Colin O'Flynn
Archive · pre-wiki site

Autonomous Hovercraft

Archived from the site that ran here before WordPress, and reproduced as written — links and prices and "coming soon"s included. Nothing on this page is maintained.

Also written up on the later wiki version: Autonomous Hovercraft - The Power of Neural Nets.

Autonomous Hovercraft - The Power of Neural Nets

[ Abstract]

The engineering goal of this project was to discover if it was possible to use artificial
intelligence to control a hovercraft autonomously. There are several types of artificial
intelligence such as state machines, fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks. This project uses
an artificial neural network, as it can be more adaptive in controlling an unstable vehicle.

The hovercraft has three main boards: the main computer, the artificial neural network
and the speed control board. An ultrasonic rangefinder mounted on a servo provides the vision of
the unit. The main computer board instructs the rangefinder to emit a sound pulse and wait for an
echo and then it calculates the distance to the object based on the time taken for the echo to
return. This data is sent to the neural network, which then decides on the best course of action to
avoid any collisions. The recommendations of the neural network are processed by the main
computer board and sent to the speed controller, which uses pulse width modulation to control
the speed of the lift and propulsion motors, and to a servo that controls the rudder. The main
computer board communicates with the neural network board and the speed control board using
the Scalable Node Address Protocol that has an error detection scheme.

It is possible to use an artificial neural network to control a hovercraft autonomously;
however, properly training the neural network is the key to accurate control. Artificial neural
networks are a promising way of controlling robots.

[Download]
You can visit the project on AVRFreaks at:
http://www.avrfreaks.net/Freaks/freakshow.php?action=2&projectid=84

Or download the same package here, which includes schematics, code, and lots of documentation…

[Awards]

This project was my entry in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. There I won an award: “American Association for Artificial Intelligence: For the best projects in the area of computer science with an artificial intelligence component. Award of $1,000”.