MECE 3390U: Mechatronics

(3 Credits)

Group Project

Design and Development of a Maze Solving Mobile Robot

Thursday March 29, 2018

FIRST COME FIRST SERVED! The first 6 Blackboard messages I receive from the first 6 groups
will be granted permission to present on the day of their choice. The remaining will be ordered by
the desired priority sequence and the time of receiving their e-mail.

Report Due: Friday, April 5, 2018 at 5:00pm. (Submission via Blackboard)

Notes:

• All groups must submit their final works including a report, presentation slide and a
demonstration video via a Blackboard dropbox. No delays will be tolerated.
• Please provide a group members signing sheet and type up the group #, group
members’ names, and student numbers.
• Group work submission (equal mark to each legitimate group member) is considered
for this project.

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1. Objective

Design an autonomous maze solving mobile robot using the Lego kits. Your designed LEGO
mobile robot will be placed at the maze entrance. It then must traverse the maze until it finds the
exit (See an example in Figure 1, the detailed maze structure can be found in the Mechatronics
Lab).
Exit

Figure 1. Example of the maze

You are required to design a collision-free robot so it can navigate through a maze without
touching any obstacles. Your robot must be constructed using the provided LEGO Mindstorms
Kit. You are allowed to use any of the parts in the kit. Additional parts may be added.

Note: The code for the LEGO Mindstorms EV3 must be done in MATLAB (either Simulink or
Script). Your code must be heavily commented, so someone who is not involved in your project
can understand how the code works.

2. Requirements

2.1 Prototype Demonstration

You are required to run your demonstration during the TAs’ office hours and record the best one
as a video. You may be asked to show the code that is being loaded onto your robot prior to the
start of your time trials.

You need to present your demo in your presentation. There will be overhead cameras, by which
you can generate the map and locate the robot.

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2.2. Oral Presentation

You are required to present your work in the last three classes of the course. You will be given
up to 8 minutes (including setting up your computer) for your presentation. Please be advised
that

1- all members in your group must be present on the presentation day;

2.3 Report Requirements

You must submit one report per group that documents your design. The report must be in the
form of a technical report and should include:

- title page
- group members signing sheet
- table of contents
- executive summary
- requirements section (project definition)
- engineering specification
- concept generation and evaluation
- flowcharts, pseudo-code, program files (Please include the program files in the
appendices section)
- test plan
- discussion and analysis of your prototype
- provide as appropriate: freehand sketches, analytical calculations, logbooks, designers
notebooks, references, etc.
-
3. Report Submission – Please use the Blackboard assignment drop-box named “Project
Submission” dedicated to this project in order to electronically submit your group project
report, PowerPoint presentation file, MATLAB Code, and all other supporting documents,
any time before Friday, April 5, 2018 at 5:00pm. Please be advised that

 The report file must be in doc or docx format only. No other formats will be
accepted.
 The presentation slides must be in ppt or pptx format only.
 The MATLAB code(s) as a MATLAB file (e.g. Code.m or Code.mat).
 All other supporting documents such as journal or conference papers, patents, etc.
may be in any format.

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Please make a zip file of all above documents and name your zip file using the following
convention: “yourgroup#-yoursection#.zip”, for example: “Group#50-Section012.zip”. When
ready, or any time before Friday, April 5, 2018 at 5:00pm, only one of the group members should
submit the zip file via the Blackboard assignment drop-box, named “Project Submission”,
dedicated to this project.

Important Note: If you fail to follow submission instructions ZERO marks will be assigned to
all the members in your group.

4. Marking Scheme

The overall project will be marked for: completeness, originality, technical merits, clarity,
quality of engineering analysis, feasibility of the proposed design concept, and the functionality
of the prototype.

The project report will be 20% of your final mark for the course. The prototype demonstration
will be 10% of your final mark for the course. The presentation will be 5% of your final mark.

5. Format and Structure of the Report

 The report should be maximum 15 pages, single spaced, Times New Roman with font
#12.
 All below items, 1 to 6, must fit within 15 pages in your report, excluding cover page
and appendices.

 Executive Summary: Maximum 300 words - Briefly explain your selected topic,
the design methodologies/ tools that have been utilized, and the achievements
 Table of contents
 Introduction
 Body of the Report: it should include Problem Description, Motivation,
Objective(s), Classification of Different Approaches, Discussion on the
Current Designs, Discussion on Implementations, Discussion of the Results,
discussion on the Advantages and Disadvantages of the different
methods/concepts, Suggestions for the Future Designs, Findings of your study,
and your Analysis of Result.
 Conclusion: discussion on significance of the results, advantages, drawbacks, and
suggestions for the future work.
 References

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 Note 1: Appendices may include: engineering drawings, tables, diagrams, algorithms,
programming codes, and/or any supporting documents which do not fit into the main
manuscript of the report.

Note 2: Below are some typical mistakes that may cause a substantial deduction in your
report grade. You will lose marks if

 there is no cover page and there is no title page with your group members’ names,
and student IDs (-20 marks);
 there is no table of content (-20 marks);
 there are no numbers and descriptions for figures, tables, diagrams, etc. (-20
marks;
 there is no page number (-20 marks);
 there are dictation and grammatical mistakes (-20 marks);
 the report is not cohesive and coherent (-20 marks);
 the lines are not justified in your report (-20 marks);
 you copy from the internet and paste onto your report without quotation (-20
marks);
 you do not follow the format and structure of the report (-20 marks); and
 if graphs, diagrams, pictures, figures, sketches, etc. are not visually acceptable (-
20 marks).

6. Practice and Testing Schedule

The maze is placed in the Control & Mechatronics Lab on the Third floor of Engineering (ENG)
building. Below are hours in which you and your group members may have access to the maze
and the cameras.

1- Wednesdays 8:00am-11:00am
2- Thursdays 11:00am-12:00pm
3- Fridays 3:00pm-5:00pm