Effective Ball Handling and Control in Robot Soccer

Abstract

An autonomous soccer-playing robot was designed and constructed as part of the electrical engineering senior project at Brigham Young University. Unique physical features enable ball handling abilities. A front-side rotating drum retains the ball by applying backspin. A pneumatic kicker allows for fast accurate kicks. Robot movement control is performed by three different systems. The low-level velocity controller ensures output of desired forward and angular velocities. The position controller is used to match the robot's position with a desired position. Path generation directs the robot along a desired path at a specified velocity. The locations of the robots and ball on the soccer field is determined by the vision system. This document is a formal description of the unique designs and construction of the our team's robot.