Voicy
Resident Panty Kicker
I was going through my closet looking for something - and as always, you find EVERYTHING except what you're looking for. That's when I stumbled upon my old buggy project.
It's been almost 6 years since I finished my studies in engineering and one of my classes was rather unusual. This might not be of interest to most of you, but I decided to do a write up for those 2 or 3 who are interested in micro-controllers.
The Buggy Project
The course, Micro Systems Design, was rather unusual given that on the very first day our lecturer told us that the course did not require us to write any tests or exams. Given our ignorance we were obviously ecstatic. However, we grew silent (and equally perplexed) fairly quickly when the lecturer drew a grid on the board.
We were told that in order to pass the course, we had to achieve 3 tasks.
The Altera makes use of AHDL/VHDL to program it, which means it works on a logic gate (boolean algebra) array When you're done hard coding it, you can also export a visual gate array which you can use to check your code before killing the chip, as below:
As mentioned, this one is a very simple program that allows you to enter a 4 digit binary code using the dip switches on the board, then select the output (hexal/octal/decimal/HEX) to display on the 7-segment LED Display.
The Grid
The grid comprised of a 8x8 matrix of (150mm x 150mm) blocks with interchangeable barriers, which would be placed in an unknown maze format on the day of the final test. Therefore, you could not pre-program a route to follow into your design's logic controller.
Given the dimensions, your buggy has to be small enough to fit into the maze and turn around as well as having sensors low enough to detect the boundaries...but be robust enough to clear the small grooves separating each block. Some buggies just didn't have the horsepower to cross those small gaps.
It's been almost 6 years since I finished my studies in engineering and one of my classes was rather unusual. This might not be of interest to most of you, but I decided to do a write up for those 2 or 3 who are interested in micro-controllers.
The Buggy Project
The course, Micro Systems Design, was rather unusual given that on the very first day our lecturer told us that the course did not require us to write any tests or exams. Given our ignorance we were obviously ecstatic. However, we grew silent (and equally perplexed) fairly quickly when the lecturer drew a grid on the board.
We were told that in order to pass the course, we had to achieve 3 tasks.
- Research a topic relevant to the course and deliver a keynote presentation on it. (Simple enough - basically testing your presentation skills as a future engineer)
- Build the Altera EMP7032S FPLD development board & code a useful program into it using VHDL. (Hooray for soldering skills! I just went with a standard Binary - hex - octal - decimal - hexadecimal converter.)
- Build a buggy that will guide itself through a maze without any user input or assistance via remote control. In essence, you switch the buggy on, place it in the maze and it has to find its own way out of the maze. You could make use of the Altera FPLD above, which was issued with the course or make use of your own controller - as long as it operated independently. If it passes through the maze, you pass the course. If it doesn't, neither do you. No pressure.
The Altera makes use of AHDL/VHDL to program it, which means it works on a logic gate (boolean algebra) array When you're done hard coding it, you can also export a visual gate array which you can use to check your code before killing the chip, as below:
As mentioned, this one is a very simple program that allows you to enter a 4 digit binary code using the dip switches on the board, then select the output (hexal/octal/decimal/HEX) to display on the 7-segment LED Display.
The Grid
The grid comprised of a 8x8 matrix of (150mm x 150mm) blocks with interchangeable barriers, which would be placed in an unknown maze format on the day of the final test. Therefore, you could not pre-program a route to follow into your design's logic controller.
Given the dimensions, your buggy has to be small enough to fit into the maze and turn around as well as having sensors low enough to detect the boundaries...but be robust enough to clear the small grooves separating each block. Some buggies just didn't have the horsepower to cross those small gaps.
