MACS Lab: [Segway] Parts and links

This a list of basic part needed for building:

Motors

24 Volts, 0.9hp, 40A, comes with gearbox (1:20)

Link: http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/NPC-T64.html

This is most optimal choice, as can be setup without any extra headache (like gearbox building, figuring out how to mount, etc...)

Wheel Hubs

LInk: http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/NPC-PH448.html

This hub is fastened to the motor shaft with four inner holes and to wheels, with outer four. Made for our motors and wheels specifically. Made from 0.5"

Wheels

Wheel diameter - 14", rim diameter - 6"m flat-proof tire

Link: http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/NPC-PT5306.html

Motor Speed Controllers

6-30V, 60A

Link: http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/IFI-V883.html

Speed controllers are needed to control motor speed and direction. They are controlled by PWM signal generated by microcontroller.

Microcontroller

32bit ARM STM32F103RB Processor, 72Mhz clock speed, 39 digital input/outputs and 16 analog inputs. Programmable with Arduino compatible Programming Environment.

Link: http://www.robotshop.com/world/leaflabs-maple-32-bit-arduino-compatible-microcontroller-1.html

Microcontroller is our Segway's brain. All sensors and speed controllers are connected to it and built in software (developed by us) will make a vehicle to balance and move.

Sensors:

Accelerometer

Link: http://www.robotshop.com/world/dimension-engineering-de-accm3d.html

We will use two accelerometers: one for forward-reverse tilt detection, brains will command motors with respective acceleration forward or reverse; and other - for steering stick tilt (left/right) detection, which will give motors a command to change acceleration speeds respectively to the desired turn.

Gyroscope

Link: http://www.robotshop.com/world/sfe-gyro-breakout-board-adxrs614-1.html

Gyro is used to detect forward/reverse angular acceleration of the vehicle. This will hep to sense inertia and prevent vehicle not to drift forward-reverse.

Voltage Sensors

Link: http://www.robotshop.com/phidgets-precision-volt-sensor.html

Each of our motors have separate batteries. During the operation motors often work on different speeds (e.g. on turns), which causes batteries to be discharged on different levels. This can cause improper movements, when driving strait forward, as motors will have different speeds supplied by different voltages. These sensors will give additional information to the software to balance "voltage difference" of batteries.

Powering:

Batteries

For motors we will use battery packs made from a123 LiFePo4 26650 cells in 8 Serial/4Parallel configuration