Sumovore Manual

The Solarbotics Sumovore
Building the Body - 6
Step 13, 14 & 15 - Brainboard Installation, Battery Installation and Initial Power-up: Yup, you read right - time to fetch the
brainboard, them batteries, and get ready to go. Gather up your batteries, but before you go willy-nilly (except anybody named
“Willy” - only you may go willy-nilly) and install the batteries and brainboard, you must check a few things.
1 - Wires from the top battery holder are properly soldered (black to square pad, red to round)
2 - Wires from the bottom battery holder are properly soldered (black to square pad, red to round)
3 - Batteries are NOT wired in parallel (I.e.: Sharing same solder connections to mainboard)
4 - Motor enable switch is in the left position
5 - Power switch is in the left position
Install the brainboard on the rear of your Sumovore. Careful to align up all the pins
then push the board into place. With 24 pins connecting the two boards, it may take a
fair bit of push to get the brainboard installed. Don’t bend any pins over! Press it
down until the board seats - you’ll see 1/4” of bare pin left. This is normal -
exposed pins have no effect on the performance of the robot.
All good? Good. Install 5 of the 6 batteries. Then as you install the last battery, pay
special attention to your nose, fingers, and ears. If you SMELL anything strange,
FEEL heat, or HEAR any sizzling, POP THAT BATTERY OUT! Those are nasty signs
that something went wrong, most likely something like a solder blob shorting out
power connections, or you soldered BOTH battery holders to the same point. If you
pop the battery in and nothing happens... well, that’s a good thing at this moment.
Next, slide the power switch to the right (that’s the bigger switch of the two).
Hopefully, the red LED right next to the switch will illuminate. This LED is wired in series with the IR transmitting LEDs at the front
of the robot, so if this red LED doesn’t light up, there’s an IR transmitting problem. Ummm... you do have your edge sensor
board still installed, don’t you?
If the red LED is on, then pick up your Sumovore and touch an edge sensor. Remember, the sensors are looking for a reflection,
so if you’re testing your Sumovore on a white table surface, it’ll think its continually reading a white edge and activating the
“reverse-and-turn” behavior. Does the green LED on the corner of the discrete brainboard light up when you get close to the edge
sensor? Try turning the 10k single-turn trimpot for that side clockwise (adds sensitivity). It should turn on, and stay on for a
second or two after you remove your finger. Try it with the other side. It works too? Excellent...excellent!
Now, slide the motor enable switch to the right (the ‘on’ position). The motors
will both activate, unless if you’ve turned the power off then on, at which point
the startup delay circuit is doing it’s job (delay could be from 3 to 10 seconds
before motor activation). Activating an edge sensor will stop one motor and
reverse the other for a short duration, then both go forward again. Check both
sides for similar behavior. Things look good? Excellent!
Last test - the opponent detection sensors. Don’t fret if this doesn’t work right
away, as this part will most likely need immediate tuning. Bring your palm to the
front left or right corner of the robot. If the LED near that sensor lights up,
you’ve been seen! If not, you most likely will have to tune it. Put your Sumovore
down within 6” (15cm) of an object, like a book or tissue box. Turn the 20k
multiturn trimpot on the front sensor board 20 turns to the left, then slowly
turn it to the right, counting the rotations until you see the “opponent
detected” LED come on. Remember that number, and keep turning the screw.
When the LED goes off, average that number and reset the trimpot to that value. This will be the most sensitive your Sumovore
can be. Of course, being too sensitive can be bad, so feel free to “de-tune” your robot so it only detects object within 7 or 8
inches (19 to 21cm).
Tuning example: LED turns on at 5 turns, and turns off again at 12 turns. (5 + 12) / 2 = 8.5 turns. Start at the beginning, and
turn 8.5 turns to get to maximum sensitivity.
Step 13: Install brainboard
Step 14: Install batteries
Step 15: Check for various blinky lights! (See text)