Creating a Robot to Guard Property with Lego Mindstorm :: Robotics

The ProtectobotAbstractMy final project is to build a robot that will use non-violent techniques tokeep sentient beings out of yards. Using the Lego Mindstorm Kit I was able to completethis project. When certain animals walk by my robot, it throws gears towards theanimal to scare it away. It can tell the difference between good animals and bad,and does not harm them in any way.BackgroundFor many years people have been trying to find non-violent ways to keepanimals out of their yards and away from family pets. Various attempts haveinclude motion detecting sprinklers, electric fences, fake smells, and ultrasonic well-grounded bursts. These devices work in some cases notwithstanding not in all.Motion sprinklers spray swindle bursts of water when they detect animals.Some animals however, like to get wet so the motion sprinklers will notnecessarily work on all. Ultrasonic sound burst devices detect when an animal isnear and sends out a two second ultrasonic sound burst. These bursts ca n beheard by animals just not by humans so they may have a hard time figuring outwhen the batteries run out or when it is broken. galvanizing fences can sometimeshurt animals, including pets that are allowed to be in our backyards. Fake smellsof the animals enemy can also help scare the animal away.There are often unwanted animals in my familys backyard. They eat ourfruit from our trees, and tear up our grass. We have been trying to find more telling ways to keep them out for a long time.For my final project, I decided to make a robot that will detect when ananimal walks by it. When it detects an animal, it will throw small objects atwhatever it is that moved. I have not yet decided what it is that my robot willthrow. It has to be harder than a sponge, but cannot be so hard that it will hurtsomething. As a warning to humans, it will make a beep noise before it throwsthe object.ProceduresI built many small parts to put together to make my functioning robot. It ismade up of the laun ching pad, gear/motor station, the RCX political program, and thehead. I commencement exercise built the launching platform. It is made up of black beams ranging insize from one to sixteen. They are put together in rows with reinforcements onthe opposite sides cart track in the other direction. They came together to form atriangular shape with two gears at the end.I then attached gears and a motor to the platform so that the motor is able