5. Socio-Economic Issues

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ISSUES

This section of the report will discuss the non-technical aspect of the design. The detailed cost analysis of all the components that were necessary for the successful completion of this project is provided. In addition, tradeoffs that were needed to be accountable for this project are also presented. Economic benefits, societal impact and global issues that are related to this project are also provided. Ethics is a very big non-technical part of engineering. Safety is probably one of the most aspects of any product design and development. Safety can relate to system level design and also personal level. They are also presented over the next few subsections. The importance of lifelong learning is also discussed in detail. Contemporary issues and global impact is another very big part of our daily lives. That is also discussed in detail. Following list of non-technical aspects of the design will be discussed over the next five subsections.

1.      Detailed Cost Analysis

2.      Economic Benefits, Societal Impact and Global Issues

3.      Ethics and Safety Issues

4.      Lifelong Learning

5.      Contemporary Issues and Global Impact

 Detailed Cost Analysis

There were multiple approaches to solving this design problem. Based upon the chosen design approach of designing not only the software, but also the hardware, there were multiple options to choose components from. The components were chosen based on experience, cost, size, and estimated time needed to be acquainted with the usage of each of them.

Following is a list of the components that were used/purchased for successful completion of this project.

* These components were purchased by Jessie from the ECE Electronics Shop.

In addition to the above components that are listed, many other purchases were made. A PIC Kit 3 was needed to program the dsPIC33EP512MC806. Miscellaneous components and tools were also needed to be purchased for the completion of this project. However, those were purchased by individual team members for their personal usage as well.

Toward the beginning of the project the team was also focusing on some wireless communication design as well. For that purpose a Wi-Fi PIC Tail module was also purchased for $43.88.  However, that component was later not used due the team removing the wireless communication part from the project. This decision was made after a feasibility study based on cost, and the availability of technical resources for the given time.

If the final product is to be mass produced and marketed, the total cost of individual item would significantly drop. If 500 quantities were to be produced, there would be a saving of 66.222% in the electronic components. Also, there would a saving of about 95% in PCB if produced 500 quantities. Based on this data, the following calculation is performed.

Cost of Time

It takes about 1 hour to assemble one quantity. To assembly 500 quantities, 500 hours is necessary.

500 hours Student Engineer x $50/hour = $25,000

20 hours Faculty x $100/hour = $2,000

40 hours lab/facility x $100/hour = $4,000

Cost of fringe benefits = $25,000 * 0.3 = $7,500

Total Component cost = 500 * $202.35 = $79,969.12

Total development cost = $118,469.12

Individual development cost = $118,469.12/500 = $236.94/item

$236.94/Maze and Micro-Mouse Maze Solver Robot before making any profit

This cost includes the design, implementation, and testing of the product (maze and the micro-mouse maze solve robot). As the product is being mass produced the manufacturing cost decreases. Do note this cost also includes shipping cost for individual items. Eliminating this cost can further decrease the total development cost for each item.

Economic Benefits, Societal Impact and Global Issues

Zakaria Juber

From the above price list one can easily infer this was a fairly expensive project. Many tradeoffs needed to be made to successfully complete this project. There were many options when choosing components for the hardware design portion of this project. Tradeoffs were made during the design of each of the subsystems.

For the Obstacle Avoidance and Path Finding subsystem the options were between SONAR and IR. Their performance comparison is made in the Design Choices and Performance Criteria section. IR is less expensive and performs (in terms of interference) much better in this project when compared to SONAR. Therefore, IR was chosen to be the primary source for this subsystem.  

For the Control System and Vehicle Dynamics subsystem the options were between designing a wheel encoder and buying a wheel encoder off the store shelves. Ultimately, it was chosen to be bought vs. designing. It’s much less expensive and easier to work with. This allowed more time to focus on the overall project.

For the Robot Localization subsystem it was almost meaningless to add additional hardware. The goal of this subsystem could be accomplished by using the IR sensors and quadrature wheel encoders that were already being used in the other subsystems. Also, this robot provides very limited real estate for hardware components. Therefore, it makes sense to minimize redundancy (although redundancy is good in critical applications such as medical and military).

For the Power Management subsystem the goal was to design and build an efficient regulated power system. The option was between non-isolated switching voltage regulator and isolated switching voltage regulator. The extra real estate needed for the isolated switching voltage regulator footprint and its cost was not worth the performance. Using non-isolated switching voltage regulator > 85% efficiency was achievable in a less expensive package (in terms of footprint area needed and cost). Therefore, non-isolated switching voltage regulator was used to design and build this subsystem.

