IIT Delhi Robotics Club

ROBODIARY
Volume 3, No 2 24th April,2010

ROBOCON -Danvir Singh

S ince the first appear-

ance of a robot in a movie
ganized by Doordarshan
(DD) in association with
the host institution,
robots test the ability of
the robot to complete the
task, combating different
in 1927, robots have in- which has been the Ma- strategies by their oppo-
trigued us through innu- harashtra Institute of nents for efficient comple-
merable appearances in Technology(MIT), Pune tion of the tasks. Reliabil-
fictional stories in the since 2005. The winner of ity of the robots is a major
media, be it the print or the the national level Robo- factor that decides the
film. ABU Robocon, short con competition then winner of the competition.
for Robotic Contest, which represents the country at The team with higher
is an interesting game- cum- the international level. number of points is de-
intellectual exercise for bud- This national level com- clared the winner of the
ding engineers, determined petition attracts teams match between the 2 op-
to innovate and create ma- from practically all the posing teams. The compe-
Inside this issue: chines for producing desired top-notch engineering tition involves building
results. This competition is colleges from across the and deployment of both
Indelible Experi- 2 organized annually at the country. Due to this it automatic, i.e. robots with
ence of Robotics Asia Pacific level by the has been the primary intelligence, and remote-
Asian Broadcasting Union. competition in which the controlled manual robots.
Preparation for 2 This international competi- Robotics Club of IIT
After many years of sin-
tion has found participation Delhi has been participat-
from 20 countries from the ing since 2003. cere hard work, grit and
Legacy of the Ro- 3 determination, the IIT
region since its inception in
Every year the theme of
2002, India being one of Delhi team has been able
the competition is re-
Robotics Xplode 3 them. to create a standard of its
leased by the host nation
The international level com- of the ABU Robocon, own in terms of the robots
Robotics in Vision 4 petition is preceded by the consisting of head-on that it makes for the com-
national level competitions matches between the petition.
Robowars 4 organized. In India, the na- competing teams. The
tional level Robocon is or- assigned tasks for the

A word by our Mentor -Prof S.K Saha

We’re also on the
web
I t is really heartening to see an-
other newsletter coming within four
their 24 x 7 robot called
"Robomuse" during IIT Delhi's
Open House, I2Tech 2010 which
http:// months of its previous one. It shows is being held on April 24, 2010.
paniit.iitd.ac.in/ the enthusiasm of the students work-
All the best and keep up the
ing with robotics club. I am happy to
good work!
know that the students will showcase
their Robocon 2010 robots, along with
Page 2 Robodiary

Indelible Experience of Robotics

ROBOCON 2010 TEAM
-Sanjay Dhakar
Prof. S.K. Saha
(Team mentor) I wanted to do some-
thing practical using the
on the makeshift field.
I did my most of the learn-
been able to stick to the
initial timeframe but then
to err is to be human. We
Danvir Singh Sethi
technical knowledge. So I ing in my 2nd year. In the can only hope that we keep
(Team Coordinator) joined the robotics club in second year, I was a part of learning from our past mis-
Sanjay Dhakar my first year. Before joining the planning process and takes and keep improving
I didn’t had any idea about the entire focus was on per- upon them. That’s what
(Electrical Coordinator) what robotics is. The whole forming outstandingly in we actually did this year.
Pawan Kumar experience of Robocon I Robocon this time. It was a We were able to follow the
would say was magical help- priceless experience to ob- timeline upto satisfactory
(Mechanical Coordinator)
ing me both on the profes- serve the complete team level.
Parag Jain sional and personal front. I working like maniacs to
I must say in these 3 years
(Electrical) was surprised with the en- reach the final goal in
the level of robustness,
Kamal Gupta ergy I felt as soon as I January. I must admit our
design and accuracy of our
(Electrical) landed in Pune for the com- maximum output comes
robots has increased tre-
petition. All the doziness when we are under maxi-
Vyom Jain mendously. I am greatly
acquired during the train mum pressure. No doubt
(Mechanical) thankful to the Robotics
journey went away as we our chances would have
Abhijeet Rathore club to make these 3 years
saw tens of robots running increased manifold had we
(Mechanical) of my college life special.
Kishor Kumar
(Mechanical) Preparation for Robocon 2010
Rohit Kushwaha

