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

The Protectobot Abstract My final project is to build a robot that will use non-violent techniques to keep animals out of yards. Using the Lego Mindstorm Kit I was able to complete this project. When certain animals walk by my robot, it throws gears towards the animal to scare it away. It can tell the difference between good animals and bad, and does not harm them in any way. Background For many years people have been trying to find non-violent ways to keep animals out of their yards and away from family pets. Various attempts have included motion detecting sprinklers, electric fences, fake smells, and ultrasonic sound bursts. These devices work 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 will not necessarily work on all. Ultrasonic sound burst devices detect when an animal is near and sends out a two second ultrasonic sound burst. These bursts can be heard by animals but not by humans so they may have a hard time figuring out when the batteries run out or when it is broken. Electric fences can sometimes hurt animals, including pets that are allowed to be in our backyards. Fake smells of the animal’s enemy can also help scare the animal away. There are often unwanted animals in my family’s backyard. They eat our fruit from our trees, and tear up our grass. We have been trying to find more effective ways to keep them out for a long time. For my final project, I decided to make a robot that will detect when an animal walks by it. When it detects an animal, it will throw small objects at whatever it is that moved. I have not yet decided what it is that my robot will throw. It has to be harder than a sponge, but cannot be so hard that it will hurt something. As a warning to humans, it will make a beep noise before it throws the object. Procedures I built many small parts to put together to make my functioning robot. It is made up of the launching pad, gear/motor station, the RCX platform, and the head. I first built the launching platform. It is made up of black beams ranging in size from one to sixteen. They are put together in rows with reinforcements on the opposite sides running in the other direction. They came together to form a triangular shape with two gears at the end. I then attached gears and a motor to the platform so that the motor is able