Balance Bot

This project started around mid 2025. An inverted pendulum or balance bot would be cool to work on.

I added some actuating legs that could extend and change height independently, to add some more dynamic capabilities.

I also added a 2-axis head and a face for personality.

Upcoming upgrades:

• Custom PCB
• BLDC Motors
• Stronger or more compact servos

Digital Clock

Attempting to make a fully discrete digial logic clock. Build with 14/16 DIP ICs and using a 32.768 kHz crystal oscillator to keep time.

No microcontrollers, or firmware.

Made with KiCad.

Circuit

AS OF 2026-10-10 THIS STILL NEEDS TO BE TESTED AND VERIFIED

7 Segment Display

Each display is powered by a SN74LS247N with a common annode 7 segment display with an array of resistors between each segment.

1Hz Clock

The clock was designed using a CD4060BE and a 32.768 crystal. The output only divided to 2Hz so an additional CD4013BE flip-flop was required to divide it into a 1Hz signal we can use for the clock.

< Connor Insert image >

PWM

PWM control was added to control the brightness of the 7 segment displays as well as the clock’s colon LEDs. It is designed using a TLC555N driving a 2N7000 transistor for the common cathode of all the LEDs.

< Connor insert image >

Counter Logic

The counting circuit was designed using a CD4518BE BCD (Binary-Coded Decimal) counter. This means it goes from 0-9 and after 9 it resets back to 0. Not all digits need to go from 0-9:

• Seconds Tens digit -> Need to reset after 0-5
• Minutes Tens digit -> Need to reset after 0-5
• Hour (ones and tens digit) -> Need to reset after hours reach 0-23

Micromouse

Stuart the Micromouse was created following the IEEE Micromouse Competition rules, built for a capstone project. It traverses a (sized down) 8x8 physical maze to find the shortest path to the center. It is a mixture of Embedded, PCB design, controls systems, shortest path algorithms, and reinforcement learning.

The capstone project achieved IEEE Winnipeg Section 1st Place Prize.

UMIEEE SumoBot

UMIEEE/UMRT Sumobot competed in RoboWars 2026, a competition hosted by IEEE Concordia in Montreal, QB.

The main controller is an ESP32-S3 using both cores for sensors and control logic. The bot uses a mixture of IR sensors underneath the scoop and facing forward to identify the sumo ring perimeter and the opponent sumobot. The controller also drives the two left and right motor drivers, and perform our sumobot’s strategies.

UMIEEE was able to qualify for the final tournament and finished in the top 12 of about 23 teams.