For an electromechanical systems design course, I served as the team lead on a team of five graduate students tasked to design and prototype an autonomous robot to replace manual methods for golf ball collection on driving ranges. As a high-level operational overview, the robot follows the following procedure:

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-Begins at its home base in bottom left corner of the driving range

-Takes user inputs on the driving range dimensions and creates a target trajectory of waypoints to follow on the range

-Utilizes GPS and custom controls to follow the trajectory and collect balls

-Avoids obstacles through the use of four ultrasonic sensors and an IMU sensor

-Follows trajectory until completes the path, registers low battery, or reaches full capacity (250 golf balls)

-Creates an optimal return to base set of trajectory waypoints

-When within 20 feet of the home base, transitions to computer vision guidance for precision docking

-User interaction occurs for removing payload and/or recharging, and then process repeats

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 In addition to serving as the team lead, I also handled all driving system selection (motors/motor controller/battery), component selected and wrote the software for almost all electronics, created a custom PID controller for each DC motor PWM value and a PD controller for the overall robot desired velocity, and wired all electrical hardware/attachments. On the mechanical side, I assisted in the construction of the aluminum T-slot reinforced chassis, CAD designed and laser cut the sensor housings, and assisted in manual machining the custom bearing housings for reduced off-axial loads. With heavy involvement across several aspects of the project, greatly furthered my mechanical, electrical, and programming abilities.