Cory Dyer

Vex Robotics

Competing For Over 8 Years

In my time competing I was able to make it to the World Championships in America for three consecutive years, after winning the National Championships in New Zealand against 70+ teams. At the World's level, we were division quarter finalists in 2018 and received the Worlds Community award in 2019 for our STEM outreach efforts. At the national level, in 2018 we were tournament champions and received the Design Notebook award for best design process and documentation. The following year, we were tournament finalists and received the Excellence Award for the best overall team ranking, robot program, build quality, and design. This is the highest award possible in the competition.

As VEX is a highschool program, once I graduated college I put my full effort into mentoring teams and promoting robotics. During the university year I mentored teams in Palmerston North, most notably, Palmerston North Girls' High School and St. Peters. To promote robotics in the region, I assisted in running events, helped teams and most importantly talked to local parents and teachers in attendance. This mentoring also extended to teams in the Bay of Plenty region when home from university.

Code (Currently not maintained by me)

Robot:
https://github.com/hazzery/2941A-TippingPoint
Design Notebook (2018):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16_aSm6f0YmVJJF7Gtnbw23u26G7xl968/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109424885984740909527&rtpof=true&sd=true

Autonomous Robot

A University Project

In 2021, as part of my degree, teams were presented with the problem of creating an autonomous robot to navigate a room. My team developed our solution in three parts: high level control of the robot and its path, direct control of the hardware and robot position, and a user interface where we could see the status of the robot and give instructions. High level control of the robot was achieved using a Raspberry Pi, programmed with a custom Real Time Operating System to receive data from a LiDAR and user input over Wi-Fi to inform its overall path. Direct control was done via a Nucleo f303k8 board, which was programmed using a custom pure pursuit algorithm and encoder/gyroscope odometry. The motherboard (Raspberry Pi), was in constant communication with the daughter board to give movement instructions and verify local position data with the global position. This project improved my coding skills in Assembly and C/C++, and gave me experience creating a user interface in C# for Windows and Android.

Code

Daughter Board:
https://github.com/cjdyer/Roomba-F303K8-Drive-Controller

Kiwifruit Recognition for Zespri

Internship Project

In the summer of 2020, I had the opportunity to work at Zespri, where my main task involved developing a kiwifruit recognition system. Initially, we explored the potential of using artificial intelligence. However, it became evident early on that this approach worked well only in ideal lighting conditions, failing to perform adequately under low-light situations. To overcome this challenge, I implemented a colour analysis algorithm with an object permanence map, which significantly improved the results in all trial runs. Building on this success, I proceeded to develop C++ code that transformed Time-of-Flight camera data into a 3D model. This 3D model was further analysed using a custom plugin for Blender, allowing for precise edge detection. To ensure seamless integration, the 3D model data was then matched and combined with the regular camera data. Finally, to provide a user-friendly interface, I created a C# application to present the processed information to the end-users. This application allowed them to interact with and utilise the kiwifruit recognition system effectively.

Coil Winding

University Product Design

In 2020, as part of my degree, teams were tasked with creating a coil winding system from scratch. My team decided to create an open bed model, to allow quick and easy prototyping or component replacement. This project required me to create a coil winding and serial communication program in C++ for use on a STM32 FR446RE microcontroller. By using stepper motors and a tensioning system, we were able to implement a simple velocity PID to maintain the speed between the input and output coils. This allowed for accurate winding and improved system reliability. In addition, I created a windows application using C# for the user to interface with, focusing on an intuitive and easy layout. The user settings would then be sent via UART serial to the microcontroller and applied.

Code

Microcontroller:
https://github.com/cjdyer/Coil-Winder-Control-Board
User Interface:
https://github.com/cjdyer/Coil-Winder-User-Interface