NAMeC-Saver

I joined NAMeC-Saver in February 2024, looking forward to participating in RoboCup again.
The category this time is Line : We have to build a line follower robot.
We're building our robot from scratch, buying only electronical components. The mechanical pieces are done with 3D printers.
The group is composed of three people:

  • Jérémy, captain, lead mechanic, 3D modeler and in charge of the 3D printing
  • Rémi, co-captain, lead electronic, high-level programmer (movements)
  • Noémie, lead programmer, low-level programming (interactions with components)

This robot has to follow a line with intersections and obstacles, while picking the right path.
Sometimes, there will be green squares indicating that the robot must turn.
Our controller is a Raspberry Pi 4B 8Go. The Camera is a RPi Camera 2.
Our Line Follower Infrared sensor is a HY-S301. Our accelerometer is a GY-291.
We control motors with a L298N and servo-motors with a PCA9685.
We're also wondering if the green detection wouldn't be better with a TCS230 TCS3200.
The robot must also detect and grab balls: we're implementing that for July world's championship.
(Image of the robot's Raspberry Pi and Arduino connected to various sensors. No image of the robot because it was never fully mounted.)

What happened during the academic/national championships?

We've had quite some troubles during both championships.
Firstly, during the academics on April, our robot wouldn't move correctly. It was due to the weight being too high compared to the motors' force.
We then decided to restart from scratch, but we've only had one month, plus our studies, we didn't make it in time.
We weren't bare hands for the nationals but our robot wouldn't move. Everything was set up but our new motors:
Stepper Motors, for which we needed an Arduino along with the initial Raspberry, didn't work at all.
We got an awful 95 points in total (Good teams obtain more than 1000 points) and a last place.
But I still managed to get a prize on the podium. Why so?

Cantal Champion

In front of us was another Rescue Line team named Cantal Champion.
They were both 15 years old, from Clermont-Ferrand, no mentor that could help them.

  • Noah, captain, lead programmer
  • Emmy, co-captain, lead mechanic

They seemed in trouble, and since our robot was done for, I decided to give them some help.
I basically spent most of the championship with them, almost like a member.
Their robot was a Mbot, just like our Rescue Maze robot from last year.
I was able to help them wih the code. and the mechanics.
Eventually the robot was able to gain twice as much points as before.
I got on the podium as a special prize for the best helping hand.

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