Build Your Own Vacuum Robot With Your FPGA!

This is the first part of the series for building up your own robot, that is fully capable of swallowing up the dust of your room.

The first thing you need to build is a fully functional robot that moves independently around your room and that can stop at every obstacle. Well, you have it. This project was developed by two students of the University of Alberta.  They wanted to proof that an FPGA can be used to perfectly control a robot. This robot can interact with its environment, following a light on detecting obstacles, for example. Thus, it is perfect for your intentions of building a cleaning robot.

In this article you will find every detail needed to create your own FPGA-based robot. Schematics, part lists and the whole VHDL code needed for the sensors and the control of dc drives. Apart from the FPGA, you need to build some external analog circuits for the sensors, plus there are two motor drives included. Lots of fun there.

However, there is a drawback. But a really funny one. There won´t be a second part telling you how to implement the vacuum system. But! You can do it! You now have the platform. All you need to add is a bag and a suction system that runs all the time the robot is moving.

If there is no challenge, there is no reward!

Don´t forget to tell us the result!

By J. Smith and D. Rempel