The National Educational Robots Contest

In November 2011, two of my team members and I participated the The National Educational Robots Contest in Shenzhen University.

It's a pass tracking un-manned vehicle like robot based on microcontrollers. 4 IR sensors are equipped underneath to track the black line on the map.  We intend to control the travel distance and turning angle with encoders on the wheel.
We had two kinds of robot: 51-MCU based and ARM based, and 3 of each. Above is the 51-MCU based one.

It took us over one and half months to make and test these robots.

The video above shows how the robot works. It pushes the colored cellinders toward their coresponding targets.

It was my first time literally working in the lab!

At the opening ceremony (Shenzhen, China).

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Och! the day before the final race, our robots refused to work in the new environment in Shenzhen.

Our team altered the hotel room into a lab that night. The little robots eventually worked at midnight.

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above are took right at the competition day.

All sensors were required to be disarmed before the race, we had to equip them on scene.

Any small mistake could lead to disaster, since we had to win as a team.

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At the beginning  of the project, I was so lack of some basic practical knowledge, that I had to almost learn from the scratch. Luckily, I had good teachers, I couldn’t appreciate more of their help.

This is the first practical projected I had ever participated, I think it taught me more than the 2 years regular courses did. Once we took on this job, we had to make our most to reach the best outcome.

When we finally stood out among competitors, I felt my effort paid back!