Team Alpha
Special Feature
Welcome to the special feature
As a team we decided on having a special feature that would make our own micro mouse have its own unique twist. It was important for our special feature to have a technical rather than an aesthetic impact on the micro mouse and to give an opportunity to have a power saving element within the micro mouse.
Therefore, as a team we settled on having a push switch that would cycle through each mode; obstacle avoidance, line following, and combat. This feature would be extremely useful as it would allow all the code for each mode to be uploaded onto the microprocessor simultaneously, and to then be switched through the simple press of a button. If this feature was not included, then to switch between modes would require either a laptop or computer to re-upload the altered code every time. As we won’t be able to tell which mode the micro mouse is in just by pressing the button, we decided to have three LED’s which would light up to represent which mode was selected.
Mock configuration of mode-select LED’s
We started to use simulation software to create a mock circuit for the mode selector with LED’s circuit. Using simulation software has a practical advantage as it allows us to swap out components with relative ease and to also configure things like resistor values without having to constantly swap them out. This follows our ethics and sustainability values as having to practically swap out components can lead to a wastage of cost and materials. It was decided that green LED would be obstacle avoidance, orange LED would be white line following, and the red LED would indicate that combat mode was selected.
Where the LED’s will be placed.
The LED’s will be placed in three conveniently positioned holes within the micromouse. This allows for easy visibility as we plan on having some form glass or transparent material on the roof of the case. This means that which mode the micromouse is in can be easily selected and determined through simply just pressing the mode-select switch. This also gives us another unique advantage as it allows the mouse to stay as a whole product with its case, rather than to constantly take the case and re-configure the components. The reason for having the mouse as one set product is so that it looks professionally done and the user only has to press buttons – like with any standard electronic product you buy.
Power Saving
As we were including an extra switch and three LED’s, we decided to use this as an opportunity to have some form of power saving conformity. To achieve some form of power saving we decided that instead of having the corresponding LED’s be constantly switched on for its respective mode, we would instead have them only flash for one or two seconds maximum. This means that if you were to switch from obstacle avoidance to white line following then the yellow LED would only turn on for a brief period giving the user ample time to observe which mode the micromouse is in. This feature allows us to save power by not having an LED permanently on, draining battery power without taking away any functionality from our special feature. This also lends credence to our ethics and sustainability values as power saving is a major component of sustainability.