Controlled Use of a Robot Colony Power Supply

Abstract

The controlled use of a continuous power supply for robots of a colony is presented. This work builds on previous work where capacitors were used as an onboard power supply, and where robots with metallic probes were charged at a power station. An onboard controller was implemented to direct the hexapod colony robot behavior according to its power supply status. A PIC chip, implemented as an analog-to-digital voltage converter, was used as the robot's voltage sensor. A BASIC Stamp II was used in conjunction with photocells as the robot's light sensors while a light source was placed at the power station. Tests were performed and revealed the plausibility of implementing a voltage sensor and light sensor/source for colony robots powered with capacitors.