E-Yantra Robotics Competition – 2014

E-Yantra Robotics Competition – 2014

E-Yantra robotics competition is organized by IIT –Mumbai and it’s supported by MHRD. This year over 3400 teams registered out of which 260 teams were qualified for next level. Clearing and completing different tasks and challenges 6 teams per theme are selected for the finale which is to be held at IIT- Mumbai.

Theme: Waste Segregation

Team Members:

Name Branch Year Henna Gilotra EC 3

rd Anshul Malhotra EC 3

rd Gautam Jain EC 3

rd Nikhil Maurya EC 3

rd

www.e-yantra.org

EE ERTS LAB IIT-Bombay

WASTE SEGREGATING ROBOT

1. Introduction

Solid waste management is one of the most important urban services provided by local

government bodies. Waste is an inevitable end product of the various human activities.

Proper collection, storage, transportation and disposal are imperative to ensure cleanliness

and sanitation in our cities. For effective management of waste, segregation of the waste is

the first crucial step.

Typically waste comprises biodegradable waste (wet waste) such as vegetable waste, food

waste etc., and recyclables (dry waste) such as paper, plastic etc. The recyclables comprising

metal, paper, plastic, and glass must be further segregated, to recover material that can be

reused or disposed. Segregation of waste typically should happen at the source where it is

generated. However, despite sensitizing citizens about segregation of waste, it is disposed as

mixed waste and transported to the disposal site. Here, waste scavengers work manually to

segregate waste that has value, such as metal, plastic, glass etc.

e-Yantra Robotics Competition has designed a theme to bring our awareness to this issue of

segregation of mixed waste. In this theme, the mixed waste comprising four types of solid

waste -- glass, plastic, paper, and metal represented by blocks of different colors and sizes --

will be segregated without manual handling using a robot.

In this theme design, the arena illustrates one area of a disposal site. The mixed waste is

placed in the center of the arena. The robot will traverse the arena and pick up each

type of waste and place it in a deposition box designated for that type.

www.e-yantra.org


2. Theme description

Make an autonomous robot that performs the following tasks:

1. The robot starts from the START position of the arena representing a disposal site as

shown in Figure 1.

Four blocks of different sizes and colors are used to represent different types of

wastes such as glass, plastic, paper, and metal. This block is kept in the waste

area in the center of the arena having four nodes, N1, N2, N3 and N4. The

placement of blocks is given in a placement table, explained in the next section.

Eight deposition boxes will be placed on the deposition zone numbered 1 to 8 on

arena.

A deposition sequence defines which block should be deposited in which

deposition box. Deposition sequence is explained in Section 6 (Theme Rules).

2. The robot starts from the START position of the arena and does the following :

i. Moves to the waste area

ii. Identifies the type of waste based on the size and color of the block

iii. Picks up the block from the waste area

iv. Deposits it into the appropriate deposition box as per the deposition sequence.

3. FINISH line is NOT marked on the arena; the robot stops after depositing all the

blocks at the appropriate deposition boxes and sounds a continuous buzzer as an

indication to show that it has finished the task.

Figure 1: Arena

www.e-yantra.org


3. Arena

The arena for this theme is a simplified abstraction of a waste disposal site. One side of the

arena contains black lines on a white surface with four deposition boxes marked 1 to 4 as

shown in Figure 1. The other side contains white lines on a black surface with four deposition

boxes marked 5 to 8 as shown in Figure 1.

Details of Arena design (Refer to Figure 2):

Dimension of arena is 225cm x 180cm.

Dimension of flex sheet is 245cm x 200cm. An extra margin of 10cm is given

on all sides so that the flex sheet may be stuck on the ground.

Figure 2: Flex design

www.e-yantra.org


The width of black and white lines is 3cm.

The waste area is represented by a rectangular box of dimension 100cm x

50cm in the middle of the arena as shown in Figure 2. The rectangular box has

lines of thickness 3cm.

Four square nodes N1, N2, N3 and N4 of dimension 5cm x 5cm are provided

in the middle of the rectangular box.

The deposition zones are represented by squares of dimension 20cm x 20cm

along the sides of the arena as shown in Figure 2.

Teams are not allowed to make any changes to the arena design. Any team

making any unauthorized modifications will be disqualified from the

competition.

3. 2. Preparing and placing the blocks:

Materials required for preparing the blocks:

Thermocol sheet for making blocks.

Black color chart paper.

Preparing blocks:

Team prepares four blocks A, B, C, and D to represent four types of wastes.

Characteristics of these blocks are given in Table 1.

Block no. Length(cm) Width(cm) Height(cm) Color

A 4 4 6 Black

B 4 4 12 Black

C 4 4 6 White

D 4 4 12 White

Table 1: Block Characteristics

NOTE: We use A, B, C, and D to refer to these blocks having characteristics as defined in

Table 1.

