Specifications

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outer of the torch so that the clocked IR light spreads further rather than being
concentrated to a point. Another method would be to add more clocked light LED’s to
transmit a greater quantity of light, and hence objects will reflect more light to the
receiver. This is not deemed an important aspect of future work however may become
important if the robots performance criteria change.
7.1.3 Power Source Design
Currently, the Mobile Manoeuvring Robot has two power sources. One battery powers
the microcontroller and IR sensors, and the other powers the drive motors. The main
purpose of this concept is to eliminate voltage spikes from the drive motors resetting the
microcontroller. This problem could be overcome however by adding filters
(capacitors) to the power source or the drive motors. For the purposes of the Mobile
Manoeuvring Robot this was not dealt with as the dual power source was not an issue.
For future work it may be desirable to reduce the amount of battery carried on the robot
to lessen the weight and bulkiness of the system.
7.2 Software Design
The structure of the software depends greatly on the desired performance of the Mobile
Manoeuvring Robot. If future work only extends on the base concept there are several
areas where improvement can be made.
•
Ramping functions on the drive motors instead of starting them at full speed.
This will reduce voltage spikes and make the travel of the Robot much
smoother.
•
Dead reckoning guidance. This will give the robot much more objective. If the
robot ‘knows’ its starting position (zero odometer counts) and also a desired
finishing position, it will have a more logical turning sequence, rather than
simply avoiding the obstacles.