For the overall integrated system the options were between an integrated PCB and a separate frame made of plexiglass. Integrate PCB was designed to reduce material waste, money, and prevent overheating of the hardware components.

The goal of this design project was to design and build the overall hardware the way it is done in the industry. Therefore, being resourceful and designing only what is necessary to be designed was very important.

The mice algorithm strategy was evaluated based on time to implement, software implementation complexity and final performance prediction. After in-depth research, the Flood Fill algorithm was chosen to be implemented. It provides the shortest path to destination, provided the start location, destination location, and size of the maze. The Flood Fill algorithm was fairly complex to implement in software. However, it provided much convincing results and was implementable in the allocated time.   

Ed Clancy IV

When choosing the type of sensor to use, many things needed to be considered.  The first thing was the cost and how many sensors would be needed for operation.  Sensors range from contact to gyroscope sensors, but the main ones considered in this project were infra-red, ultra sonic, and different vision systems. 

With vision systems which are used on the top competition maze solving robots, use very expensive CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras which sense the line of color difference between the white walls and the matte black floor of the maze.  This technique is highly effective, but once again is very expensive. The camera can range from five hundred to thousands of dollars.  If this project had no budget this would be for sure the way to go, but unfortunately the project was restricted so this was not chosen.

As for ultra-sonic sensors which seem to be a good choice, but really wasn’t what the robot needed.  The reason for this is that ultra-sonic sensors have terrible interference with more than one of them tied together. Ultra sonic sensors also cost more than infra-red sensors.  So once again this was a poor decision to make.

Finally the choice made on sensors was to go with infra-red.  Infra-red sensors are great for short ranges, and are very cost effective.  They also integrate well with microprocessors.  The certain part found for this project was very inexpensive and easy to integrate.  A grid of six infra-red LEDS and six phototransistors already on a PCB was used for this project.  The total cost of this PCB was around fifteen dollars which the other options for this kind of sensor array would cost at least triple the cost of the infra-red sensors.  So this was the best solution for what kind of resources available.

When developing the software for the micro mouse maze solving robot, all possible methods must be considered.  During the research phase of this project many different methodologies were found and considered.  The algorithms that were considered were Gaston Tarry Method, A* Algorithm, Wall Following, and the Flood Fill Algorithm.

Using the Gaston Tarry Method would produce a route but not all of the possible routes.  Unfortunately this method has many disadvantages that out weight the advantages.  Some of the disadvantages are that the robot may not visit the entire maze and will not automatically find the shortest route.  So due to those disadvantages this method was not used.

Another method would be the A* Algorithm.  The way that this algorithm works is by using a best-first search which means using a search algorithm which explores a graph by expanding the most promising node based on a specific rule. When using the search algorithm A* finds a least-cost path from a given initial node to one goal node. As A* explores the graph, it tends to follow a path of the lowest known heuristic cost, whilst storing a sorted priority queue of alternate paths. Even though this is one powerful algorithm it was not used due to the complexity, large memory and CPU process time requirements.

The next method is basic wall following.  For this method to work the entire hardware and layout of the robot would need to be changed.  Two ways of designing the robot to incorporate this software design would be either to have sensors looking down at the top of the walls or having some kind of “feeler-like” device that can sense the walls based on contact.  Having sensors look down at the top of each wall would be highly inefficient due to having a robot that can only work at a certain wall height.  Another reason to not design the robot this way will require the robot to visit every cell to find the goal of the maze.  For the “feeler-like” sensing robot, the same criteria will follow, but in addition to those problems it will face another problem.  The maze may have island in it, so unless the walls are connected to the outside somewhere, the robot may wander around forever never reaching the goal.  Due to those very problematic disadvantages these methods were not chosen.

Finally, the last method is the flood fill algorithm. One of main advantages to this is no pre-initializing the map contents which saves memory.   Another advantage is that this algorithm can undergo a considerable number of iterations. The main advantage behind this method is that when the robot approaches a junction (cells with 3 – 4 possible exits) you need to stop and re-calculate what action to do, but everywhere else the robot’s actions are predetermined and require no decision at all. Under the last advantage clearly shows why this methodology was chosen for the brains of the robot. By choosing this method not only was time saved, but money was saved due to not requiring more resources to compensate for a more advanced algorithm.

