This week, I worked on integrating the software and mechanical parts of the project and testing them together. The software required the Nvidia Jetson Nano, Intel Camera, and buck converter to give the Jetson Nano 5V of power which were not part of the mechanical tennis ball launching system. We made an acrylic roof for the Ballbot on which we placed all the hardware required to run the software as well as the battery and motor controller which were part of the mechanical system. In order to connect the battery to both the motor controller and the buck converter for the Jetson Nano, we soldered wires onto a protoboard that we also placed with all the other hardware. To secure the hardware to the acrylic roof, we used M3 dual lock adhesive which acts similar to Velcro.
Once the components were all on Ballbot, we first adjusted the speeds of the motors so that we were using minimal power while still ensuring balls would not get stuck partway up the ramp. Then, we finally started running our computer vision code and tested everything together.
Our integration worked successfully and the Ballbot was able to go after tennis balls and launch them towards the back of the robot. Next week, we plan on adding the basket to the back of the robot so that the balls are collected in the basket instead of just being launched back.
Also, we painted the exterior of the wood so that the arms Ballbot would be weatherproof. We still need to enclose the hardware to ensure the hardware can survive in the outdoors. Also, next week I plan on adding code to the software so that if the Balbot does not see a tennis ball, it turns in a circle once and ensures there are not any tennis balls outside of its field of view. Currently the Ballbot just stops when it does not see a ball which is not the best for picking up all the balls. We also hope to test the Ballbot on a tennis court if there is good weather next week.