How to make a robot football player from nxt. LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Instructions. EV3 tracked drive platform

It was announced that another new nomination will be held as part of the regional qualifying competitions for the RoboMir-2014 festival - “Robot Football”. Therefore, we are opening a new series of articles on our blog dedicated to these competitions.

So, a little background... The largest event to date where robots compete in football is RoboCup (from English "Robot Soccer World Cup"- Robot Football Championship), which has been held annually since 1993. The official goal of the project is the prospect of creating, by the middle of the 21st century, humanoid robotic football players capable of winning a football match against people according to FIFA rules. One of the nominations of this large-scale event isRoboCup Junior Australia (RCJA) GEN II Robot Soccer - thenwhat interests us, who like to assemble robots from Lego Mindstorms construction sets, most of all.

In addition to RoboCup, robo-football is played according to the same rules at the World Robot Olympiad, where our compatriots have achieved high results in recent years and even took 1st place in the senior age category at the Olympics in Malaysia in 2012.
It is worth noting that robot football competitions always arouse special interest at any events where they are held and never go unnoticed by the audience. After all, who wouldn’t be interested in watching the work of real artificial intelligence in action!

Now to the attention of all those interested! What does it take to take part in this kind of competition?

Firstly, the Lego Mindstorms construction set of any generation: RCX, NXT or EV3. The set of parts is, of course, individual for each robot, but the set of electronic components must include: a programmable unit and three motors - you can’t do without this. Usually, for this kind of competition, the Basic + Resource sets of Lego Mindstorms Education are sufficient (each generation has such sets).

Secondly, special sensors. To play robo-football, the use of the Compass sensor and IR sensor is MANDATORY. The remaining sensors can be used at the discretion of the participants, but it is worth noting that you can only use sensors that are officially approved for use in the competitions in which you are going to participate (check the rules). Typically, the rules allow the use of any sensors included in Lego Mindstorms NXT, RCX or EV3 kits, as well as some products from a certified HiTechic manufacturer (for example, NSK1042 - NXT IRSeeker V2, NMC1034 - NXT Compass Sensor).

Thirdly, a special playing field and ball. If with the playing field everything is more or less clear - the rules always indicate in detail the sizes and colors, on the basis of which you can either prepare the field yourself or order it from a furniture factory, then with the ball everything is a little more complicated. The fact is that in order for a robot to play football, it must somehow “see” this ball, otherwise the whole game will turn into random and completely unreasonable movements of models and there is no longer any talk about “artificial intelligence.” out of the question. That is why the competition rules require participants to use an IR sensor - so that he can “see” a special

This page contains instructions for assembling robots or mechanisms from the educational starter kit LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 (45544). In addition to instructions, you will find here videos showing the capabilities of the assembled models, and demo programs. For some models, recommendations are given on which applications can be used to control robots remotely and how to configure these applications.

Robot with big cardboard wheels

If you're itching to make a robot with big wheels from the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Educational Set (45544), but don't have the wheels, don't worry. You can make them yourself from thick corrugated cardboard. How to make a robot with large cardboard wheels so that the wheels spin normally and do not fall off, I suggest you read in this article.

Robot artist EV3 Print3rbot

I really liked the EV3 Print3rbot artist robot project, which unfortunately uses custom parts that need to be 3D printed. I decided to build the same robot, but using parts only from the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 educational set (45544). And I succeeded, although I had to add more rubber bands.

Controlling a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot in first person

You can easily control the robot, assembled from the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 constructor, remotely in first person. To do this, you will additionally need two smartphones with the RoboCam application installed on one of them. Let's take a closer look at the RoboCam application and learn how to use it.

Face detection on EV3

Using the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 building set and a webcam, you can conduct an indoor face detection experiment. Any EV3 wheeled robot that can rotate in place and to which you can attach a webcam is suitable for the experiment. The robot will scan the room, turning around, and when it sees faces, it will stop and twitch as many times as it sees faces.

Object tracking on EV3

Using a webcam and the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 (45544) educational construction kit, you can make a robot that tracks a moving object. The robot will be able not only to turn the camera towards the object, but also to maintain a certain distance to it, i.e. move closer if the object is moving away from the camera, or drive further if the object is getting closer. We'll talk about how to do this in this article.

Gymnast EV3

It’s quite easy to make a gymnast performing various exercises on the horizontal bar if you have the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 (45544) educational construction set. I taught the gymnast how to do three exercises, and you can teach him various other tricks.

Formula 1 EV3 racing car

A Formula 1 racing car can be made using the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 (45544) educational set. The driver sits in the car and holds the steering wheel. The machine is remotely controlled from an Android smartphone.

LEGO EV3 Floor Cleaner

The robot floor cleaner moves by turning two disks parallel to the floor. Using rubber bands, you can attach rags soaked in a cleaning solution to the discs, and then your floor will become a little cleaner.

LEGO EV3 Claw Robot

This robot with a claw can not only grab, but also lift objects. And it does both of these actions with just one motor. And due to the rubber tips of the claw, the robot can lift even slippery objects. And of course, what the robot grabbed, it can transport to another place.

Selenokhod from LEGO EV3

Selenokhod is a lunar rover created by a Russian team to participate in the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. The project is currently closed, but the interesting design with an equally interesting system of movement on the lunar surface remains. Using the LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 starter educational set (45544), it is possible to assemble a model of the Selenokhod, which will move according to the same principle and raise and lower its “head” in the same way.

Assembling a clock with hands from the LEGO EV3 construction set

The LEGO Mindstorms Education EV3 Basic Educational Set (45544) contains enough gears and other parts to build a clock with hour and minute hands. In addition to keeping accurate time, the watch beeps every hour.

EV3 tracked drive platform

In the Mindstorms Education EV3 educational kit, all robotics training in the classroom is carried out using a wheeled drive platform. I wanted to make exactly the same platform so that all the sensors could be installed on it in the same way, but only so that it would move with the help of tracks.