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

The ProtectobotAbstractMy final project is to build a robot that provide use non-violent techniques tokeep animals egress of yards. Using the Lego Mindstorm Kit I was able to completethis project. When certain animals walk by my robot, it throws pitchs towards theanimal to scare it out. It can tell the difference between equitable animals and bad,and does not harm them in any way.BackgroundFor many years people have been nerve-wracking to find non-violent ways to keepanimals out of their yards and away from family pets. Various attempts haveincluded motion detecting sprinklers, electric fences, fake smells, and ultrasonicsound bursts. These devices turn tail in some cases but not in all.Motion sprinklers spray short bursts of water when they detect animals.Some animals however, like to get wet so the motion sprinklers pull up stakes notnecessarily work on all. Ultrasonic sound burst devices detect when an animal isnear and sends out a two second ultrasonic sound burst. These bursts can beheard by animals but not by humans so they may have a hard time figuring outwhen the batteries tilt out or when it is broken. Electric fences can sometimeshurt animals, including pets that are allowed to be in our backyards. Fake smellsof the animals enemy can in addition 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 moreeffective 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 launching pad, gear/motor station, the RCX platform, and thehead. I first 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 running in the other direction. They came together to form atriangular shape with two gears at the end.I then disposed gears and a motor to the platform so that the motor is able