Project Description

At the University of Notre Dame, football is king. On Saturdays in the fall, students drop everything as the campus transforms into a pigskin paradise. In the spring, persons anxiously wait as high school recruits sign on to play for the Irish. A simple walk through the bookstore

This obsession is not restricted to the athletic fields, though. In the upcoming spring, a game of football, typically reserved for fall afternoons, is to be played. This game will not be the annual Blue-Gold scrimmage, and won't even be played by humans. Cold, lifeless robots will be duking it out on the gridiron in an 8-on-8 and strictly-running version of the sport. The exciting characteristic of this match is that all of the electronics and machines will be designed, constructed, tested, and run at Notre Dame by Notre Dame students.

In order for this 8v8 robot football match to be played, there must be a way for the machines to be operated. From the machinery and mechanical construction to the systems that control it, there are many problems and tasks present. Team Awesome-O's challenge to be solved game are to create a user interface that allow the operator to input directions and have those directions handed off to the robots. Within this user interface, we are to build controllers and a communications system to transfer the controller data to the robots.

The design of the controllers presents several challenges. There are going to be 16 robots in the game (8v8), with each robot being controlled by a single individual. Our team must design these controllers in a way that they can effectively operate all of the players. Also, these controllers must be remote of the robots. Having the controllers attached to the machinery they are controlling would greatly diminish the entertainment value, functionality, and effect of the game. Along with the system being remote, the problem of how one powers the system is evident. Finding a way to power the controller for the appropriate amount of time while maintaining functionality, mobility, cost-effectiveness, and low-weight/space consumption is necessary. The controllers must be consistently serviceable for the duration of a game or multiple games. On the controller we must provide an adequate amount and quality of controls to allow the robots to operate. There must be enough, as well as the right type of, controls present on each controller for one to be able to run all functions on each robot. A goal of this team is for the designers of the robots to not be limited by the controller hardware that we design and provide. These controls must be able to withstand the abuse they will surely take and continue to be operational.

The design of the communication system and the associated hardware also presents problems. First and foremost, the system must have the ability to transmit (from the controller) and receive (onto the robots) within the necessary distance. The transmission must be at a level that one can operate the robot without interruption or false signals. To do this, the receivers on the robots must get the majority, if not all, of what is being transmitted from within the controllers. There are 16 controller-receiver pairs simultaneously sending data, and it is of great importance that these do not interfere with each other. To maintain the quality of the signal, it is necessary that the receiver on each robot is receiving and processing strictly the information intended for it. Also, as of now, there is expected to be physical contact between the robots during the game. It is imperative that the hardware and communications system will keep its quality and functionality within the non-ideal environment.