Ethics and Safety Issues

Zakaria Juber

To successfully design and implement any product, being ethical is very important. Ethics apply in an individual level and also as a team. An ethical team provides due credit to any individual or organization that deserves it. Everyone in the team needs to assume responsibility for assigned tasks. Without team work, project success is questionable. From very early on, Zakaria and Ed discussed responsibility for each part of the project. Throughout the project development cycle this responsibility was updated as needed.

Safety is an integral part of any product and its development cycle. The designed products and all its subsystems must operate safely. This safety is very important most just for individuals interacting with the device, but also for the overall system. In this design project, safety received a lot of attention during the design and implementation phases. Throughout the design Zakaria and Ed made sure that one system’s operation does not conflict with the performance of any system. Most of the approaches that were taken to address this issue were in terms of EMC. Another characteristic of a safe system is its interaction with the outside world. The final system was designed as an integrated PCB. Upon successful assembly of the hardware, the overall product received isopropyl alcohol bath that made sure that users do not feel uncomfortable to touch it even though rosin flux was used during the assembly process. Another step that was taken to make the device is safe for human interaction is the 2x clear coat paint that was used to isolate electrical connections. This made sure the user do not short-circuit any connections and experience fatal injuries.

In order for this mice to successfully work, it is required that every subsystem in the overall product works efficiently without any interference. From the beginning of the design cycle, lots of thought were given to the design of each and every part of the project. Upon successful design and assembly of the robot, it went through a series of test to make sure that all the systems in the project works.

Ed Clancy IV

In order to become an engineer it today’s society one must understand the different ethical and safety issues that are present in the ever so changing world.  We must be honest to not only others, but ourselves when becoming an engineer.  Engineers are the great scientists of the world who change the world with glorious new inventions and theories.  Without abiding by the rules, engineers would cause more harm than good. Another major concept is to understand that there is no “I” in team.  Engineers must be able to work and function amongst other people in the world.  Everyone has a different job and each part of the process matters, even the basic delivery boy is a crucial step in the whole scheme of things.  Another critical process that many fall victim to is assuming responsibility for assigned tasks and their own actions.  Instead of pointing blame to who was at fault, focus on the problem that arose and address reasonable steps to counteract it to resolve the issue. In addition to that we must understand the tasks given to use and make sure to complete them for the good of the team.  If you don’t finish your part of the project, not only does it affect you but it affects your entire team since you were the weak link in the chain.  Being ethical is a huge issue on the table since most people have different views on the subject.  Many different religions and ideologies unfortunately have influenced the many different ethical outcomes.  Who am I to tell others if they are wrong or right?  No one really has that right, but they have a right to their own opinion.  Even having their own opinion though would cause grief due to all kinds of different ideologies clashing so one resolute ethical outcome must be reached on a common ground.  Only then will everyone be able to come together and promote the growth of technology instead of hindering it behind many levels of copyright or trademarks.  

Lifelong Learning

Zakaria Juber

Lifelong learning is very essential for an engineer to stay current as the technology evolves. In the industry the focus is primarily on the business goal of that particular organization. However, in the academic the focus is much more diverse to build engineers of many different disciplines. Therefore, one of the best places to gain more knowledge of current technology is research universities. An individual can take classes throughout their career in subjects that are most interesting to them. This provides the individual to diversify their knowledge and expertise. In addition, the extra abilities help the individual to climb up the corporate ladder and obtain more opportunities.   

Another wonderful source to current is to participate in professional societies. By actively participating in professional societies as individual can build stronger professional network and gain more knowledge on emerging technologies.

Since childhood, Zakaria is very interested in Aerospace and Robotics Engineering. His goal is to be able to combine the expertise from Aerospace Engineering and Robotics to design and build products that will benefit the society from spinoffs and provide opportunities to learn more about the universe. In order to excel in Robotics, it is important that one becomes an expert in electronics and software development. That’s why Zakaria is pursuing dual bachelors in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Over the next five years Zakaria is planning on pursuing his masters in Electrical and Aerospace Engineering with concentration on Robotics and Planetary Vehicles. Over the next ten years Zakaria is planning on further developing his knowledge and expertise in robotics system design and move into planetary robots and vehicle development.

