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MicroMouse Design

MicroMouse Introduction by Peter Harrison
A terrific site that gives lots of information on building a MicroMouse. He covers all aspects of the design from hardware to software. This was one of the first sites that we found that actually shared technical information and was where we got the idea for the rear caster.

Lecture Notes by Tak Auyeung
Tak Auyeung teaches a course on mobile robotics at U.C.Davis and also wrote the excellent series of articles in Robot Magazine (see below) covering maze solving algorithms. These lecture notes are a great source for anyone building a MicroMouse. He covers motor selection, motor control, sensor design, maze solving and much more.

Professor Martin Smith's Robotics Resource
An informative robotics site by Professor Martin Smith of Robot Wars, Techno Games, Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars fame.

MicroMouse At TIC
This site includes micromouse building information, rules, mouse pictures, links and details of the UK 2004 competition.

IEEE Micromouse Help Session
On occasion, I have been asked to do presentations on the design of our mouse. These help sessions are designed to help those students who are just starting to build their first micromouse. For those who have asked me for a copy of my powerpoint presentation, I am including it here.

Hardware

HandyBoard
If you want more information on the Handy Board then check out the web site. It has manuals, schematics, software to download and lots and lots of support information. If you don't want to build one from scratch and want to purchase a partial or fully assembled board, they also have a list of vendors. A terrific board for building small robots.

Motorola Semiconductors
The manufacturer of the famous 68HC11. Although large and sometimes difficult to find information, the web site has lots of spec sheets, applications sheets and software to download. You can even order hard copies of manuals through the site.

Allegro MicroSystems
Allegro produces the stepper motor driver chips we used in our mouse. They greatly simplified the design and programming.

Mitsumi Electric Co.
This is the manufacturer of the stepper motors we purchased through All Electronics. Through the website, you can download spec-sheets for the motors.

Software

Newton Labs
Newton Labs produced Interactive C, the programming language we used to write our software. Although a freeware version of the software is available, go to the website and spend the $35 to get the full version. It will make writing and debugging the program easier.

Suppliers

All Electronics
My home away from home for the past 15 years, All Electronics sells surplus electronics and mechanical parts. The inventory is constantly changing and you can find their catalog in Adobe Acrobat format at the web site. All Electronics was our source for all of the non-semiconductor parts: the motors, sensors, switches, perf boards, etc.

Digi-Key
A large electronic component retailer with very good service.

Newark
A very thorough source for electronics (their catalog is the size of a metropolitan telephone directory). This was where we found the Motorola 68HC11.

Mouser
Another good mail order company.

Radio Shack
They're expensive compared to the mail-order companies and they don't have a great selection but they are very convenient. If you really, really need that IR sensor, you wont have to go further than a few miles before you find a Radio Shack.

Robotics Publications

Mobile Robots
This book presents the step-by-step process of constructing two different robots, one of which is the Rug Warrior with a design similar to the Handy Board. All aspects of robot design are covered, including the microcontroller, designing, sensors, mechanics, motors, power and robot programming. Appendices include a list of suppliers, trade magazines, data books, and schematics.

Servo Magazine
A spin-off of Nuts and Volts magazine, Servo covers all aspects of robotics. It includes construction articles, stories of commercial robots, reviews, contest information and more.

Robot Magazine
Robot Magazine ran a series of articles written by Dr. Tak Auyeung of UC Davis in issues 2 through 5 which covered several popular MicroMouse algorithms. This was where we got the idea for the modified flood-fill algorithm. Unfortunately, they no longer seem to be publishing.

Other MicroMouse Sites

CSU Long Beach
Shows the development of their mice. This site contains lots of photos and even some video of their mouse in action.

UCLA
A good site with information on the various MicroMouse teams, past and future competitions and photos of mice and contests.

UC Santa Barbara
Another strong micromouse competitor, Santa Barbara was the host of the MicroMouse contest on May 5th, 2001.

UC Riverside
Contains building tips, competition photos and other MicroMouse related information.

UC Davis
Aside from creating good mice for the IEEE competition, UC Davis also hosts its own MicroMouse competition as part of its "Picnic Day" event. You can register for this competition through their website.

MicroMouse Directory
A directory of MicroMouse sites.