Introduction

For this project, our team has assembled an autonomous robot that is able to maneuver within the environment and display control information. The robot was built on the Raspberry Pi platform along with a piTFT touchscreen and Raspberry Pi camera. The robot has been programmed so that it can automatically move in its surroundings while the camera has been configured to search for a specified target. Once the target is successfully identified, the robot will move to a precise position for the ball launching mechanism to launch a paper ball toward the target. The mini robot also includes a user-friendly interface so that users can maneuver the robot as they wish and launch the paper ball themselves. One of the major engineering method we practiced is the modular design and testing approach. It helped us to always keep in mind the importance of current software and hardware designs and think ahead about future works of the project. We put an emphasis on separating the functionalities of a program into i dependent modules so that each module would contain part of the important aspect of the entire desired functionality. In addition, all electronic components are handled with care throughout the project. Both team members have strictly followed the Lab Safety and Rules outlined in the lab handout, including to avoid walking around with the bare components and try to confine the assembled system to the EDS mat on the lab bench.