Ed Clancy IV

What if we ceased to learn after the completion of our schooling?  That would be one terrible world to live in because people learn new things every day.  In order to keep up with the rapidly changing technology out there, one must improve upon his or hers own education and learn about these new skills.  Most technical societies promote lifelong learning by offering company compensation for going back to school and pursuing higher degrees.  Not only does it help yourself, but it helps others around you due to the fact that they are now learning from you.  In about three years, I will see myself with a master’s degree in business or in engineering management.  I have always been more of a leader than a follower and definitely see myself going down the management pathway.  Going down this path would be great for me since it would teach me new ideologies about how to interact with people better since that is one of the problems with engineers today.  Also, lifelong learning helps with the loss of knowledge since you will constantly using the information you have learned and will remember it for a longer time. Due to other countries having similar training that may even excel the training we receive here the only true way to beat them out of a job is to have more and more training which directly relates to lifelong learning.  As humans we strive on self-improvement which only happens with learning from different experiences.  When we make mistakes, we tend to learn the most because it shows us what not to do next time we are in that situation.  Some could know all the technical facts in the world but have no experience and perform worse than someone who has experience and no real technical background because of how valuable experience is.  Under lifelong learning the experiences will be brought forward and fully utilized.

Contemporary Issues and Global Impact

 Zakaria Juber

 There are many issues that affect our society globally and domestically. Following is a list of some global issues that each and every one of us faces every day:

1.      Pollution and Alternative Energy

2.      Safe Public Transportations

3.      Globalization and Long Distance Commute

4.      Affordable Health Care

Pollution and the use of alternative energy has been a debate topic for many years now. With the recent rise in gasoline price have triggered this issue once again. This time around the automotive industry seems more serious about this issue than before. Most of the automobile in the world uses internal combustion engines to drive the car, although there have been some road certified cars that uses alternative energy. Cars with alternative energy range from the use of hydrogen fuel cell to electric battery. For many years, automobile with alternative energy were directed more toward wealthy people. However, recently there been development of automobiles that are directed toward economical consumers.

Safe public transportation is another major issue in the world. There are many people in the developing world who cannot afford their own automobile. They rely primarily on public transportation. Also, most of the people in the developed world own their own automobile. In both parts of the world there is a mixture of both cases. Not everyone knows the safe operations of automobiles. Therefore, there have been many interests in the automotive industry to use more assisted electronics in the automobiles to make driving safer. However, accidents still happen. One of the best ways to solve this problem is to make automobiles smarter; smart enough to evaluate and interact with its environment.

Globalization and long distance commute is another major issue in the world. With the globalization of the world, people often need to travel to different parts of the world. This increases more carbon footprints from transportation sources such as airplanes. In addition, too much travelling in a short period of time can affect a person’s health. Therefore, it is absolute necessary to make communication more efficient and reliable to stay competitive in the globalized world.

Affordable health care is among the most discussed and experienced issues in the world. With the advent of globalized society people often needs to travel to different parts of the world much more frequently than before. This makes it necessary for affordable health care for those travelling professionals. Health care is a very big issue even domestically. With the rise of unemployment, low income families and individuals often cannot afford health care. One of the best ways to solve this issue is probably by developing reliable, power efficient and affordable technologies to assist in medical diagnostics and cure.  Another, more important approach is by educating individuals and families about strategies to avoid server illnesses. Preventive care is more important than restorative care.  

Ed Clancy IV

There are numerous different things that affect our society, but each person has a different view on how it impacts them.  For instance, some people may feel that biotechnology is a bad thing since they might think that people will insert microchips that can track them all over the world.  However, this may or may not be true, but the fact of the matter is people will still have different view on this issue. In my case I am all for the advancing of technology and hope that some of these new inventions can help counter some of the major diseases we are trying to fight.  Unfortunately though as technology advances, people will try to take advantage of the less educated and exploit them.  The ways they could do this is by charging a high price for medicine that could counter act AIDS.   Regrettably this is how people think; they are corrupted by greed and face no shame in what they do.  So the poor people suffer while the rich get richer.  This same concept seems to be happening with intellectual property because of all the trademarks out there on the silliest of things.  Samsung was sued by Apples due to them thinking that Samsung stole their corner idea for the tablet.  How can you even trademark that? All trademarks and copyrights do is slow down the advancement of technology and which hinders the inventors by making sure they go through a strenuous process.  But the patent office masks the image of them doing good by protecting people’s inventions.  The true crazy fact is that media industry that controls a big portion of the market sets these absurd copyright laws which chokehold the growth.  Those companies even control the MPAA which sets the ratings for each of their films and music.  So unless you abide by their standards, you won’t get a good rating on your movie or music.  And without a good rating, your media will not be advertised and hardly anyone will be able to view it. So once again it hurts the independent person, but greatly benefits the big corporate companies.

