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Micromouse_Robot

Welcome to the Micromouse Maze Solver! This repository contains the code and drivers for a Micromouse robot designed to autonomously solve mazes using a flood fill algorithm. The project integrates multiple low-level drivers for hardware control and sensor integration, making it a robust solution for real-time maze-solving.

Overview

This project was developed as part of my participation in the IEEE Victories 3.0 Micromouse Competition, organized by the IEEE Mansoura Branch and powered by the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA). The Micromouse competition challenges small, autonomous robots to navigate through a maze as quickly as possible, using sensors, motor drivers, and efficient algorithms.

I used the mackorone/mms simulator available on GitHub to run and test the flood fill algorithm during development.

Features

  • Flood Fill Algorithm: A recursive algorithm that explores and solves mazes by systematically visiting and marking cells.
  • MCAL Drivers: Includes DIO (Digital I/O), PWM, and a custom TWI (Two-Wire Interface) driver for communication.
  • HAL Drivers: Abstracts the hardware layers for sensors (IR, Ultrasonic) and actuators (motors, encoders, gyroscope).
  • Custom Libraries: Provides utility libraries like BIT_MATH.h and STD_TYPES.h for bit manipulation and standard types in C.
  • Wall Detection: Integrated IR and ultrasonic sensors to detect walls and optimize movement.
  • Backtracking: The robot returns to the last unexplored cell after hitting dead-ends or fully exploring a path.

Competition Background

This project was designed for the Micromouse competition at IEEE Victories 3.0, where I applied both software and hardware skills to create a fully autonomous robot capable of solving a maze. It provided a hands-on experience in robotics and embedded systems, specifically in writing drivers and controlling various hardware components.

My Experience

As a competitor, I developed various MCAL (Microcontroller Abstraction Layer) and HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) drivers, alongside an efficient maze-solving algorithm. I worked on the following:

MCAL Drivers

  • DIO Driver: Configured digital input/output for motor control and sensor inputs.
  • PWM Driver: Pulse-width modulation for controlling motor speed.
  • TWI Driver: I2C communication protocol driver to interface with sensors.

HAL Drivers

  • IR Sensor Driver: To detect nearby walls and obstacles.
  • Ultrasonic Sensor Driver: For distance measurement in the maze.
  • Motor Driver: To control the motors for precise movement.
  • Encoder Driver: To track wheel rotation and movement distance.
  • Gyroscope Driver: For orientation and turning accuracy.

Libraries

  • BIT_MATH.h: Utility functions for bit-level operations (e.g., setting, clearing, and toggling bits).
  • STD_TYPES.h: Standard data types definitions for consistent coding.

Algorithm Explanation

The Micromouse uses the Flood Fill Algorithm to navigate the maze efficiently. Here's how it works:

  1. Wall Detection: The robot checks for walls in front, to the right, and to the left using IR and ultrasonic sensors.
  2. Recursive Exploration: Moves forward if there is no wall, marking the cell as visited and recursively exploring neighboring cells.
  3. Backtracking: If a dead-end or fully explored path is reached, the robot backtracks to the last unexplored cell.
  4. Path Optimization: Once the maze is fully explored, the optimal path to the goal is determined and followed.

For more details, refer to the floodFill function.

Drivers

MCAL Drivers

  • DIO Driver: Handles all digital input/output operations for controlling motors, sensors, and other peripherals.
  • PWM Driver: Controls motor speed using pulse-width modulation.
  • TWI (I2C) Driver: Manages communication between the microcontroller and external devices like sensors using the I2C protocol.

HAL Drivers

  • IR Sensor Driver: Reads data from IR sensors to detect nearby walls.
  • Ultrasonic Sensor Driver: Uses ultrasonic waves to measure distances in front of the robot.
  • Motor Driver: Controls the movement of the robot's motors (both speed and direction).
  • Encoder Driver: Tracks the rotation of the wheels to measure distance traveled.
  • Gyroscope Driver: Keeps track of the robot's orientation for accurate turns.

Libraries

  • BIT_MATH.h: Provides macros for bit manipulation, making it easier to manage individual bits.
  • STD_TYPES.h: Defines common standard types like u8, s16, and u32 to ensure consistency across the codebase.

Future Enhancements

  • Additional Algorithms: Implementing A* or Dijkstra algorithms for faster maze-solving.
  • Improved Sensor Fusion: Enhancing accuracy by fusing data from multiple sensors (IR, ultrasonic, and gyroscope).
  • Hardware Optimization: Further improving motor control and sensor accuracy for real-world performance.