Roland Büchi

A remote controlled mobile mini robot

The Institute of Robotics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (ETH) has recently developed a remote controlled mobile mini robot. It has been designed to take part in the International Micro Robot Maze Contest, in Nagoya. The robots intelligence is based on the PIC16C84 microcontroller. It is actuated by two SWATCH motors and powered by two small watch-batteries. The control-loop for the maze is based on both the global and local feedback. The global feedback is realized by a human operator navigating the robot with an infrared-based unidirectional remote control. The operator is able to drive the robot through some control points in the maze. A local feedback based on two small distance sensors is used to drive the robot automatically in between the walls of the maze. The combination of both control-loops allows the robot to fulfil the goal of the contest with very good performance. The technical data of the mobile mini robot are: 21 mm/spl times/21 mm/spl times/19 mm in dimension; velocity of 20 mm/s; and power consumption of <10 mW. This low power consumption allows autonomy of about 10 hours.