ALFRED Robot

Spiers New Technologies Inc. (project sponsor) assigned me and 6 other college students to work on the ALFRED Robot project as our graduating project in Fall 2022. ALFRED is a PHP/MySQL web application that collects, manages, and processes battery and battery-related information. Given an Axis Communications P5655-E 1080p Outdoor PTZ Network Dome Camera, our goal here is to mount the camera on a mobile platform (using a Raspberry Pi) and to control all of it from an ALFRED web server that we also have to design. In addition, the company also wants to see a live video feed in ALFRED through the web server we made. I'm in charge of planning and building ALFRED's movements, and selecting the proper components that will be compatible with the Raspberry Pi.

Wiring Diagram:
Camera Connections

I've designed various wiring diagrams of all possible connections to each component for both the camera connections and motor connections of the robot by using NI Multisim as my main software. I've color coded all the connections with necessary colors to make it more visually understandable and easy to follow for both my professor and the sponsor.

Wiring Diagram:
Motor Connections

Throughout the process of making these wiring diagrams I've done numerous research gathered from various sources to select the right components in order for the robot to move without any problems. The most challenging part is finding the right battery and deciding what buck converter should be used to not over powered the Raspberry Pi and also give enough voltage to supply the microcontroller.

Cable Drawing:
Camera Connections

To make it more convenient for the sponsor I've also designed these cable drawings of what wires and cables were used for each connection on NI Multisim. During the design process, I've realized that using certain size (gauge) wires is essential, especially when dealing with high voltage battery and components.

Cable Drawing:
Motor Connections

Therefore, I made sure that all wires for all connections are labeled properly on the cable drawings because if the sponsor were to modify the robot later on, they can then refer back to this drawing. I believe that being able to communicate your own ideas to other people is very essential especially when we are working with other people from different departments.

Wiring All The Components Together

When I'm wiring all the components together physically, it is very essential to double-check my work and color code / label everything as necessary. Doing so, it will make my life easier and less troubleshooting for me to do if the robot doesn't work as expected.

The Finished Product doing its test run

This is the finished ALFRED Robot, consisting mainly of aluminum extrusion for the structure, 3D printed layers for every 3 platforms, 4 separate 12V motors, 2 H-bridge motor controllers, 1 Raspberry Pi, and 1 13V battery pack. The upper layer is the camera given to us by our sponsor and a WIFI router on the second later to communicate with ALFRED web server wirelessly.