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The Parrot Rover

- TEAM PIRATES -

Connor Hoang, Anthony Sanchez, Dominic Tran

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What is the Parrot Rover?

DESIGN

Our rover was designed considerably small in dimensions to be fitted in the specific lava tube given to us. There is a camera and radar attachment to gather info about the rover’s location.

HOW IT WILL BE DONE

The rover’s primary function will be to map out the cave of the lava tube and collect data as it travels through the tube. Aiding the Artemis mission in exploring and find a lava tube suitable for the creation of a lunar base.

PURPOSE

The Parrot Rover will explore the lava tubes on the Moon. It will trek through the rigorous tubes and avoid obstacles to gather info, and for future expeditions, we hope to obtain minerals.

TERRAIN

Given the Moon’s rough surface, the rover will first enter through a lava rock floor to access the lava tube. The tubes could also potentially consist of lava rock columns and various holes throughout. Rare minerals are hoped to be found at the ends of these lava tubes.

TOTAL COSTS

Aluminum Tread Plate…..$7.31
Aluminum Channel….......$13.90
U-Strap Clamps …............$0.44
ESP32-Cam + FTDi Converter………………………..$14.00
L298N Motor Drive Controller Board……………………………...$11.09
2A Battery Pack……………..$4.74
Bread Boards………………….$6.45
Sparkfun Inventor's kit….$91.54
Hobby Gearmotor(piar)..$4.44
4 85mm Mecanum Wheels…………………………...$43.15
Arduino uno wifi…………...$48.55

Total……………..……………………………....$245.61

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Frame

Body:

The body and lid of the rover was constructed with an aluminum tread plate:

The aluminum plate was cut into the outline of a box and folded inwards
Corner brackets were added with ¾ screws to hold the shape of the frame
Creates a 7in x 10in box that can hold and protect the the circuitry.

Legs

The legs are made of an aluminum channel,

Allows for the motors to be attached by a U-strap clamps
Cables run behind in the channel
Rubber bushing added between the leg and body to allow rotation and dampen vibration

Future Improvements to design

Motorized closing and opening of legs, to allow the robot to adjust to height needed in the given circumstance
Add a head that will hold and protect the camera and ultrasonic sensor
Add a stabilization bar between the legs

To begin, let's start off with the frame, which is made by of an aluminum tread plate that we folded into a 10 by 7 inch rectangle with a height of 3 inches. we then used corner brackets to hold the shape of the box and topped it off with a lid that screws from the sides. Inside the box will be all the circuitry with holes at the bottom, allowing for wires to pass through onto the legs. The legs are then created by a aluminum channel that allows for the wires to run through the back while U-clamps hold the motor in front. The legs are also equipped with a rubber bushing between the leg and the body, allowing for rotation of the legs as well as dampening vibration from the motors. To further improve this design, we want to motorize the closing and opening of the legs so the rover may adjust its height depending on the conditions of the cave. Additionally, the legs could use a bar in between them, to hold them together, and give better stabilization, and lastly, we need to add a protective casing for our ultrasonic distance sensor and camera, as they are at risk of being damaged by the conditions on the moon

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Graphical User Interface (GUI)

General Info

Used the Processing IDE

Difficulties: was confused about transferring Java code (Processing) into C++ (Arduino)
controlP5 - creates the GUI window
processing.serial.* - sends information/output to the Arduino’s Serial Monitor

Purpose: Be able to control the rover wirelessly through our computers

Future Improvements

Implement a camera feature along with a way to take screenshots/pictures of the screen
Implement a wifi/bluetooth module to control the rover wirelessly (we ran out of time and were already close to the budget) it works but sometimes commands aren’t correctly sent to the rover

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Movement

General Info

Used the outline from the SIK v4.1 starter kit youtube tutorials uploaded by sparkfun

Difficulties: the tutorial only goes over using two motors that was automated, not four motors through a GUI controller

Mecanum Wheels: we bought specialized wheels that moved the rover smoother from left to right compared to having to turn the body a few degrees and then move
Purpose: Use four motors and wheels to move the rover, powered through one motor driver

Future Improvements

Be able to power all four motors enough to move the rover faster

(In the process of making the rover)

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Camera

General Info:

Utilized a 5V ESP-32 CAM WIFI Module

Equipped with a 2 megapixel sensor, 15-60fps image transfer rate and
Used a FTDI USB to TTL Serial Converter to program the ESP-32 CAM
Then connected the camera to L298N Motor Drive to be powered Purpose:

Purpose

Allows us to explore lunar lava tubes and find a suitable area to build a lunar base.

Future Improvements

Equip the camera to rotate a full 360 degrees with a servo motor

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Radar

General Info:

Uses the Ultrasonic Distance Sensor HC SR04

Provides 2cm to 400cm of measurement

Can rotate horizontally
By using the sensor, the rover will attempt to map out a cave of the lava tube

Future Improvements

Have the sensor be able to move/scan up and down

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OVERVIEW

Team Pirates dedicated towards creating a rover programmed and engineered to traverse the unique landscape of the moon with the goal of discovering potential human habitation. Utilizing an Arduinos builder kit, we will design, build, and run a simulated lunar lavatube course, to gather scientific data on the construction of a lunar base. The rover will be outfitted with sensors and mechanical components to complete a variety of tasks in regards to the challenges presented in the environment of the Moon. These actions will be done autonomous and non-autonomously in order for the rover to adequately explore the lava tubes, providing the necessary information for NASA to consider the location of their lunar base.

Future Crane Design

Lava Tube Course