Building a Dedicated Robotic Soccer System

Computer Science Department
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890

Abstract:

Robotic Soccer involves multiple agents that need to collaborate in an adversarial environment to achieve specific objectives. We have been building an architecture that addresses this integration of high-level and low-level reasoning as a combined system of mini-robots, a camera for perception, a centralized interface computer, and several client servers as the minds of the mini-robot players. In this paper we focus on the hardware design of our mini-robots. Our main purpose is to provide a detailed description of our design decisions so that others may learn from and replicate our efforts. Communication between the interface computer and the mini-robots is achieved through coded infrared radiation. The mini-robots can turn on the spot and move forward and backward with variable speed. Our design also allows a well-balanced use of the on-board power and current supplies.

• Introduction
• Overview of the architecture
• Designing a team of moving agents remotely-controlled by a computer
  • The On-board System
    • The Motors
    • The Motor Controllers
    • The Decoder
    • The IR Receiver
  • The Off-board system
    • The IR Transmitter
    • The Coder
    • The Micro-controller
• Conclusion
• References
• About this document ...