Zumo Setup
We all know not to judge a book by its cover but, you should judge robots by them. This one's alright.
Last updated
We all know not to judge a book by its cover but, you should judge robots by them. This one's alright.
Last updated
Lets take a look at what your Zumo is really made of:
1) Tank drive: two DC motors that spin tank treads. Spinning them together causes the robot to move forward, spinning them in opposition causes the robot to rotate.
2) Main Board: has a build in 3 axis accelerometer, compass, gyro, and pins to attach an Arduino Uno R3.
3) Front sensor array: used to detect black or white to avoid collisions or follow specified paths. Also has additional slots to attach other desired sensors.
4) Front blade: typically used to ram opposing robots but also serves an important function of maintaining a usable lighting environment (by shielding the sensors from overhead light) for the frontal sensor array to work.
1) Get four AA Batteries, a computer, an Arduino Uno R3, and a USB-B to USB-A cord.
2) Install the Zumo Sheild Library to your Arduino IDE.
3) You will now have access to example sketches for the Zumo through the ZumoShield Library. Pull up one of these example sketches using the following method
4) Power up the Zumo with by placing the four batteries in to the battery bank on the underside of the Zumo and connect it to your computer by placing plugging the USB-B side of your cord into the Arduino Uno R3 and the USB-A into your computer.
5) Run your example sketch and unplug the Zumo.
6) Set your Zumo in an appropriate location and turn it on using the tiny, hard-to-find switch on the back.
7) Enjoy!
Make sure you run your Zumo in a open obstacle free environment. Don't be tempted to run it on the table, just trust me don't run it on the table.
It is a lot faster than you expect, you may need to adjust the speed of the motors using the 'motor.setSpeeds(Left Speed, Right Speed)' function within the Arduino sketch.
When adjusting whether your Zumo detects black or white objects adjust the QTR_THRESHOLD value. Higher values are help detect dark objects while lower are for light objects. For a frame of reference 500 is a low value and 1500 is a high one.
Pololu User Guide - https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J57