Autonomous Ball Sorting & Storage Robot

Robot 2 (R2) was developed as the autonomous system for DD Robocon 2024, designed to handle ball detection, selective pick-up, and silo placement tasks without human intervention. It utilized a three-wheel holonomic omni drive for omnidirectional mobility, integrated with an odometry module, IMU, and distance sensors for closed-loop navigation. Ball acquisition and scoring were achieved through a dual-belt mechanism. A Mini PC running ROS served as the main Processor, handling path planning, ball detection, and decision-making via computer vision, while an STM-based subsystem was responsible for odometry and low-level control. This layered control architecture ensured that high-level autonomy and low-level hardware functions could operate in parallel, improving reliability under competitive stress.

The robot followed a fully automated pipeline during matches: navigating autonomously to the ball zone, using CV to select the correct ball, aligning with it through sensor feedback, executing the pick-and-place via the belt system, and then traveling to the silo zone for final placement. The electronics were structured around custom PCBs, closed-loop motor drivers, and modular interconnects, enabling seamless integration between the Mini PC, STM subsystem, and actuator boards. Careful calibration of the odometry, IMU, and belt control ensured robust performance in a dynamic arena.