Page 293 - Amphibionics : Build Your Own Biologically Inspired Robot

Amphibionics 07 3/24/03 9:13 AM Page 272
FIGURE 7.1
A turtle and its robotic
counterpart. Amphibionics

The turtle and its behavior is the inspiration for the robot in this
chapter. At first I wanted the turtle to be a walking robot, much like
the biological version, but decided that an inexpensive, wheeled
robot would be a great platform on which to base experiments.
Figure 7.1 shows a real turtle and the robotic version that will be
built during this chapter.

Overview of the Turtletron Project

The robot turtle that will be built and programmed in this chapter
has a circular base and achieves locomotion using two wheels,
each one powered by direct current (DC) motors and gearboxes.
The robot will operate in autonomous mode or under remote con-
trol by a human operator. Turtletron will use an ultrasonic range
finder and a linear shaft encoder to map its surrounding area dur-
ing autonomous mode, and will also use the sonar to inhibit move-
ment if an operator is directing the robot into an obstacle during
remote control. The robot will also be equipped with a linear shaft
encoder that will give it the ability to keep track of the distance that

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