Design of Solenoid Based Kicker with ZVS Boost Converter for Wheeled Soccer Robot

Wheeled soccer robot must have actuator system consists of moving, dribbling, and kicking. Solenoid based kicker was claimed to be one of the most efficient kickers. It uses solenoid coil to generate magnetic field and Lorentz force to move plunger of the kicker. In this study, a solenoid based kicker was designed with Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) boost converter. The designed kicker was expected to move a ball about 6m which is half of the field in the Indonesian Wheeled Soccer Robot Contest. By charging the capacitor bank less than 5 seconds using the ZVS boost converter, the designed solenoid can produce Lorentz force for the expected distance. Furthermore, the kicker can adjust the kick distance by regulating the voltage charged to the capacitor in order to pass the ball accurately. The kicker was successfully implemented on wheeled soccer robot with kick distance until 6.07m, energy supply of 348J, power of 14116.41W, and charging time of 4.7 seconds. The experiment results prove that the designed kicker has good performance of kicking with short charging time.