But as engineering moves forward, I bet that most of these problems will be resolved.  The reason for this is because even now the governments around the world are realizing how fast the internet has grown and want to govern that fact. Unfortunately for them this will be one impossible thing to do since the whole idea of the internet was to be a free means of communication.  Hopefully, big projects such as the dark net or something like that comes into effect when the worst case scenario happens and the world starts to regulate the internet.  This would be the biggest mistake the world can make.  It would be like restricting the use of our vocal cords and only allowing us to talk if we paid a monthly payment to the government, but we aren’t allowed to go over a number of words.

         Another big movement that is getting stronger is the open source programming.  The only way to have good software out there is to allow others to modify and make it better.  Instead of forcing people to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for some “bloat-ware” when there is a open source version that uses one tenth of the memory and actually has more features.  But once again greed is present here and people just love charging ridiculous amounts of money for such things. The only true way of fixing this problem would to eliminate greed; however that is one impossible task.  Hopefully under the fact of Moore’s law technology will grow so fast that some of these concepts are adapted and understood for what they can be.

CONCLUSION FROM EACH TEAM MEMBER 

Following are conclusion from each team member.

Zakaria Juber

Following is the conclusion from Zakaria’s experience from senior design experience.

§  Opportunity to behave like an engineer from the industry

§  Improved time management skills

§  Developed research skills

§  Enhanced technical understanding

§  Experienced product design and implementation cycles

§  Improved product design techniques

§  Improved product testing techniques

§  Improved software development skills

§  Learned to make tradeoffs in design

§  Developed and utilize performance criteria

§  Learned to create product specifications

§  Understood the importance of developing fallback plans

§  Enhanced team work skills

§  Understood importance of ethical behaviors

Ed Clancy IV

Following is the conclusion from Ed’s experience from senior design experience.

§  Use the extra time more efficiently instead of wasting it.

§  Understand how long it takes to design a PCB and get it fabricated.

§  Even when it appears to be no hope, don’t give up and find out the problem.

§  Don’t point fingers on who was at fault, but address the problem and approve upon it.

§  Code doesn’t write itself overnight, manage your time and code the software.

§  Constantly communicate with your team to provide updates and inquire information on what they are doing.

§  Always have a backup plan if things turn out for the worst.

§  Procrastination is a big enemy, so counter it with self-motivation and perseverance.

§  Use music as a self-motivating device for boosting moral.

§  Constant compliments of others work to give reinsurance is a must to keep teammates motivated.

§  Organization of files and data is a must.

§  Trust in your teammates in doing their part of the project.

§  Test out your parts as soon as you get them instead of waiting till the last minute.

§  Before ordering parts from a 3rd party source, execute more research to make sure what you are getting is what you want.

§  Even the most simple of tasks can be complex and tedious ones.

§  Time management guidelines must be followed for a project to be completed on time.

§  Always triple check things before executing them when it cannot be undone.

§  Frequent meetings with teammates not only does it help with communicating, but also it helps with making sure the project gets done.

§  When stuck on a problem, it is okay to seek help and guidance from someone else.

§  Always give 110% when working on something.

§  Make sure to fully read the problem or requirements before solving the problem.

§  Instead of just assuming what to do, make sure that is the correct way of doing so.

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FROM EACH TEAM MEMBER 

Following are the executive summary from each team member.

Zakaria Juber

The micro-mouse maze solver robot project allowed the team members to behave and perform like an engineer in the industry. The topic of this project was researched and proposed by the team during the first semester of senior design. Upon approval of the project, the team performed extensive research for designing and building the robot. Zakaria focused primarily on the hardware design while assisting Ed with his research on mice algorithm. During the research phase of the project Zakaria made sure, the designed robot would allow the implementation of the mice algorithm. Ed, on the other hand, performed extensive research on the algorithm design and practical feasibility. Upon completion of extensive research the team was able to propose a budget, which was also granted.