Prepare two small blocks, A and C, of dimension 4cm x 4cm x 6cm out of which

A is covered with black chart paper as shown in Figure 4.

Block A Block C

Figure 4: Block Design -- Small

www.e-yantra.org


Prepare two large blocks, B and D, of dimension 4cm x 4cm x 12cm out of which

B is covered with black chart paper as shown in Figure 5.

Block B Block D

Figure 5: Block Design -- Large

Placing the blocks on the arena:

Blocks are to be placed on the 4 nodes N1, N2, N3 or N4 in the waste area of the

arena in a random manner.

Placement of the blocks is given in the form of a placement table. One example

of a placement table is shown below.

Block Node

A N1

B N3

C N2

D N4

Table 2: Placement Table

Suppose this table is used for placing the blocks on the arena, the arena will look like

Figure 6.

This is an example used to illustrate the placement of blocks. In the competition,

blocks will be placed randomly at nodes N1, N2, N3 and N4. Thus, it is

mandatory that you use the sensors to identify the type of blocks.

Accurate calibration of the sensors is key to successful implementation of a

solution to this theme. You should make the sensing as robust as possible

under different lighting conditions.

www.e-yantra.org


Figure 6: Placement of Blocks

3. 3. Preparing and placing the deposition boxes:

Prepare 8 deposition boxes using thermocol.

Dimension of all deposition boxes is 20cm x 20cm x 10cm as shown in Figure

7.

Figure 7: Deposition Box

Place the deposition boxes along the sides of arena at their designated

locations as shown in Figure 8.

www.e-yantra.org


Figure 8: Placement of Deposition Boxes

Note: The arena shown in Figure 8 is specific to the example placement table

considered.

www.e-yantra.org


4. Theme Rules

The maximum time allotted to complete the task is 10 minutes. A maximum of two runs

will be given to a team (the better score from the two runs will be considered as the

team’s score). A maximum of two repositions (explained below) will be allowed in each

run.

The team should switch ON the robot when told to do so by reviewer. This is the start

of a run. The timer will start at the same time.

A deposition sequence that defines which block should be deposited in which

deposition box will be given before start of a run. The format for the deposition

sequence is as follows:

START (S) – (deposition box numbers in which the blocks are to be deposited) –FINISH (F)

One example of a deposition sequence is:

S - (2, 1, 7, 8) –F

This deposition sequence requires the team to do the following:

Deposit Block A in deposition box 2.

Deposit Block B in deposition box 1.

Deposit Block C in deposition box 7.

Deposit Block D in deposition box 8.

Note that blocks A, B, C, and D can be picked up and deposited in any

order. But they have to be placed at the appropriate deposition box as given

in the deposition sequence.

Important: To ensure that the task is completed within 10 minutes, only one of the

following sequences will be given during a run in the competition:

S – (1,2,5,6) - F S – (1,2,7,8) - F

S – (1,2,6,5) - F S – (1,2,8,7) - F

S – (2,1,5,6) - F S – (2,1,7,8) - F

S – (2,1,6,5) - F S – (2,1,8,7) - F

S – (3,4,5,6) - F S – (3,4,7,8) - F

S – (3,4,6,5) - F S – (3,4,8,7) - F

S – (4,3,5,6) - F S – (4,3,7,8) - F

S – (4,3,6,5) - F S – (4,3,8,7) - F

Table 3: Possible Deposition Sequences

www.e-yantra.org


Robot should be kept at the START line with the castor wheel of the robot positioned

on the line.

Once the robot is switched on, human intervention is NOT allowed.

After each block is deposited the robot should sound the buzzer for 500ms.

After depositing the last block, the robot should sound a continuous buzzer, to

indicate the end of task.

A run ends and the timer is stopped when:

The robot stops and sounds the continuous buzzer or

If the maximum time limit for completing the task is reached or

If the team needs repositioning but has used both repositioning options of

that run.

Buzzer sound for more than 5 seconds will be considered as continuous buzzer.

Second run will start once again whilst resetting the score, timer and arena. The score

of both runs will be recorded and best of two runs will be considered as the team’s

score.

Participants are not allowed to keep anything inside the arena other than the robot.

The time measured by the reviewer will be final and will be used for scoring the

teams.

Time measured by any participant by any other means is not acceptable for scoring.

Once the robot starts moving on the arena, participants are not allowed to touch the

robot.

The robot is not allowed to make any marks while traversing the arena. Any robot

found damaging the arena will be immediately stopped; repositioning will be allowed

as per the rules. The final decision is at the discretion of the e-Yantra team.

Repositioning of robot: 1. Robot repositioning is done under following circumstances:

If robot is found to be displacing any block or damaging the arena then it will be

kept at the START position.

