Case study ®

Magnetic encoders beat size and

speed challenges

Customer: Challenge: Solution:

Micromouse Contest Precise control of the wheel rotational RM08, the smallest magnetic
speed, while being small in size. encoder on the market.
Industry:
Electronics, robotics

Introduction
In recent years the real challenge has been
This case study focuses on a micromouse – a small the control of the robot. There are times when
autonomous robot which runs through a designated the difference between winning and losing is
maze. There are several annual international contests only 1/1000 of a second.”
for students and robot enthusiasts challenging them to
improve the intelligence and speed of their robots. Robot Masazuku Utsunomiya
mice are advanced, custom built devices that are built to
milimeters and grams precisely, reach speeds above 3 m/s At the top levels the contest is fierce, forcing participants to
and are able to solve the maze in just 5 to 7 seconds. find the balance between the on-board processing power,
speed and manoeuvrability, and minimising weight to the
RLS magnetic encoders are used because of their last gram.
miniature and lightweight design and their top performance
in accuracy and high speed feedback. Masakazu Utsunomiya, long-time competitor on All Japan
Micromouse Contest, has been contributing to this contest
for more than 13 years and has up to today built 18
Designing a robot mouse to win micromice.
A robot mouse must find its own way through a maze, with »The robot is a wheel differential vehicle and is driven by a
a different and unpredictable layout between the start point DC motor. It has a microcontroller and sensors located on
in one corner and the centre point. It has several runs, with all four sides to detect walls and avoid them. It also has a
the contest scored through a combination of total time and gyro sensor that detects the angular velocity of the robot,«
the time for the fastest run. explains Utsunomiya.

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Utsunomiya has designed multiple versions of a robot,

improving its speed, accuracy and search algorithms
through the years. Its latest addition, RLS’ RM08 magnetic
encoder, is precise and small (in size) thus enabling the
control of the wheel’s rotational speed without unnecessary
additional weight.

Micromouse embodies so many aspects of engineering that it is clear

how it appeals to education as well as providing a possibility of using the
latest technology to improve designs of the future.

Robot mouse with an integrated RM08 encoder for precise control of

wheel rotational speed.
Solution
Super-small size RM08 rotary magnetic encoder is a
Challenge perfect solution for space constraint applications like a
Competitors have to design the robot in a way that it finds robot mouse. With just 8 mm diameter encoder body the
its way from a predetermined starting position to the goal RM08 is the smallest rotary encoder on the market.
area of the maze unaided. The robot must keep track of
The encoder provides industry standard analogue
its position, detect walls as it explores area, map out the
sinusoidal, incremental, SSI and linear voltage output
maze, calculate the shortest route from starting to final
formats at up to 12 bit resolution. With its high-speed
position and detect when it has reached the goal. Robot
operation and 0.3° accuracy RM08 is a reliable position
has five runs – the fastest run is recorded as its official
feedback solution. The encoder and magnet weigh only
time. Winner of the contest is the fastest robot.
2 grams which is a major benefit for robotic applications.
A robot mouse can use various searching algorithms,
which are critical to the performance. They calculate total
travel distance and number of turns as well as detect
walls and final position. However, there are some typical
searching algorithms used by Micromouse robots. Most of
them are quite well developed and find the optimal route
in just a few runs.
Utsunomiya notes that one of the most difficult challenges
is not programming the robot but the control of the robot, to
run the robot quickly through a narrow maze without hitting
any walls. Light and small RM08 magnetic encoder helped
to improve robot’s size and weight, which affects also its
performance enabling a robot to find the optimal way out RM08 super-small rotary encoder with 8 mm diameter and less than 2
grams of weight brings optimum performance without compromising the
of the maze the fastest. robot’s size and weight limitations.

Micromouse contest is one of the oldest robotic contests performed

all over the world.

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About contest Micromouse About RLS

The Micromouse Contest has been held since the 1970s RLS d.o.o is a Renishaw associate company. RLS produce
and it’s one of the oldest robotic contests performed all a range of robust magnetic rotary and linear motion
over the world. It is especially popular in Japan, USA, sensors for applications such as industrial automation,
Singapore, India, UK and South Korea. Its main goal is to metalworking, textiles, packaging, electronic chip / board
design a small autonomous robot, which can solve a 16 x production, robotics and more.
16 (or 32 x 32) maze unaided.

For more information visit www.rls.si

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RLS d.o.o. reserves the right to change specifications without notice.

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