In addition to the business related tasks, the team members also performed technical tasks. The team focused on solving the problem. The problem was to design and build a micro-mouse maze solver robot that can solve a maze while utilizing resources efficiently. Initially the team discussed exactly what type of data is needed to solve the maze. Based on that evaluation, the team created subsystems. Team then assigned each member, based on technical interests, tasks to be completed. Zakaria focused primarily on hardware design, while Ed focused primarily on software design. Team also assigned deadlines and periodically met with faculty advisor to discuss progress.

This project allowed the team to utilize skills and knowledge gained from classes such as ECE 270, ECE 319, ECE 370, ECE 372, ECE 460, and ECE 4951. Software development techniques familiarity from ECE 270 and ECE 390 were used. Understanding of EMC from ECE 319 was implemented. ECE 460 provided a foundation for closed-loop (feedback) control system. And, ECE 4951 provided a very in-depth understanding of small robots and microcontroller systems and programming.

The team also utilized knowledge and experience gained from their co-op work experience. Zakaria spent 3 semesters at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as a co-op, while Ed gained valuable work experience while performing co-op work at DTE Energy MichCon. Zakaria spent 2 semesters in the Robotic Systems Technology branch during his 3 semester tour at NASA. There he learned the approach taken in the industry for robotic product development, in addition to implementable ideas such as PCB design, power management, and hardware testing.

Regardless of all the preventative measurements that were taken from the initial stage of product design, the team did face many obstacles along the way. One of the major obstacles was mistake in PCB manufacturing by the PCB fabrication facility. This issue delayed the progress of the team by 3 weeks during the second semester of senior design. However, the team persisted and continued to work hard and looked for opportunities to boost progress.

This project provided many learning curves, such as utilizing dsPIC33EP512MC806 and designing PCB. The overall project improved each team member’s research, design, implementation, and testing skills. This was a very good and fun project that allowed each team member to emerge from an undergraduate engineering student to an engineer ready for the industry.  

Ed Clancy IV

Have you ever been trapped inside of a hedge maze and had no idea what the quickest path to the end was?  What if I told you that a robot as small as drink coaster could outperform you in solving that maze? For this senior design project a micro-mouse maze solving robot was designing and developed.  The project was split into two main parts which were software and hardware.  Overall, the project went smoothly and only encountered a few speed bumps along the way.

The first big challenge was to figure out how the robot would move around the maze.  Various different methodologies were considered for this part which included selecting four wheels, three wheels or two wheels and a castor.  Two wheels were selected for simplicity and for saving weight of the robot. 

The next big challenge for the hardware part was to decide on what kind of motors to use.  Before choosing which kind of motor to use, the basic movements of the robot needed to be understood. After looking over how the robot should act, the two main choices were use a stepper motor or a basic dc motor.  The basic dc motor won due to being cost effective, light weight, and more knowledgeable in using such device.

As for the eyes of the robot, numerous different sensors were looked at.  Out of all the different sensors, the infra-red sensors were chosen.  By using infra-red sensors the group was able to achieve excellent results due to having familiarity with such devices, cost effective and great functionality.

Subsequently the brains of the robot needed to be decided.  A few different candidates were considered, but the end result was to go with the DSPIC33.  The main reason for this was that it had enough memory for our advanced software algorithm needs, had all the A/D pins that were required and had the quadrature encoder feature as well.

Software needed to be completed in two parts. The two modes of operation for the robot were search mode and execute mode.  Under search mode the robot would travel the maze and record the layout for later use and return to the start position when it found the end.  As for the execute mode, the robot would then look at the pre-recorded information from the search mode and calculate the quickest path to the end.  Once the robot has figured out the quickest route, then it would travel as fast as it can to the end.  While undergoing both of these modes, the robot had to use an algorithm to construct the maze layout.  Many different algorithms were considered, but only the flood fill algorithm was chosen for the job.  The reason behind this was that it used the least amount of memory and was very efficient on solving the maze at a reasonable time.

The micro mouse maze solving robot then was constructed on a PCB.  Then having the sensors, the motors, the battery, the CPU, and the rest of the components all attached to the PCB.  After everything was attached the CPU was programmed with the flood fill algorithm and the two different modes of operation.  After everything he micro mouse maze solving robot was able to perform all the actions that it was required to do and only encountered a few minor problems.