWM-A, INA1, and INA2 pins of the left motor
driver to MD1 port on evive.
o Connect GND-B, PWM-B, INB1, and INB2 pins of the right motor
driver to MD2 port on evive.
o Connect VCC and GND of the motor driver to the VCC of evive.
o Finally, connect OUTA1 and OUTA2 to the left motor and OUTB1
and OUTB2 to the right motor
Then, add the Bluetooth Module as we need to control the robot using a
Smartphone. Connect Bluetooth Module (HC05) to the evive at the slot
given.
Step 5: Powering up the System
The powerhouse in our case is none other than the Battery. Connect the Lithium
polymer Battery to VIN of evive.
Step 6: Coding the Signals
As we know that the brain sends the signal to the body, similarly evive will send a
signal to the robot. But what will be those signals? How will evive know what
signal to send? That’s what we need to code and upload it into the brain.
To make the coding process simpler we are going to code in the graphical
programming software called PictoBlox. You can either write the following code
by dragging and dropping a few blocks or you can directly download the code
given
Step 7: Looking into the System
Stair climbing robot works on the concept of the rocker-bogie mechanism. The
robot can climb onto any obstacles stairs, bumps, etc. It can move along any
surface be it sand, rocks, concrete, or grass as it has suspension arrangments. The
front wheel of the robot hits the obstacle real hard and as the friction of the wheels
is more, it lets the robot to climb the obstacle
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Gp katihar Department of civil Engg
Also, we are going to control it using our Smartphone. Dabble lets you connect
your smartphone to evive.
The buttons of Gamepad are used for the following function:
Up: Move the robot forward
Down: Move the robot backward
Right: To turn the robot right
Left: To turn the robot left
Step 8: Conclusion
With this, your Smartphone-controlled stair-climbing robot is ready! Go ahead and
reach new heights together.
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