Our team of 3 built WALL-E for our Fall 2018 ME218A Mechatronics class. Our task was to design a fun interactive display in 2-3 weeks that would educate a user about climate change, so our friendly robot trash compactor showed how to sort different types of waste through a game. Check out the videos below for a demo of WALL-E in action.

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This whimsical project gave us the opportunity to design, build, and program the mechatronic system from the ground up. This required interfacing our microcontroller TIVA with serial->parallel and parallel->serial shift registers, servos, a DC motor, an encoder, reed switches, IR beam break sensors, analog LED strips, MOSFETs, and other passive components.

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To learn more about this project, including a breakdown of subsystem schematics, state diagrams, and pseudocode, visit our project website at https://me218walle.weebly.com/

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Operation was as follows:
1) Before the game begins, the user must insert  a LEAF card into the slot on the top of the WALL-E display.

2) Once the LEAF is correctly inserted, the LEDs change from green to blue; and the user should now open Wall-E's door and place a can on the turntable.

3) Once the door is closed, the turntable will slowly start moving and the game-play will start. The game wheel will stop on a picture, and the user should use the arcade buttons to decide whether that item needs to be placed in trash, compost, or recycle. A wrong answer will cause the turntable to temporarily stop, while a correct answer will allow the turntable to keep moving.

 

The goal of the game is to have the turntable completely before Wall-E's eye clock times out. During this time, if Wall-E's heart light comes on, the turntable will stop; and the user needs to take the Eve figure and bring it close to Wall-E's heart in order to start the turntable again. The difficulty dial can also be adjusted in order to change the amount of time users have to choose a button.Once the turntable has turned completely around, a crushed can will drop onto the turntable, signifying that the game has been completed. A door will then open, allowing the user to mark the LEAF. After the LEAF has been marked, the user may remove their LEAF from WALL-E.