If the robot gets stuck in the arena or goes off the arena, teams can ask for the

reposition.

2. For a reposition, the robot should be in Power Off mode, and turned on again at the

START position, upon signal from the reviewer. During a reposition, the timer will

not be set back to zero.

3. Each team is allowed a maximum of two repositions in each run. All repositions

require the approval of the reviewer; the team will be disqualified if the robot is

handled within the arena without approval.

4. During repositions, a participant must not feed any information to the robot. A

participant may not alter a robot in a manner that alters its weight. The reviewer’s

decision is final.

5. Note that during reposition, any block that is not deposited at the appropriate

deposition zone, (any block dropped during traversal) will be placed back in its

original position on the appropriate node.

6. After reposition the robot has to complete the remaining task; the blocks that are

previously deposited correctly will be counted in the score.

www.e-yantra.org


Fire Bird V technical specificationMicrocontroller:

1.Atmel ATMEGA2560 as Master microcontroller (AVR architecture based Microcontroller)

2.Atmel ATMEGA8 as Slave microcontroller (AVR architecture based Microcontroller)

Sensors:

1.Three white line sensors (extendable to 7)

2.Five Sharp GP2Y0A02YK IR range sensor (One in default configuration)

3.Eight analog IR proximity sensors

4.Two position encoders (extendable to four)

5.Battery voltage sensing

6.Current Sensing (Optional)

7.Five MaxBotix Ultrasonic Range Sensors (Optional)

Indicators:

1.2 x 16 Characters LCD

2.Buzzer and Indicator LEDs

Control:

1.Autonomous Control

2.PC as Master and Robot as Slave in wired or wireless mode

Communication:

1.USB Communication

2.Wired RS232 (serial) communication

3.Wireless ZigBee Communication (2.4GHZ) (if XBee wireless module is installed)

4.Wi-Fi communication (if Wi-Fi module is installed)

5.Bluetooth communication (if Bluetooth wireless module is installed)

6.Simplex infrared communication (From infrared remote to robot)

Dimensions:

1.Diameter: 16cm

2.Height: 8.5cm

3.Weight: 1100gms

Power:

1.9.6V Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery pack and external Auxiliary power from battery charger.

2.On Board Battery monitoring and intelligent battery charger.

Locomotion:

1.Two DC geared motors in differential drive configuration and caster wheel at front as support

Software Used: The software used to program FIREBIRD V AT2560 is Atmel Studio 6.0. Atmel Studio 6.0 is an

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for writing and debugging AVR/ARM applications in

windows environment. It provides a project management tool, source code editor, simulator,

assembler and front-end for C/C++, programming and on board debugging.

Setting up program for FIREBIRD V in Atmel Studio 6.0

Launch Atmel Studio 6.0 and go to menu bar option File>New>Project to create a new

project.

Select Project Type as “GCC C Executable Project”. Type project name in the Name

window. In the Location window select the location of your project folder where it will be

stored and then click “OK”.

In the Device Selection window search for “Atmega 2560”.Select this device and press

“OK”.

Now we are ready to write our code. The editor window pops up using which we write our

C code.

After completion of our C code we need to build the project which generates *.hex file.

Select Build menu and click on Build Solution (F7). This will compile the *.C code and

generate the corresponding hex file (*.hex) for robot’s microcontroller.

We can verify the successful compilation in the bottom most Output window of Atmel

Studio. (We need to debug the code in case we are prompted for any error).

We can verify that *.hex file is generated in the debug folder inside the project folder we

have created.

This *.hex file should be loaded on the robot via USB port of FIREBIRD V robot.

We use AVR Bootloader to load hex file on robot FIREBIRD V AT2560.

Launch the AVR Bootloader.

A window will pop up with the title “”AVR Bootloader NEX Robotics”. In the Serial Port

setting select the COM port. Connect the USB cable from the computer to the robot and

provide power supply to the robot.

Go to the start menu. Right click on the My Computer icon and select manage.

Select the device manager.

In the device manager expand the ports option and right click on USB Serial Port option to

which the robot is connected and select properties.

In properties click on the advanced button.

In the COM Port Number scroll to select the COM port in the range if 2-8. It does not

matter even if the com port is in use.

Select the baud rate as 115200.

Select the microcontroller as ATmega2560.

Press the browse button and select the hex file from the Debug folder of the Project we

have created.

Put the robot in the boot mode(By first pressing and holding boot switch then press reset

button and finally release reset button followed by boot switch ) and click on the

“Program” button. In case of any error, unplug the USB cable and put it back again. Put

robot in boot mode and then click on “Program” button again.

We will get a window when burnt successful.

Documents

E-Yantra Robotics Competition – 2014