Design of a Full-Featured Robot Controller for Use in a First-Year Robotics Design Project

For the past nineteen years, the first-year engineering honors program at The Ohio State University has included a robotics design project as the cornerstone of its yearlong curriculum. Over these years, the MIT Handy Board has served as the controller for the autonomous robotic vehicles built by students. This paper details the design of a new, custom robotics controller that provides a modern update to the MIT Handy Board for use in a first-year robotics project. The unique features of this new controller are highlighted, along with a description of the prototype iterations and final design. The results of a pilot launch with this final design are also detailed which includes a performance comparison with the Handy Board. It is expected that this new controller will meet the needs of the program for years to come and could serve as a basis for other design courses that use similar devices.