First Attempt : Operation Failure

After building all of that, when I looked at my kingdom, the buildings looked too simple for my taste so I went to each building in Google Maps through Street View and copied the detail to my file by texturing it, making windows and making roofs.When I first tried to use game, a lot of things were very hard such as grass and snow is not allowed in the game engine and the car keeps falling into the road.I decided then to animate it so then the car follows a invisible line which is a path going to every corner of the village but sticking to the roads.

Navigation In The Virtual Kingdom Of Oundle

To visualize the concept of D.R.i.V.e., I have created a 3-D version of a village in England called Oundle in a software called Blender which is meant for 3-D modelling, animating and creating games. To illustrate this, I created a car and put a camera at the postion of the passager.I created this village by using google maps as a guide and took a blueprint of a car from The-Blueprints. I built the roads first followed by the car and then the building and finally the extras such as fields, snow and animating the grass moving and the snow falling.

Touch Sensor Gallery

Designing My GPS Interface

I have created a GPS interface using a software called iWeb that is a picture of a GPS screen that I took from google images and deleted the centre picture and cleared all the copyright words and symbols using Adobe Photoshop.

Then I put this picture in iWeb and put a html snippet of Google maps behind it.


Then I added my own copyright symbols to the screen by puttin D.R.i.V.e. on the top and my name just bellow the HTML snippet. The HTML Snippet is a link to a map created by me using the My Maps option on Google Maps by creating destinations on my map and then letting the user choose a destination and then type in a start point which will then send the car instructions to drive the robotic car (D.R.i.V.e.).

Not As Easy As It Looks

I have been looking through some programming examples and what is shown to you ,looks easy. But when I tried out using NXT-G and BrixCC... well you could just say that it is not as easy as it looks.So to help improve my programming skills, I went through books such as NXT-G Programming and Power Programming by John C. Hansen(creator of NXC(Not eXactly C)).In each chapter something new was introduced to me such as an easier way to program or advanced programming.

Challenges That Need Solutions

When I built Mark 1, there were only three problems. Firstly the wheels were falling out and they were not aligned.

So to solve that I used many axle bushings to prevent my wheels from sliding along the axle.

For the alignment, I used my line of sight and math to align the wheels.

But there is still the final problem which is that the clearance under the brick (i.e. the distance from the bottom of the car to the floor) was only about a cm.So to increase the clearance, I flipped the brick around so that the buttons will be at the bottom and there is more clearance.


BEFORE                                                                                                   AFTER

                     

My Baby Has A Name!

I have finally come up with a name to replace my other boring name Mark 1.The name of my robot is a three word abbreviation.The name of my car was created according to the purpose and concept of the robot.The robot's name is....D.R.i.V.e. which stands for Driverless Robotic Vehicle.

Putting In the Eyes, Ears and Nose (Sensors)

Putting the sensors was quite difficult because there weren't many place which were able to connect sensors to. The sensors used for my bot are a Ultrasonic Sensor,a Light Sensor and two Touch sensors.The ultrasonic sensor is used to display a low ptich for something in the distance and a high pitch for something closer.

The touch sensors are used as bumpers for the front and back and finally the light sensor is for displaying green until touch sensors are bumped which will then turn red.

Once the sensors where attached, I went back to my book to find out how to program the sensors to do what I just said.To program the ultrasonic sensor a lot of data plugs and variables where as for the bumpers where using a wait block and the light was using a lamp block.

Constructing Vehicle Mark 1

I created a very simple yet strong chassis shaped like an ordinary car and then attached two motors at the back for driving and steering.To steer, one motor will turn clockwise while the other will turn anti-clockwise therefore turning the vehicle.

Another motor was used to smoothen the turns. This motor gives the vehicle forward motion while the rear motors provide steering.

I then attached a spoiler and strengthened the structure because the middle was very weak and was breaking apart.

Research, Research, Research

To configure a Global Positioning System (GPS) with my NXT, I went online to research how I could do this and with which software.

Then I found a software called BrixCC which runs on NXC(Not eXactly C) which I believe can do the trick. I also went to my class leader in a weekly CR8 class which I go to on Saturday mornings to ask him on how I could build and program this robot.We came up with a solution to use BrixCC to send instructions to the robot and using NXT-G to create my blocks for directions.

Then opening that file with wordpad and collecting that code and sending it to the NXT. I then went to visit my teacher in another weekly class every Thursday evening to ask about designing. One of the suggestions  made was to do a brain fart which is to dump out all that is in your mind on a piece of paper. Another idea was to use a wireless camera to show how it will look like from a passenger point of view.

Organising My Time With A Project Plan

To organize my time-line and tasks, I decided to use a software called Numbers to do exactly that but none of the Numbers templates installed had what  I wanted so I went and looked for a template that could suit this purpose.

Numbers is an application like Excel for Mac.

[screenshot of the plan]

I found a very good one that had a Calender, a Gantt Chart and a Project Milestones Table. I got straight to work and created timelines for my tasks and to dos, keep up to date with my status of work and checked what else was needed to be done.