Rohit Goyal
(Mechanical)
T he Robcon 2010 theme
was announced on 24 Au-
(Mechanical) gust 2009, after the ABU
Robocon 2009 was held in
Japan. Thus after discus-
Himanshu Gupta
(Electrical) sions to understand the
rules, the Robotics Club
Rohit Taneja
members were divided into
(Electrical)
5 teams, comprising of
Prashant Joshi
around 6 members each. As
(Electrical) done annually, the differ-
Manas Paldhe ent teams were to come up
(Electrical) with some initial ideas and
Pawan Gupta designs for the robots
(Electrical) which were then discussed
and analysed in detail by
Ashwini Kumar Pal
all the members and then
(Mechanical)
the feasible designs were
Kamlesh Suwarnakar combined to prepare the
(Mechanical) best design for the compe-
Nihit Kumar tition. This was like an
(Mechanical) internal competition
among the members of the
club, termed as Internal
Idea Competition.
In the meantime, we
formed 4 separate teams
among ourselves so that
we could come up with
different ideas in few days.
The members of Robotics
Club were then divided
into 3 teams working on
three different robots. In
order to work on a parallel
basis, several manufactur-
ers were approached but
they failed our expectation
and hence once again we
were dependent on our
previous manufacturer.
This year we were able to
meet most of the deadlines
and able to prepare the
basic structure of the three
robots in a fairly working
condition till the first week
of December. After the
initial testing, the robots
were continually im-
proved, with small im-
provements in the design
of the robots and the algo-
rithm used for running the
robots. After the near suc-
cessful testing of the Kha-
fra robots in January, the
last robot was focused on.
This year another new fea-
ture added to the robots
were integrated circuits for
the robots, with all the
components of the electri-
cal circuitry for running
the robot on a single board
instead of different con-
nected circuits of the PIC
microcontroller, the motor
drivers etc.
So by the end of February,
all the four robots were
complete, with good reli-
ability. Thus we reached
Pune with a sense of
achievement in itself.
Volume 4, No 1
Legacy of the Robotics Club
R
obotics Club of IIT
Delhi has always been a
place where some of the
most hardworking indi-
viduals strive to achieve
perfection in the field of
Robotics. Our primary aim
has consistently been per-
forming our best at Robo-
con – The annual Robotics
competition. It was the
vision of Professor
S.K.Saha that gained real
grounds in the year 2003
when IIT Delhi actively
participated in Robocon
for the first time. Marking
the beginning of a work-
group as well as a trade-
mark journey, the legacy
still continues after quite
many years. The very first
attempt at Robocon acted
as an enormous boosting
force to our motives and
actions as we reached the
semi finals. We reached
semi finals again in 2004
but got slightly pulled
Robots Xplode in Kharagpur
Our participation in mines on a grid of white final round of the event. We
Xplode event held at IIT lines over a black base; could have won the event
Kharagpur, was very en- and another to find the but in a view to compete
riching and interesting. shortest path avoiding
This was the first ever these mines. 16 teams
robotics competition I
participated it and was
stunned by the enthusi-
asm of the participating
teams and the level of
competition.
As many as 55 teams par-
ticipated in the competi-
tion, where we were sup-
posed to make two
autonomous bots, one of
which could detect metal
Page 3
-Rohit Taneja
“ I find that
down to quarter finals in 2010, though we lost our
2005. Then again the club first match against IIT the harder I
achieved the status of Bombay and were out of work, the
semi finalist in 2006 be- the competition, we
sides 2 very eminent played the match with
more luck I
seem to have”
awards in the form of Best vigour and enthusiasm.
Design for Manual Robot Out of the 47 teams, the
and Best Manual Opera- IIT Delhi team was
tor. In 2007, we achieved ranked fourth according
complete perfection in the to the total number of
form of winners of the points scored in the
national Robocon. We League matches. R OBOTICS
believe that “Robocon” is
We still continue to learn
a lot, not only in the field
F UN FACTS
of robotics but also about
project management and P ART 1
most importantly about
team work. Our activities
have been on a rise for the
benefit of not only the
more of a passion for Ro-
club members but also for
botics’ enthusiasts than
the IIT student commu-
just about competing and
nity in general. It is a
winning. In 2008, we
prominent aspect that the
again achieved success by
club has seen good engi-
reaching the semi-finals
neers as well as emerge
and most importantly Cybernetics profes-
from its system and hope-
winning ‘The Best Manual sor Kevin Warwick
fully this development
Award’. In 2009, we again
reached quarter finals. In
calls himself the
trend will continue to rise.
world’s first cyborg,
with computer chips
-Ravikant implanted in his left
arm. He can re-
motely operate
doors, an artificial
with the top teams from hand, and an elec-
across the country we in- tronic wheelchair.
qualified for the second creased the speed of our
round on the basis of per- robot which resulted in de-
formance in the prelims creased reliability.
where the parameters were The enthusiastic culture at
the total time taken and Robotics Club at IIT Delhi
numbers of mines effi- was very helpful. I was of-
ciently detected. course nervous as it was my
In the second round, both first event but the support
the robots were simultane- and experience sharing by
ously operated and the the fellow members gave me
shortest path was judged . the required confidence to
We were able to reach the compete with the top teams.
Page 4 Robodiary

