"Where Are My Keys" - Improving DAM Robotics Rover Navigation Capabilities

The “Where Are My Keys” project is named after what it does best - finding things that are lost or hidden. The project, developed for the DAM Robotics Mars Rover team, helps earn bonus points in the Canadian International Rover Challenge (CIRC) by helping the team find and rescue a fake “astronaut” and bring him home at night. Our project provides Infrared and LED floodlights to assist in nighttime navigation, an automatic local and external GPS system for tracking the “astronaut”, and an intuitive user control system, all connected to the Rover over a single communication line. The system is a “plug-and-play’ module that can be attached or removed at any time, to optimize the Rover’s power consumption. Our biggest accomplishment in designing the system is mastering KiCAD to design five stable, efficient electronics boards that are capable of performing all of the system’s features in a compact form factor. In the project, we learned to optimize component placement to promote signal stability and prevent electrical noise. The success of our project was not a simple task, however - connecting with the Mars Rover over just one communication line required extensive research in microcontroller specifications and optimization of data flow. The result of our challenge was a system we are proud of, a network of GPS data retrieval packaged and relayed to the user over one interfacing board - the Signal Output Master, which is also responsible for handling user input. The documentation contained in this Project Showcase represents nearly thirty weeks of dedication and passion for DAM Robotics, resulting in a completed system we are stoked to use to earn extra competition points.

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Artifacts

Name Description
"Where Are My Keys" Project Document Comprehensive source of information about our project, includes all documentation, and interactive table of contents for quick navigation.   Link
"Where Are My Keys" Executive Summary High-level overview of the project's development, purpose, features, accomplishments, challenges, and future recommendations.   Download
"Where Are My Keys" Expo Poster PDF file of the poster used to present the project at the 2024 Engineering Expo   Download
"Where Are My Keys" Showcase PowerPoint Presentation used in the Project Showcase Video   Download
"Where Are My Keys" Project Showcase Video Recording of our showcase presentation - includes project, purpose, accomplishments, recommendations, and recorded demo of of project.   Link
"Where Are My Keys" Project Document Downloadable NOTE: Direct downloadable copy may have reduced quality. Comprehensive source of information about our project, includes all documentation, and interactive table of contents for quick navigation.   Download
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