If you haven't heard of MICROMOUSE before, here is a small introduction.
A Micromouse is a small microprocessor controlled
vehicle that is able to navigate its way through an unknown and
unconnected maze. It is a typical product of "mechatronics"
embodying within itself an integration of computer and electronic
technology and mechanics. There are several micromouse competitions
held in various countries. The objective for the contestant is to
impart to the micromouse an adaptive intelligence to explore
different maze configurations and to work out the optimum route for
the shortest travel time from start to finish.
IEE Micromouse is one of the most prestigious robotic competitions
in the world. The contest is to build an autonomous robot which
will solve a standard maze.
The maze is a 16 * 16 array of cells each 18cm *18cm. the walls
of the maze are 1.2cm thick and the pathway for the maze is 16.8
cm.
The maximum dimension of the Mouse is 25*25cm. There is no height
restriction.
The Mouse has to start from a corner and find its way to the centre
of the maze.
The Mouse can take any no of runs in a particular duration of time.
An Ideal Mouse will use the wall information gained in the first
run to make the second run more efficeient.
The Mouse which records the smallest time is the winner.
If you want more details about MICROMOUSE competition visit
www.micromouse.org
Coming back to my Mouse..
I used
DC motors with gears for motion.
IR Transmitter-Receiver for wall detection
AT89s8252 microcontroller for processing wall information and
decision making
L293D NE as motor drivers
About Algorithms, there are a handful of well developed algorithms
that are available for Micromouse like Flood-fill, Depth-first Search, Djkistras.
The efficiency of each algorithm is maze dependent. For some mazes
some algorithms are suitable. It is at the final descretion of the
roboteer to choose from the available algorithms if he cannot build
a better one of his own.
Evaluating an algorithm for Micromouse is really a diffucult task.
One has to make a perfectly working mechanical design and build
a complete maze to test.
With the Micromouse Simulator, 'THE MIMO', one
can test different algorithms. You can build your own algo and test
it in mazes used in previous year competitions.
Feel free to contact hai_vinodh@yahoo.com for
queries regarding Micromouse.