“A Dream Is
Robotics In Vision       ­Himanshu 

R
Your Creative technical support for petitions are a great
Vision For Your Robocon is well devel- learning experience and
Life In The Fu- oped, the club can now can be very motivating
obotics start focussing on other for the less experienced
club of IIT Delhi came fields of robotics and lot. The club will be
up in 2002. Since its other competitions as developing support for
formation, it has come well. Moreover, the small robots as we feel
a long way in terms of strength of the club has that we should now
R OBOTICS development and tech- been increasing and focus on other types of
nology. From soldered now the club has a robots also. The club
F UN FACTS circuits to well designed wider member-base will be participating in
PCBs, from nuts and than that required just other robotics competi-
bolts to aluminium for Robocon. This in- tions also and for this
PART 2 welding, H-bridge relay creased strength can be we will develop techni-
circuits to Sabertooth used to represent the cal support for smaller
motor drivers, the club club in other competi- competitions. The club
has improved by leaps tions round the coun- will become more active
and bounds. The club try. Besides, if the club within as well as out-
has been participating participates in other side IIT Delhi. In order
in Robocon for nearly a robotics competitions, to help the 1st yearites,
decade now. As a result, the members will get the club will conduct a
the club has a well de- more exposure. Even series of workshops on
veloped technical sup- more significantly, the the basics of ‘Robotics’.
port for Robocon. It novices will learn faster Another set of work-
There are currently has become a great if they make the robots shops will be held be-
4,000 robots serving place of learning robot- themselves. fore the technical festi-
in the US Military, ics and things related to
Starting next semester,
val - Tryst. These will
including reconnais- it. Today, the club is a be primarily dealing
the club aims to launch
symbol of majority of with the problem state-
sance Talon bots ‘Robotech’ again with a
technical initiative by ments given in tryst.
that scout for road- students.
new vigour. Robotech
side bombs in Iraq is an initiative by Ro- Hence, in a way the
However, this has led botics Club to help the club aims to be a whole
and PackBots that to limiting the club’s first years gain an ex- hearted devotee for
unsuccessfully activity to a very small cellent entry in this development of Robot-
poked around for field of robotics, field by participating in ics in its true sense
Osama bin Laden’s namely, big robots such robotics competitions throughout the insti-
hideout in Afghani- as those required for held in various techni- tute as well as outside.
Robocon. Since the cal festivals. Such com-
stan.

Robowars
Robowars has been phe- profound knowledge of tacular to watch and
nomenal in spreading the robotics and its implemen- extremely difficult to
cult of robotics through- tation, knowledge of mate- design. Such competi-
out the technical institu- rials, as well as a sound tions appeal to the
tions in India. Building a sense of organization and young enthusiasts out to
robot capable of fighting financial management. prove their technical
a battle in a weapon- The variety and brutality prowess the “fast and
loaded arena involves of weapons used is spec- the furious” way.

Edited and Compiled by: Dhruv Mishra, Gaurav Mishra & Saruchi Goel