Lightning McQueen was created by Group 21 for UCT's 3rd year Mechatronics Design course. Her goal was to safely navigate a line marked out on the laboratory floor and come to a stop 10cm from a board placed at the finish line - as fast as possible. I'm very proud to say that she was the winning vehicle!
The guts of the design are a set of infrared sensors interfaced to an STM32F0 micro-controller, with logic written in C (Check out the code here). Here are some photos of the finished product and the build process.
The Process
Hover over or click on an image to see more info.
Initial mechanical design
First sensor module prototypes
Sensor drivers completed
Modular line sensor design completed and built
Figuring out component placement on the chassis
Parts arrived!
Velcro base and motors affixed to chassis
Preliminary layout testing
Everything fits!
Novel plug design...
Initial bodywork design
Bodywork designed and cut
We found a spoiler!
Bodywork painted and ready to go
It fits!
The Team
Group 21 celebrating our win. From left: Kabir, me, Max and Ameen.
The Task
A video of Lightning McQueen navigating the course. The cable max is holding is delivering power - batteries were only used for the final runs.
