IR Bomb DefuserEmbedded C

This project was part of the 3rd year Embedded C for Microcontrollers module. The aim of this project was to with a partner build and programme a robot which is able to locate an Infrared (IR) beacon, go to it, scan the RFID tag for its unique code, display that code on the LCD screen and return to it's initial position as shown in the video below, which aims to mimick that of an autonomous bomb defuser.

We were given a programmable microcontroller called the PicKit 3 along with other components such as an IR sensor, an LCD screen etc. with the aim of solving the task above in whatever manner we envisioned. At the end of the module we were then asked to present the methodology of our code in a short 10 minute presentation.

What did I learn?

• Introduction to the nuances of the C language such as pointers, memory management tec.
• How to break down a large project into smaller actionable tasks
• The importance of modularising code, and creating well defined functions
• Cleaner Code production
• How to debug not only code but issues with electrical components
• How to get to grips with a component's datasheet and incorporate unfamiliar components independently
• How to account for hardware issues such as debouncing and weak motors via software adjustments
• Being able to present the code and explain the different features within it and justify our decisions to those unfamiliar with the codebase

Note: I also realised how much of a pain manual version control is (Evident in the long name of the final project FinalProjectCleanSmoothComplete.c), but didn't know any better at the time since it was the first relatively large project I'd ever complete ^_^.