Robot Car

Description 

• Be WIFI controlled.

The controller for ESP 1 is WIFI UDP packets method. The controller for ESP 2 is WIFI TCP Access Point Mode. The controller for ESP 3 is also WIFI TCP Access Point Mode.

• Have a Top Hat button and control board integrated into the design.

Mechanical: The mechanical design reserve a spot for both Top Hat button and control board.

Electrical: The Top Hat button triggers the interrupt In the control board. We also import a connection wire to receive the logic level of button for ESP 3. The ESP 3 receive the game information from Top Hat control board through I2C communication.

• Communicate with the Top Hat over I2C to receive game information/send healing frequency.

The communication between ESP 3 and Top Hat control board is through I2C communication. The code is based on the TestRobot.ino from instructor.

• Stop when health is depleted

The display of health is controlled by ESP 3. When the health is depleted, the ESP 3 will pull one port to high and send that information to other boards. When ESP 1 and ESP 2 receive that information, they will jump into a endless loop until the health is not zero.

• Identify light of a specific frequency (from the healing beacon).

We use a light to frequency detector, which can be relative sensitive and accurate. It can convert the light density to frequency directly. We add a comparator along with it to make the square waveform from 0-5V.

• Display health as received from the Top Hat and flash when healing.

The display health is controlled by ESP 3. The information is get from Top Hat board via I2C communication. Then the program is based on the TestRobot.ino. It send information to the Neopixel ring on the Top Hat by using FastLED library. When the robot is healing, the ESP 2 will pull one port to high. When ESP 3 sense the read the port is high, It will flash the rest of the LEDs in White.

• Have at least one attack ability and be able to register hit.

The weapon is controlled by two degree servo motors. When the weapon hit something, the ESP 2 will pull one port to ground and send that to ESP 3. ESP 3 just read that port and the same logic level is send to top hat board through a wire. When the port is pull to ground, it will trigger the interrupt of the top hat board and send that information to central computer.

• Sense the healing frequency and register healing

According to the rule of the game, our remote control car needs to recognize the light with 230Hz and 1.6kHz. Once the light with the frequency above is sensed, ESP 2 will set the signal port high. After recognizing the high voltage, ESP 3 will set a logic level for top hat. And the top hat will send information to  central computer using I2C.

• LED matrix display

The 8*8 LED matrix is controlled by MAX7219. It is connected to ESP 3. During the game, when no other status happen, It will display the current health in numerical numbers. When it hit somebody or being hit, it will display a animation of circles shrinking. When it is healing, It will display a heart image blinking. When it is dead, it will display a Cross-mark.

• Audio display

The audio display is controlled by mini DF card player. There is a micro SD card inserted into the card player. It is controlled by ESP 3. The voice line is from Overwatch Reinhardt. It can play correspond voice line by itself when being hit, hit somebody or dead. It can also be controlled via WIFI AP. We made 16 buttons on the website. It can play whatever voice line we intend at the certain point of the game.