Hoverbear
Contents
Link to Log
Project Proposal
Overview
We are going to be constructing a hoverboard that would be able to hover a few centimeters off the ground. It will be able to move to a destination by means of a beacon or vectors, and contain some measure of intelligence.
Team Members
- Lucas Alcantara
- James Shaheen
- Michael Horwitz
- TA: Tony
Objectives
- To enable the hoverboard to autonomously detect obstacles
- To enable the hoverboard to autonomously travel to a beacon
- To enable the hoverboard to follow a predetermined trail / follow a trail marked out on the ground
List of Dated Goals
February 15, 2019: Present initial project proposal to the entire class. During this time, the goals of the project should be presented along with a condensed timeline for completion as well as anticipated challenges that have been or will be faced.
- Finish the night light in the first week or so (date TBD)
- Familiarize ourselves with the sensor and work on coding to make self sufficient (date TBD)
Week of March 31st: By this week, the group should have a final design of the hoverboard and built before the end of the week.
April 8th, 2019: By this day, a Final Proposal should be finalized and submitted to Professor Feher.
April 26, 2019: By this day, the hovercraft will be presentable and at its final design.
Challenges
- All group members have very busy schedules. Finding times to meet will be hard, and individuals might have to work on their own at some times.
- Not a whole lot of experience in automation. There will a be a learning curve for the group.
- Not everyone in the group is familiar with Arduino programming. Learning how to use an Arduino is likely to take time out of the building process of the project.
- It could be a challenge to learn how to utilize the ultrasonic distance sensor so we can be self dependent and navigate through obstacles. In addition, we will be trying to use more than one ultrasonic distance sensor. It may be hard to calibrate all distance sensors.
- The hoverbear will be a careful balance between power and weight: The heavier the craft is, the more power is required to keep it afloat. The heaviest machine part will either be the fans or the battery.
Videos
Budget
| Item | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cardboard | 1 | $10.00 |
| Delta Fan | 2 | $25.99 |
| Ultrasonic Distance Sensor | 3 | $5.42 |
| Micro Servo Motor | 1 | $7.79 |
| Talentcell Battery | 1 | $23.99 |
| Remaining Budget | $39.98 | |
| Total Budget | $150.00 |
Materials
- Arduino Uno
- Foam Board (for the base)
- 12 V 3000mA Talentcell Battery
- Servo Motors
- Ultrasonic Distance Sensors
- One Delta Fan
- One slightly weaker fan
Gantt Chart
Preliminary Group Presentation
Design and Solutions
Programming and Hardware
Intelligent Turning
While being able to turn is nice and all, being able to turn intelligently is much more important. The way we did this was by implementing two ultrasonic distance sensors and a servo motor.
Each ultrasonic distance sensor was reading distances constantly, with whichever distance was shorter being used to determine how close the nearest obstacle in front of the hovercraft is. The code also checks to make sure that if there is nothing within range of the ultrasonic distance sensors, the servo motor will not react to the fairly arbitrary error values the ultrasonic distance sensors put out.
From there, the hovercraft will then use the distance calculated earlier and tell the servo motor to turn the hovercraft away from whichever side had an obstacle in front of it. From there, the servo motor would remain in the turned position until there are no obstacle in the way, at which point the servo motor returns back to the starting position, and the cycle begins again.
Physical Design
Getting the Hovercraft into the Air
In order to make a hovercraft, one must first decide which system to choose from: The first system is one fan, which divides work between the air chamber and air propulsion. Another option is to use two fans instead one. One fan pushes air into the air chamber, the other fan propels the hovercraft. Our team decided that the latter option would be easier for our purposes. This is because the second system would make it easier to steer the hovercraft without having to worry about rudders. Instead, the propelling fan would just be moved by a servo motor.
In addition to the chamber and air propulsion, A skirt needed to be made. The skirt is what prevents pressure from depleting from the air chamber. A good skirt needs to have certain qualities. To name a few:
- Obviously, be able to contain the air cushion
- Some flexibility, so that it can return to its original shape after bumping into an obstacle, scraping into something, etc.
- Provide some stability for the hovercraft
Normal plastic was used for our first skirt. Although it was flexible, the skirt was not very durable, and broke easily. On top of that, the wrinkles in the plastic film degraded the hovercraft's overall aesthetic. The skirt we are using is made of Grafix Clear-Lay, a plastic film easily found at the Wash U Store at the Mallinckrodt Center. While its primary purpose is for overlays for protective coverings for stencil drawings, the Clear-Lay is flexible yet durable enough to make a good skirt for our hovercraft. In addition, it was easy to hot glue to the base, providing some stability for the hovercraft. There were also no wrinkles when bending the Clear-Lay into its desired form, upping the hovercraft's overall aesthetic compared to the light plastic film skirt.
Circuit Problems
Helpful Links
https://makezine.com/projects/diy-r-c-hovercraft-from-cardboard-and-trash-bags/
This link was first sent by Feher as an idea of what to create for our project.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Hovercraft-with-Arduino-design/
This link was found by Lucas as a basic structure for the project.
This link was found by Lucas. It informs the reader on the basics of collision sensing in motorized machines.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Ultimate-Obstacle-Avoiding-Robot/
This link was found by Lucas as an example of an Arduino showing obstacle avoiding capabilities.
http://www.delta-fan.com/Download/Spec/AFB1212GHE-TZR6.pdf
This is a pdf of the delta fan that will give the hovercraft lift. A separate fan will be used to move the hovercraft in different directions.
