Our story left off with Pokey dejected, sitting on a shelf collecting dust following a humiliating defeat in the Fort Collins Robot Firefighting Challenge.
The poor little robot started to cheer up a little once his broken battery tray was replaced a couple months ago. But what really brought a smile to his LCD was when he appeared in the July/August 2008 Robot Magazine!
Last week he got word that a new firefighting competition was scheduled for July 12! Finally, a chance at redemption!
And to top it off, my order from Pololu just arrived so Pokey is now sporting a shiny new Tamiya ball caster.
So here’s what’s left to do before the next competition:
- Tweak the wall following code – main source of Pokey’s defeat
- Gradual acceleration from a stop – to prevent wheelies
- Refinements to low level motion control – better turn execution
- Code up a way to get Pokey from the 3rd to 4th room
- Add code to get Pokey to go home from any room
- Major improvements to candle scanning, extinguishing routines
- Add second fan and rework the fan driver circuits
- Finish painting