| ME218c
Continuing in the mechatronics tradition of ME218A and B, the focus of ME218C was to learn about interprocessor communications. After a crash course in assembly language coding and the PIC architecture, we were assigned the ambitious task of creating a boat and a controller (helm) that could interact using ZigBee, a wireless communciations technology.
A committee of class members developed a common protocol for communicating all necessary information (speed, direction, and other functions) so that all boats and controllers would be interchangeable. Each of the 12 teams in the class devised unique themes and solutions for their boat and helm design, employing a wide variety of propulsion and input sensing methods. At the end of the project, we all participated in a battle of epic proportions, described at right.
Acknowledgements
Thank you so much to Matt, Paul, and Karl for your generosity, patience, and debugging genius. We couldn't have asked for a better 218 teaching team! We'd also like to thank our classmates and friends who supported us in this epic battle against the electrons.
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The Engagement
"The Engagement" is short for the complex dance played by the boats and helms of every team during the ME218c presentations. We'll do our best to cover the main points here wthout getting bogged down in the details. Essentially, the boats are divided into two teams and try to simultaneous fill up the other team's bucket with water while defending their own bucket.
During naval engagements, the boats and controllers were paired to each other using an iButton, a small device resembling a watch battery that stores a unique serial number. By touching the iButton to any controller and any boat, the two could find each other by comparing serial numbers and then establish a link for the rest of that game. During this process each team is assigned to be either on the Red Team or Blue Team for the Engagement.
Once all of the boats are paired, the Engagement begins. Each team has a bucket they are trying to defend and a bucket they are trying to fill. Only one of the two buckets is active at a given time. For example, if the Red Team's bucket is active then the Blue Team boats can try to fill up the Red Team's bucket but the Red Team cannot fill up the Blue Team's bucket so they are forced to play defense. Boats play defense by pushing boats to make it more difficult to get the water in the bucket. After 5 minutes elapse, the game is over. The winning team is the one which has less water in their bucket. |
